There’s no such thing as too much proof-reading, but messing up occasionally is inevitable, and we’ve all put out pieces with embarrassing typos and misheard quotes. But in what may be the most extreme copy-editing goof-up, the Washington Post’s magazine Express, published — on the front cover, no less — a massive male symbol instead of a female one. Alongside a caption about the forthcoming women’s march on Washington being held on January 21st to protest Trump’s inauguration into the White House.
Hilarious, but also a tad difficult to dismiss with the ‘thik hai, hota hai, keyboards are so hard to manoeuvre’ sentiment that has excused other cringe-making faux pas this year. Because this one isn’t down to a slip of the finger on the keyboard or careless copy-editing. We aren’t suggesting for a second that anyone jumps down their throats for the other typo in their tweet — Today’a — for instance. But if we are to believe this article on Culturess (which tells the Express to hire more women, learn to Google, or maybe take a close look at Beyonce’s formations on stage), a printed magazine has to undergo ‘a five layer approval process’.
It is shocking that an entire team did not cotton on to the Mars sign being used instead of the Venus (both symbols are derived from the Greek script). Twitter, of course, exploded with vicious jabs in response to the Express‘s apology, but some users also asked pretty valid questions, like how many women there were on the team that produced the cover image. Was the person who designed the cover a woman? Sadly Wa Po Express, it just isn’t enough to put a pink background on your cover about women’s rights if you aren’t up to speed on your very basics.