St. Vincent Pushes Back Against ‘Sexist’ Images on Cover of ‘Guitar World’

St. Vincent makes a sly statement about sexism as part of her new cover shoot for Guitar World. She's seen wearing a bikini T-shirt on the latest edition of the magazine, which used to regularly publish a buyer's guide featuring scantily clad women.

“I did a quick Google search of women on the cover, and all I really saw was girls in bikinis holding guitars like they’ve never held a guitar before,” she says in the January 2017 cover story. “I started thinking about that and just wanted to make my own absurdist comment on it. I couldn’t really let it slide without poking a bit of fun and taking the piss a little!”

Guitar World has more recently charged policy on the way it depicts women, as part of a larger initiative by parent company NewBay Media.

“The main driver of this decision was economic," NewBay general manager Bill Amstutz told Reverb earlier this year, "but bikini models were outdated, and we didn’t want to associate the brand with what could easily be viewed as sexist, as a misrepresentation of women guitar players – or that women in general may find offensive.”

St. Vincent, whose real name is Annie Clark, is currently at work on a new album, due next spring. She's calling it her "deepest, boldest work" yet. “I’ve been able to step back and reflect and not just be in the tour, record, tour, record cycle that I’ve been in for about 10 years,” Clark told Guitar World.

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