This is singer and rapper Azealia Banks on the cover of British fashion magazine, Dazed & Confused.
And yes, she is in fact holding a pink inflatable condom.
And yes, it’s been deemed too risqué by SEVEN countries who has decided not to display or sell it.
And they’re not necessarily the countries you might have expected to push ahead with the ban. Switzerland, Dubai and Singapore are amongst the nations who’ve decided that this image is just a little bit too boundary pushing to grace the stands of their newspaper and magazine displays.
Dazed & Confused magazine have reacted – well, to match their own name. They’re not sure what all the fuss is about, tweeting, “Just been told our upcoming @AZEALIABANKS cover has been banned from 7 countries so far. Thank God for the Internet, huh?”
Dazed and Confused editor Rod Stanley told the Evening Standard he knew the cover would get tongues wagging.
“I knew this cover would be talked about, but didn’t expect a confident, young woman posing with an inflated condom to cause this much fuss,” he said.
“It’s funny that in a world where extreme images are so accessible, someone posing with something that is used for safe sex is what we get worked up about.”
Are these countries overreacting or is the ban fair enough? Would you expect Australia to ban this cover?
Comments
63 Comments so far
It does look a lot like she’s fellating a vibrator – and it’s supposed to. I’m not a prude, but I don’t think it’s appropriate to put that image on the front of a magazine.
I hate that images imitating porn (or porn itself) is constantly shoved in our face without choice. I happen to love porn – but only when I’m choosing to look at it, in private or with a partner. Not when I’m walking down the street, not when I’m with a child (who should not be seeing it), not when the male stranger standing next to me might be looking at her then transferring the image to me. It’s just unnecessary and imposing.
You shouldn’t have to be pornofied to be a woman on the cover of a magazine. Would you make a guy blow up a condom in the same way like he’s fellating it? If not, it’s just plain sexist.
loading...
I completely agree. I wonder how many of the people who think it’s okay for children to see porn-like images actually have children themselves or have any understanding of the harm that sexualised images have on children?
loading...
While I fully agree with both of you and my first thought was similar in regards to Porn and children, I actually think a child would just see a woman blowing up a balloon, well a young child anyway. At least she’s completely dressed.
loading...
I definitely would have known what it was when I was a kid. We were on the look out for anything that looked like anything even vaguely rude!
loading...
Is anyone else pissed off by Dubai constantly being referred to as a ‘country’? It’s part of the United Arab Emirates.
loading...
For heaven’s sake , banning this? I find the dreadful over photoshopping of women …and men more offensive.
Havent read all comments yet so maybe repeating others’ thoughts, but that fact she is smoking the condom , …double the outrage.
I wonder if the mag’s publishers are thrilled with all the publicity.?
loading...
What a joke. There are plenty of sexually provocative magazine covers that really shouldn’t make the cover but they do. Those covers are never banned. Why is this so controversial? She looks beautiful and the cover is styled and shot well. Banned? Who cares.
loading...
I think you’ll find that the countries that banned this cover also ban the other sexually provocative ones as well.
loading...
Yeah I bet they all banned stuff like that. Like how they banned provocative American Apparel ads like ‘now open’. Plenty of inappropriate stuff slips through. People just get desensitised to it so it is deemed acceptable in the media, they’d rather a woman barely dressed than a fully clothed woman blowing up a condom. Go figure eh.
loading...
Actually I lived in the middle east for several years and they not prefer a half nked women to a fully clothed one blowing up a condom. Even boxes of bras with a pic on the cover had a little sticker on them. Cd covers with cleavage were colored in. So plenty of inappropriate stuff does not slip through in some countries.
loading...
So because some inappropriate stuff slips through we should just let everything inappropriate slip through? I don’t really get the point you’re making. Surely we should set a standard – and continue to attempt to impose that standard even if there are occasional lapses?
loading...
Wow, really? Anybody who finds this even slightly offensive is taking themselves way too seriously.
As others have noted this magazine is fairly obscure, none of your precious little darlings are even going to see it.
I’m more worried that a 13 year old only just learnt what a condom is, and that half my senior year now have children…
Also Azealia is amazing and this cover is beautiful.
loading...
I almost didn’t notice what she was doing too entranced by her hair – it’s fabulous ! What a stunner, what hair. Am going Fo google her now to find out who the hell she is and look some more at her hair swoooon
loading...
Meh re: mag cover, at least she looks as if she’s eaten in the last week. Let’s keep the focus on Pussy Riot. #freepussyriot
loading...
Ummm… Dubai is not a country…
loading...
Um i’m more offended by the fact she’s flipping the bird! That is something my child would copy!
loading...
No she isn’t. She’s holding the condom like one would a cigarette – between middle and index fingers. That’s one of the points of the image.
loading...
