Cropped image of the controversial cover

Cropped image of the controversial cover (Dossier/Facebook)

LOS ANGELES (KTLA) -- Barnes & Noble and Borders want to censor a magazine cover that features a shirtless androgynous male model.

The 19-year-old Australian model, Andrej Pejic, appears on the cover of Dossier with curlers in his hair and his chest exposed.

Both bookstores have demanded the magazine come wrapped in opaque plastic to prevent confused customers from thinking it features a topless woman, The Herald Sun is reporting.

Dossier co-founder and creative director Skye Parrott told "We knew that this cover presented a very strong, androgynous image, and that could make some people uncomfortable. That's partly why we chose it."

Parrott tells the site that the censorship poses a question of gender.

"What message are the big book stores sending - that the male torso is only appropriate all-ages viewing when the man in question is ripped?"

Those who oppose the censorship say if Pejic were more muscular and had a more masculine face, the bookstores wouldn't think twice about selling the magazine as-is.