My husband gets Esquire magazine every month and in celebration of their 75th anniversary, they have been remaking old covers. This month they remade the cover of the December 2000 issue with President Bill Clinton. Halle Berrry, Esquire's 2008 "Sexiest Woman Alive", remade the President Clinton cover. The photographer of the Halle Berry cover, Cliff Watts, said this about the image, "She's a powerful woman; he's a powerful man...There's a sensitivity and a sexuality there, but also the strength."
I understand Watts' comment on the photo of Berry, but when I first saw this cover in my mailbox I was shocked that she would pose for a photo like this. She is sitting in such a suggestive manner, with only the top half of a "power suit" and her bra showing through that. When I opened the cover by the prompting of a message reading, "Does this cover remind you of anything? Open Here!", I of course saw the original Bill Clinton cover. Then it made a little more sense, but she presents herself as an object here. The "Making of the Cover" page inside says that Halle Berry had a baby recently, making her even more worthy of her title as "2008's Sexiest Woman Alive."
I guess I'm just surprised that a new mother and a wildly successful actress would allow herself to be presented in such a way when Bill Clinton has all kinds of sexual connotations attached to him. Somehow this is dirty, I feel wrong looking at it.