So what, it’s just tacky and boring. Risqué is not the new black. It’s all been done to death, what is it saying – I’m so empowered I can blow up a hot pink condom? good Lord, blah! Can we talk about books and movies again?
loading...
I failed to say, no reason to ban it, it’s not as bad as some which really should be. It doesn’t inspire me, but thank goodness it’s a free country.
loading...
Complete over-reaction from those countries, I find poverty, hunger and homelessness far more offensive than a condom. Go safe sex! A toast to strong, confident, self empowered women!!!
loading...
Love Azealia Banks. Love this cover.
Honestly people, Dazed & Confused isn’t holding pride of place at the register at Woolies. It’s a niche magazine in Australia, a lot of newsagents don’t even have it, and those that do don’t display it prominently. Highly unlikely your little kid will see it, and so what if they do? Tell them it’s a balloon if you like, or just be honest and tell them what a condom is. It’s not the end of the world.
Do we have to make the whole world G rated because some kid ‘might’ see something meant for adults and ask an awkward question?
loading...
umm well depends how old the kid is but i think if you want to have it at the shops or something maybe put it on a higher shelf so the kids cant see the cover only the adults can, and like i mean if its a teenager who doesnt now what a condom is then if they see it tell them its a balloon or something like you said.
p.s. if you think it is unlikely for a teenager to not now waht a condom is, im turning 14 in like 2 months and i learnd what a condom was at the start of this month!!!
loading...
Honey, don’t take this the wrong way please, but if you’re yet to turn 14 I really don’t think this site is suitable reading for you.*
*Not that I didn’t do exactly the same at your age but lordy, don’t TELL people you’re 13! :p
loading...
hahaha thanx for the advice but i LOVE mamamia, and plus i dont care if im too young, i know what im suppose to be on and not suppose to be on, plus this is a school laptop so they are wacthing what i go on.
loading...
God it scares me that a thirteen year old in this country doesn’t know what a condom is.
I’m in my mid twenties and I went through sex ed in school when I was ten. Your school allows you to access this website but doesn’t teach you about safe sex? That’s scary.
loading...
ohh, its a condom!!
lols, i thought it was a vibrater or something, at first i was looking at it them im like WTF?? i was wondering what it was them i read the article and i was like ohh, a condom, awkward moment when your mother stares at you when you say that!! LOLS!!!
loading...
I must be the only one here who likes the cover. It’s different, it’s well designed (purple, pink, green hair and red, er, prop – the image definitely pops, and I love the typeface) and it’s racy enough to be interesting, but tame enough to be acceptable.
To the “won’t somebody think of the children” types, as was suggested below, it looks enough like a balloon to get away with it in the unlikely event your young child would see it and find it noteworthy enough to comment.
loading...
Aren’t all condoms inflatable…?
loading...
No class and unimaginative….
loading...
This cover represents Azealia as an artist and a person. She is risqué and should be admired for it. This cover is just portraying her personality and rapping style as it is, in a cheeky and fun way. And look at how much coverage this magazine and the artist is getting because of this cover – it’s a strategy to be admired!
As stated below, this is no worse than half-naked images of women that have been gracing magazine covers for decades, and which are only getting more promiscuous. I’d be more concerned about my child questioning the balloons on that lady’s chest…
loading...
At least she’s dressed as well!! lol
loading...
Why is she sucking on a condom? Why does she want to be photographed like this? Is it sexy? Is it supposed to make me buy condoms? Is it to make me remember to practise safe sex?
She just looks stupid.
loading...
She’s recently given up the cigarettes. Placebo Marlboro !
loading...
How silly that this is banned yet almost naked women on the cover of mags like zoo weekly are in plain sight to all and sundry!
loading...
Agree – but I would not buy the mag because it does not make me want to find out more and it’s just a stupid looking picture.
loading...
Wow, I expected something a lot more out there then this when I opened this link. I agree, not a cover for a 2 year old, but then I doubt my 2 year old would even give it a second look, no cars on it.
The only thing this image leaves me thinking is that I want her hair. Lol. Which is probably exactly what my 5yr old would day if she saw it.
It’s really a lot of fuss over nothing.
loading...
Azeilia is awesome this cover is tame for her if your offended by this for your own sake don’t listen to her music.
212 is my favourite song so far this year she rocks
loading...
Ugh. What’s annoying to me about the cover and the reaction is that it’s so utterly banal at the end of the day. I mean, putting a phallic object next to/in a woman’s mouth? Really?! Oooh how terribly risque!
You see it every bloody day on tv, billboards, magazine covers, etc. It’s just the fact that it’s visibly a condom and therefore the link to oral sex is overt rather than suggested, at least for those of us who know what a condom is, that’s causing this hand-wringing.
