In journalism, there’s clever wordplay, and then there’s wordplay fail. Consider the latest issue of Utah Valley magazine to be a case in point of the latter.
For the record, Utah is not ethnically diverse; according to the latest U.S. Census, the state is 80 percent white, 13 percent Hispanic, 1.3 percent black, and just a splash of everyone else. Thus, when the magazine rolled out its annual women’s issue with the title “Women of Color” there was mass confusion.
How in the hell did the Utah Valley editors find that many ethnic women in lily-white Utah?
The short answer, we now know, is that the editors did not find ethnic women for the women’s issue; instead, “Women of Color,” referred to white women who wore pretty colors at the photo shoot.
Get it? That’s clever wordplay … fail.
“That was not intended as an ethnic comment,” Utah Valley editor Jeanette Bennett told a Gawker reporter. “It was just clever wordplay.”
What’s disturbing is that Bennett doesn’t seem to understand that the description, “women of color” means something completely different to the masses who reside outside of Utah. Unfortunately there was no one in the newsroom to inform her of that fact, as she admitted that the staff was all-white too.
“I definitely don’t think we’re ethnically diverse,” said Bennett.
She also added, “there’s more than one meaning of color.” This is true, so in support of Utah Valley magazine, here, then, are more fascinating shots of Women of Color, the “color” just happens to be white.
