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Cosmopolitan UK Features The First Non-Female Model On Their Cover In 35 Years
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Cosmopolitan UK Features The First Non-Female Model On Their Cover In 35 Years

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When it comes to magazines like Cosmo, we’re expecting to get some saucy tips, celebrity news and takes on latest fashion trends. Oh, and a smiling woman dressed in some vibrant, fashion-forward garments. But as many things these days, the mold is breaking and history is taking a different turn. For this month’s issue, Cosmopolitan UK decided to go for a different approach in their image. Jonathan Van Ness is this month’s cover model and we can see why.

Van Ness is perhaps best known as the grooming expert on the Netflix series Queer Eye, a show that features 5 experts in their own categories transform people to make their lives easier and happier.

This month’s Cosmo UK cover is making history with Jonathan Van Ness

Image credits: Cosmopolitan UK

Image credits: jvn

Rocking a pair of Nikes and a pastel Christian Siriano ruffled gown, Van Ness radiates glam and con-fi-donce. In the magazine’s 35-year run, he is the first non-female model to pose for the cover of Cosmopolitan UK. Just this summer Jonathan came out as a non-binary person with preferred gender pronouns he/him/his.

Image credits: Cosmopolitan UK

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Image credits: CosmopolitanUK

The issue is set to be released on Thursday the 5th, however the online article has just dropped, revealing juicy details about the television personality.

Image credits: Cosmopolitan UK

Image credits: jvn

Image credits: jvn

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In an interview with Amy Grier, Jonathan Van Ness discusses life, the stigma surrounding living with HIV, politics and more. He explains the latest drama surrounding the US presidential elections, how difficult it can be to balance people’s expectations, especially in the current climate where people might struggle to differentiate between his TV/online persona and his role as an LGBTQ+ activist.

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Image credits: jvn

Image credits: jvn

Van Ness also talks about his book, a memoir titled Over the Top: A Raw Journey to Self-Love. In it, he tries to reiterate how he is a complex person with multiple sides to his personality. “When I’m having a bad day, everything feels rushed. I feel like I’m letting people down, biting off more than I can chew,” he tells Amy Grier. The book also touches upon his experiences of sexual compulsivity, substance abuse, and living with HIV for seven years.

Image credits: jvn

Image credits: jvn

Here’s how people reacted to Cosmo’s cover

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Giedrė Vaičiulaitytė

Giedrė Vaičiulaitytė

Author, Community member

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As a writer and image editor for Bored Panda, Giedrė crafts posts on many different topics to push them to their potential. She's also glad that her Bachelor’s degree in English Philology didn’t go to waste (although collecting dust in the attic could also be considered an achievement of aesthetic value!) Giedrė is an avid fan of cats, photography, and mysteries, and a keen observer of the Internet culture which is what she is most excited to write about. Since she's embarked on her journalistic endeavor, Giedrė has over 600 articles under her belt and hopes for twice as much (fingers crossed - half of them are about cats).

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Giedrė Vaičiulaitytė

Giedrė Vaičiulaitytė

Author, Community member

As a writer and image editor for Bored Panda, Giedrė crafts posts on many different topics to push them to their potential. She's also glad that her Bachelor’s degree in English Philology didn’t go to waste (although collecting dust in the attic could also be considered an achievement of aesthetic value!) Giedrė is an avid fan of cats, photography, and mysteries, and a keen observer of the Internet culture which is what she is most excited to write about. Since she's embarked on her journalistic endeavor, Giedrė has over 600 articles under her belt and hopes for twice as much (fingers crossed - half of them are about cats).

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Pseudo Puppy
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Food for thought: the are countries around the world, and eras within "western, christian" history, where: 1) men wear / wore skirts 2) men wear / wore makeup 3) men wear / wore heals Also worth noting that there are thousands of definitions of what "masculine" is, depending on the country / culture / income bracket / location / age / area of education / area of employment / overall demographic. It is literally impossible for one man (or any human), to please every single pre-requisite for what others think they "should" be. Oh.... and p.s. not so long ago, women were arrested / refused service / kicked out of businesses for wearing pants, as it was deemed "immoral", and yet pretty much every woman within western society has at least one pair of pants & it's now considered 100% normal. <3

Carol Emory
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank you Pseudo Puppy! Well said! I'd like to add that, less than 200 years ago, pink was worn by men of royalty in Europe as it was considered a sign of power and money.

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Reirei
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I ask this out of ignorance/curiosity not malice, but I always thought he/him pronouns were for people who identify as male in some respect? And that the whole point of being non binary is to not identify as male or female, to not be defined by gender? Therefore shouldn't the pronouns be they/them or one of the slightly clunkier versions like xe/xir?

Alia G.
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Non binary just means you don't strictly identify as male or female. This includes being gender fluid or self identified gender queer, so some non binary people still use cis pronouns. (Note that gender queer is an identity and is different than the slur)

Load More Replies...
Load More Comments
Pseudo Puppy
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Food for thought: the are countries around the world, and eras within "western, christian" history, where: 1) men wear / wore skirts 2) men wear / wore makeup 3) men wear / wore heals Also worth noting that there are thousands of definitions of what "masculine" is, depending on the country / culture / income bracket / location / age / area of education / area of employment / overall demographic. It is literally impossible for one man (or any human), to please every single pre-requisite for what others think they "should" be. Oh.... and p.s. not so long ago, women were arrested / refused service / kicked out of businesses for wearing pants, as it was deemed "immoral", and yet pretty much every woman within western society has at least one pair of pants & it's now considered 100% normal. <3

Carol Emory
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Thank you Pseudo Puppy! Well said! I'd like to add that, less than 200 years ago, pink was worn by men of royalty in Europe as it was considered a sign of power and money.

Load More Replies...
Reirei
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

I ask this out of ignorance/curiosity not malice, but I always thought he/him pronouns were for people who identify as male in some respect? And that the whole point of being non binary is to not identify as male or female, to not be defined by gender? Therefore shouldn't the pronouns be they/them or one of the slightly clunkier versions like xe/xir?

Alia G.
Community Member
4 years ago DotsCreated by potrace 1.15, written by Peter Selinger 2001-2017

Non binary just means you don't strictly identify as male or female. This includes being gender fluid or self identified gender queer, so some non binary people still use cis pronouns. (Note that gender queer is an identity and is different than the slur)

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