Man Repellers founder, Leandra Medine Cohen, announced on Thursday that she will step back one in a long list of media resignations in the last week. She was responding to claims that the fashion blog she originally started in her early 20s had failed its former staffers of color.
The team deserves a chance to show you what Man Repeller can be with me on the sidelines, she wrote in a statement, so I am going to step back and let them show you.
Earlier this month, Cohen had published a letter in which she gave rather long-winded but vague answers for how Man Repeller could recommit itself to diversity. (One idea was by [read more]eaturing underrepresented voices more consistently on our editorial and commerce platforms and supporting them with our budgets.) In the comments section, readers argued that Cohens plan didnt go far enough, or address the reasons why the company had already failed to retain black and brown writers such as Crystal Anderson, Emma Bracy and Imani Randolph.
In the last week, Man Repeller has also been criticized for allegedly letting go at least one staffer of color since the pandemic took hold, according to Vox. Vox also reported that one former staffer of color says she was largely ignored by Cohen in the months before she left the company.
Man Repeller is hardly unique in failing to hire and retain writers of color. Just this week, the editor-in-chief of Bon Appétit, Adam Rapoport, resigned after employees spoke out about the toxic, racist culture within its staff, and Refinery29 founder Christene Barberich stepped down after former black and brown employees accused the company of discrimination.
Although its uncertain exactly how Cohen will be involved in Man Repeller going forward (her Instagram post shared no detail of what being on the sidelines means), the website clearly has a number of areas to address, including the future of its content.
Folded alongside the critique of racism is another cry from Man Repeller readers: that the fashion blog built on the idea that women should wear whatever they want, even if it makes men recoil has lost some of the irreverent, sharp-tongued ethos that made it take-off as a media brand in the early 2010s.
I found this site a breath of fresh air when I found it a few years ago, reads one comment on Cohens letter, before claiming much of the content it publishes today is more straightforward lifestyle writing, with a focus on dating and, increasingly, marriage. I dont say this to be rude. I appreciate people who put their writing out there, knowing it will inevitably be criticized. I guess I just want to ask yall who you think youre serving with these more recent pieces?
As a longtime reader of Man Repeller, Ive found myself asking similar questions about the websites meandering direction, even before Cohen stepped down. The voice and style I used to love seems absent from the website most days; visiting its homepage gives the impression of a rudderless venture. There is still lots of content about getting dressed, just now mixed with posts about aperitivo hour with your husbandor letting your husband choose your clothes for a week.
Right. Like many blogs, Cohens started out as a personal experiment at a different time on the internet, when first-person writing had yet to become the norm, and fashion media was hungry for zany, personable voices like hers and Tavi Gevinsons, of Rookie fame.
In the beginning, Man Repeller was just about Cohens personal style: the (often expensive, designer) clothes she was wearing, and why. But the site was always a mix of high- and lowbrow, and there was something thrilling about watching Cohen breathlessly pair clothes that (as the name suggests) might provoke shock or even disgust. In the decade since then, the internet has changed, and so has Man Repeller. Even Cohen has acknowledged the limitations of a website that singularly revolves around the act of getting dressed. Ive changed so much in the past seven years and Im sure that if Man Repeller was still so literally a personal style blog about trends that women love and men hate, I wouldnt feel energized and motivated every day,she told Vogue UK.
In 2020, man repelling also rings hollow as a concept. Who, exactly, needs to be told to stop caring about what men think? It assumes the audience is starting from a place of self-consciousness, of being concerned with what men think of their choices, and need some nudging in the opposite direction.
Even if you accept the premise, Man Repeller suffers from the same problems most of fashion media does: a tendency not to talk about money, failing to maintain truly diverse staff, and only occasionally incorporating plus-sized fashion into its coverage. (At the time of writing, the top comment on Cohens post about how she is taking time to read and reflect: Im sorry but MR can never be inclusive. Youd have to change your entire raisin detre [sic] capitalist driven exclusivity is your core and base, theres no changing that with a bit of reading.)
For years, Cohen has been the face (and driven much of the voice) of Man Repeller; without her, the website could become anything, and it will be up to the current staff to decide what that means. Maybe its time to burn it all down and start over from scratch.
With its founder gone, can Man Repeller ever be relevant again?
