This item has been corrected.
To celebrate the success of Wonder Woman, which is featured in a story in the new issue of Wired, the magazine printed a thank-you note dedicated to the “Wonder Women who helped get the magazine out.” It included several female staffers (including Maria Streshinsky, the executive editor), an acupuncturist, a pregnant CrossFit coach, Thelma and Louise, Elizabeth Moss, and “Coconut the dog.”
The list, drawn up for the regular colophon column featuring the staff’s thank-yous for each issue, caught the attention of FiveThirtyEight writer Christie Aschwanden, who shared a picture of it on Twitter, along with some biting commentary that speaks directly to the sexism in both the media and tech industries.
As Aschwanden notes, all the features in the issue were written by men—making the list all the more tone-deaf. The tweet generated the predictable outrage and was shared more than 1,200 times.
Lexi Pandell, a writer for Wired who was thanked in the list, chimed into the debate and explained how the list came to be. While regretting the gender disparity in bylines, she noted that the colophon note, dedicated monthly to something that “helped get the magazine out,” is sourced from the staff (men and women both).
In a statement shared on Twitter by Wired editor in chief Nicholas Thompson, Streshinsky said the staff thought it an appropriate time to dedicate the list to women, given the magazine’s (male-written) feature on Lexi Alexander, the first and only woman to direct a Marvel adaptation, and the opening of the issue with a (female-written) essay on automation and the loss of jobs in male-dominated fields.
The list, Streshinsky said, was merely an attempt to celebrate women who in some way supported the staff’s efforts to produce the magazine, and to honor the women working at Wired, who make up more than half the staff. Case in point, the full list was edited by the deputy managing editor—who is a woman (unlike Coconut, who remains a dog).
Correction: The August issue of Wired magazine did not include a feature on Wonder Woman.