Magazine profiles a Wisconsin teen growing up in era of ‘social media, school shootings, toxic masculinity and a divided country’

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Esquire magazine has sparked a social media backlash with a cover featuring a white, middle-class teenager from Wisconsin.

The magazine’s March issue profiles Ryan Morgan, a 17-year-old growing up in West Bend who is pictured on the cover with the headline: “An American Boy: What it’s like to grow up white, middle class and male in the era of social media, school shootings, toxic masculinity and a divided country.”

Fran Tirado (@fransquishco) finally, the representation we've been waiting for pic.twitter.com/xhB33fagZU

In an accompanying article, the magazine’s editor wrote that Morgan’s story was the first instalment of a “a series on growing up now – white, black, LGBTQ, female” that will continue in forthcoming issues.

“What we asked [author Jennifer Percy] to do – and she did brilliantly – was to look at our divided country through the eyes of one kid,” editor Jay Fielden wrote, under the headline: “Why Your Ideological Echo Chamber Isn’t Just Bad For You.”

Percy’s story follows Morgan, a quiet high school senior who likes the Green Bay Packers and hanging out with his girlfriend, isn’t crazy about school but has pulled up his grades over the years, and hopes to work at a local water plant after graduation and become an environmental scientist.

Morgan is not overly political – saying he’s not one of the “white guys who all hang out with their trucks and guns and say, ‘Heil Trump’ and all that” – but considers himself a moderate with some conservative views that have gotten him heat at school.

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“I couldn’t say anything without pissing someone off,” he told the magazine. “Everyone hates me because I support Trump? … I couldn’t debate anyone without being shut down and called names. Like, what did I do wrong?”

Nonetheless, some online commenters panned the cover choice, noting that it came during Black History Month.

“Because you know what we don’t discuss nearly enough? The white male experience,” sports journalist Jemele Hill wrote on Twitter.

“Seriously, when I saw it I assumed it was a joke. Esquire does not know how to read the room,” said author Chuck Wendig.

“As a white, middle-class male I think it’s safe for me to say we’re not going through much,” added Twitter user Sam Craig.

“I do not mind that there exists an article somewhere in the world about young white boys of privilege needing to relearn about masculinity. I do mind that it’s on the cover of @esquire during Black History Month,” tweeted Abigail Collazo.