The now well-known cover of New York Magazine, which featured 35 of Bill Cosby’s alleged sexual assault victims, was not originally intended to be a cover.

“New York Magazine is very known for its covers, and this caused such a stir,” said Jim Shahin, the moderator of the lecture.

Jody Quon and Noreen Malone, two of the editors who worked on the cover, spoke in the Joyce Hergenhan Auditorium in the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications Tuesday as a part of the Magazine Speakers Series. Quon is the photography director at New York Magazine and Malone is the senior editor. The two lectured to more than 60 members of the SU community about their experience working on the cover and held a question-and-answer session with the audience afterward.

Quon originally had the idea to do a photographic portfolio in January when so many of the women were coming out with their stories. She wanted to do it in a distinguished and elegant way, but didn’t know if the women would be willing to participate.

Quon said she spoke to Adam Moss, the editor-in-chief of New York Magazine, who wanted to get the opinions of other staff members first. Quon, however, said she felt that in the meantime, she should get a feel for how the women would respond. She called six of the women and all six were eager to participate.

At the beginning of the project there were 27 women on board. The women were all over the country, so the magazine flew them to major cities, including New York and Los Angeles, to shoot the pictures.

“The first set of pictures were beautiful portraits — we felt that the tone was right on and it gave Adam the encouragement to keep going, and then the news broke in July about the Quaaludes,” Quon said.

After this, Moss was able to see the story from more of an editorial point of view rather than just a gallery of images.

Malone initially came into the project to write the introduction and do interviews.

The women were gathered 10 to 15 at a time for the photo shoots. On the first day, the mood was very somber, and during the course of the day a whirlwind of emotions was expressed, Quon said.

“Those days when the women were together, they arrived not knowing each other,” she said. “By the time they left having spent the day together it was this amazing feeling of warmth and camaraderie.”

One of the interns working on the project had the idea of having the women on chairs. Quon loved the idea and the symbolism. He said they had each woman seated on the stool “as if in the old West ready to pull a pistol.”

The empty chair is symbolic of the women who have not yet come forward, and all the women who don’t feel safe speaking out about their sexual assault.

“To have this raw piece of emotion that taught us something about the way people process sexual assault and to just try to economize on space is a waste of opportunity,” Malone said.

Published on October 6, 2015 at 10:53 pm

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