The offense, to me, lies not in the suggestion of sex but in just how boringly literal the images on offer actually are. I’d be thrilled to see something suggestive just once that was genuinely clever and aimed at actual adults (which, I think, would also make it something little kids would be unlikely to notice in the first place).
loading...
It’s a bit tacky for me, but if that were a reason to ban a magazine cover, we’d never see another Kardashian.
loading...
Gee what a naughty cover! Not surprised its been ban in 7 countries. Yes they need to ban it here I don’t want to explain to my 5 yr old daughter what the woman is doing on the cover.
loading...
Most little ones would probably think she is either blowing up a balloon or pretending to smoke and they’d tell you smoking is bad for you!!
loading...
and Dazed and Confused is often difficult to find/put with the rest of the hipster mags in a newsagent, so it’s not like it’s on every checkout at woolies
loading...
Bit of context: It’s Azealia Banks, who is a ridiculously good rapper at barely 21 years old, she’s great, had a troubled childhood, rose above, worked hard, released a video on youtube, went viral, is now touring the world, doing ads for Alexander Wang, releasing excellent songs AND DID I MENTION IS AN AMAZING RAPPER. There are not too many great ladies coming through this hugely male dominated field. So good on her.
So I just don’t think she’d give two hoots about offending anyone, or whether she looks trashy, or what she’s going to think of a magazine cover in 40 years.
Look up “azealia 212″ on youtube and get your offend on.
loading...
I just looked up “azealia 212″ as you suggested, Talia. She’s awesome!!!
loading...
Whoever thought that this photo was suitable for a front cover was obviously “Dazed & Confused”.
I’m certainly no prude, but I just don’t think that it’s a suitable cover shot. If used as part of a safe sex promotion, I suppose that it could get the message home to some. But as a cover, just tacky.
loading...
Laugh of the day, Bradley. Thankyou.
loading...
I just think it looks trashy and silly, but as other posters have pointed out, you see worse on men’s mags. Maybe I’ll tell my kids, in the event they ask, that she’s going to make balloon animals.
loading...
I don’t know if it’s boundary pushing, or just a bit tacky – what’s the point? Are they trying to make a statement or just be provocative. If it’s the latter, then it’s just lazy. If it’s the former, then I think they need to make that statement a bit clearer – because I have no idea what they are on about.
loading...
Given what is on a lot of mag covers these days I have no idea why this should be banned. Though am totally UNsurprised that Singapore and Dubai have chosen to ban it. I’m confused why you should be surprised by this? They are huge nanny states.
loading...
Dubai (by country, I assume you mean the UAE? Dubai is one of the emirates/cities in the UAE) and Singapore are both conservative countries, so it doesn’t surprise me that they have banned the cover.
loading...
Exactly. In the UAE, women only got the right to vote half a dozen years ago.
Switzerland is also pretty conservative. Women only started to get the right to vote in some cantons (like states) in 1971, and the last one in 1991. (Compared to Australian women who began in the 1890s.)
In Malta, another country where the cover was banned, divorce only became legal last year.
So in context, not that surprising which countries said no.
loading...
I think at the end of the day, you need to ask yourself ” Do I REALLY want a photo of me smoking an inflatable condom/penis/dildo on the cover of a magazine, for the world to see and possibly come and haunt me in 40 years?”
The answer for me is no.
loading...
Haha. Great comment!
loading...
Yes, extreme images might be easily accessible these days, but they are not so for my two-year-old. If I’m walking with her through a newsagency I would rather not have to explain what this young woman is doing and what that pink thing is. Or should I just lie and say she’s blowing up a balloon?
Well done, Rod Stanley, on getting so much attention for this stunt while apparently being so mystified as to why …
loading...
Yes, tell her it’s a balloon! I mean, some of this “will somebody think of the children!!” stuff makes me laugh hard. Calm down.
loading...
I guess it’s funny unless you have a very curious child asking lots of quesions. Do you think a two-year-old should start learning about safe sex?
loading...
No. Which is why I said in my previous message to tell her it’s a balloon. Maybe wait until this hypothetical situation has happened and then start worrying?
loading...
Oops, sorry, I mis-read your message and thought you were laughing at the idea of saying it’s a balloon.
I don’t know if you have kids, but once I did, images that really didn’t bother me before suddenly represented a whole world that I didn’t want my daughter to know about just yet …
loading...
I don’t see what the problems is! Walk into any news agent or service station and you are met with half naked women sprawled across cars or women posed in provocative shots.. At least this cover shot get people talking about the safe sex message!
loading...
my thoughts exactly! this is no worse than the cover of “zoo” or any of them
loading...
Not really offended, but what is the point of it, actually?
loading...
The were desperate for a pun headline!
loading...
I don’t know about banning it but to me I wouldn’t buy a magazine that has a cover with a woman looking so trashy on it, it just isn’t appealing.
loading...