Naked Ambition...

It's no word of a lie when I say that I love Lana Del Rey. We saw it when I sang her praises in a review for Born To Die, and when I defended her questionable performance on Saturday Night Live. So when I found out that she was being featured in this year's GQ Men of the Year, I was over the moon.

She looks absolutely fierce on the cover, wearing nothing but jewels and red lips, and the rest of the shoot doesn't disappoint either, showing Del Rey at her best in her signature sophisticated Old Hollywood style. And at first, the nudity didn't bother me. I don't have a problem with anyone wanting to pose naked, it's their prerogative.

But upon further research on this issue, reading certain posts on Tumblr and following it up with articles on the internet, I sensed that something wasn't right. Let's take a look at all of the other winners of Men of the Year: comedian James Corden, rapper Tinie Tempah, pop-star Robbie Williams, and actor John Slatterly. With the addition of Lana, three Brits and two Americans, nothing strange there. But then you take a look at their covers...

Spot the odd one out...

Suited man, suited man, suited man, suited man... and naked woman.

Now, ignoring the New Statesman's argument that her cover looks suspiciously similar to a 70's porn poster, there are a lot of questions to be raised about why on Earth LDR, who happens to be the only female, is the only one to bare all. I'm not suggesting that they tied her down and forced her to shoot naked, if she didn't want to do it she could have just refused. But why didn't the Creative Directors at GQ suggest that their other cover stars strip down too?

I'll tell you why, because GQ is a magazine for men made by men. It's the James Bond of men's magazines, suave and sophisticated, focusing on men's fashion and lifestyle, and not forgetting to sex up those ladies. The sexism is so casual that one of the shots in Lana's spread even shows a faceless man clutching at her breast like it's no big deal.

Easy there, fella, we're not groping produce at the supermarket here. Or are we?

What scares me most is that sexism has become so internalized. We are so used to seeing naked women in the media that we don't even bat an eyelid to it. I'm ashamed to say it, but I wouldn't have thought twice about it if I didn't find out about all the other covered-up male cover stars. Naked women have become the norm, and no one seems to care about this because no one seems to think that sexism and feminism is a 'thing' anymore.

Like I said early on in this post, I have no problem with anyone, male or female, wanting to pose naked for a photo shoot. I do, however, have a problem with the ideology that the more naked a woman is, the sexier she becomes, whereas men are sexy whether they're all bare or covered up - and more often than not we see them covered up. Women may have come a long way when it comes to equality in the past century, but most of those successes have been tangible - the right to vote, contraception, sexual health, equal pay (which FYI, still not equal)... but I think the real battle is changing people's mindsets of women being largely objectified and start treating them as true equals to men.