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· May 15, 2008 9:59 PM by
Colleen Shirazi
· May 15, 2008 10:37 PM by
Dain
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Posted by Joy Rothke, Thursday, May 15, 2008 8:15 PM (Eastern)
I've been reading "women's magazines" since JFK was in office. I worked my way through long-gone titles like American Girl and Ingenue; Teen, Seventeen, Mademoiselle, Glamour; their big sisters Vogue and Harper's Bazaar (and their British and Canadian counterparts); Marie-Claire, Elle, Cosmopolitan, Lear's, Mirabella, More and Allure. I've probably forgotten several, but no matter. Page for page, issue for issue, they publish the same stuff month in and month out, year after year.
One of the Jezebel bloggers called them "insecurity factories." I wish I'd said that. Because they are--for all the surface feminism, empowerment, hipness, sexual freedom and 50 is the new 30--giant insecurity factories. Advertising-driven insecurity factories masquerading in journalism. Decade after decade, generations of females buy into it, then spend years trying to recover.
And I know this because they're already congratulating each other over the amazing achievement of a "plus- sized" model winning the cheezefest called "America's Next Top Model." If Whitney Thompson is plus-sized at size 10, what does that make me or you?
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May 15, 2008 9:59 PM,
Well, I look at it this way. Women are trained to be insecure, starting from childhood. Even if you know you're good, you're somehow not supposed to be as competitive as a boy, it's frowned upon.
So that's the thing. If you're not an insecure person, you're not going to be intimidated by airbrushed photos of models. You'll feel strong in your own right.
But if you are insecure, then you're going to be insecure in almost any given situation, magazines or no magazines.
I went back to work recently, I can tell you that most of the women in my office are way younger and better-looking than I am. But that's okay. I'm too old to care, I feel it's a phase you have to grow out of.
May 15, 2008 10:37 PM,
Most magazines are catalogues with clever captions, in my opinion. They are selling you stuff, an entire lifestyle, which includes a body type.
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