Cara Delevingne's Vogue cover story has a lot going for it: The model-actress' vivacious personality spills out onto the page in vivid words and photos. The Paper Towns star talks candidly about her history of mental illness, and why modeling has actually been a means to an end: acting. She also speaks openly about her relationship with girlfriend Annie Clark (a.k.a. St. Vincent). But, some of the language writer Rob Haskell uses to address the subject of sexuality ring problematic. Activists are calling out Haskell's words in an online petition to Vogue that already has over 13,000 signatures.
"Her parents seem to think girls are just a phase for Cara, and they may be correct," Haskell writes between quotes in which Delevingne says she has erotic dreams only about men, but women "are what completely inspire me." The writer also suggests the star may need to change her ideas about men and women in order to learn how to trust men.
In the petition, titled "Tell Vogue Magazine: Being LGBT Isn't a 'Phase'!" author Julie Rodriguez writes, "People are quick to assume queer women’s identities are a 'phase' and to refuse to recognize the important relationships in their lives — an attitude which can cause depression, result in families rejecting their daughters (or forcing them into abusive conversion 'therapy'), and even put young women at risk of suicide. Vogue should have taken this opportunity to combat negative stereotypes, not reinforce them."
Regarding Haskell's suggestion that in order to trust men, Delevingne would need to revise her thinking, Rodriguez continues, "The idea that queer women only form relationships with other women as a result of childhood trauma is a harmful (and false) stereotype that lesbian and bisexual women have been combating for decades."
Vogue has not yet responded to Refinery29's request for comment.
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