Every year, Esquire’s “Sexiest Woman Alive” cover story garners a lot of attention. This year the magazine crowned Rihanna with the title, offering up the pop singer naked on the cover, with only a couple leaves to hide her nether regions. When I saw the issue arrive in my mailbox, the cover — although it certainly caught my eye — may not have pulled me in with the most fitting photograph. Doesn’t the sexiest woman alive also have, in addition to her beautiful body, a beautiful face? The Esquire cover features Rihanna’s glistening body but most of her face gets lost behind her hair. Perhaps they covered a lot of her face up so you’d spend more time looking at her curves, but if I’m supposed to be reading about why Rihanna’s the “Sexiest Woman Alive,” I want to see the whole package. Also, once inside, the feature photo that accompanies the story looks too similar to the cover image. A little variety and a little more facial visibility wouldn’t hurt. Nonetheless, this month’s Esquire deserves a round of applause for putting Rihanna on the cover. She’s a symbol for not only sex and beauty but also for female empowerment, given how well she’s come back from her physical abuse scandal with ex-boyfriend Chris Brown.