Realistic images of women make a real difference

My mum regularly goes to England to visit her family there and she always brings me back a British magazine. Six years ago I asked her to look for a feminist magazine because I wanted to check out the lady-power publications from across the pond. What I ended up getting was a lesbian magazine called Diva.

My mum didn't realize she had bought me a lady-lovers mag until said she decided to read it on the plane ride home, which is an amusing mental picture for me. Anyhow, from that year on, she always brings me back a copy of Diva, and I've grown to really like the magazine even though I'm straight as an arrow.

The most recent issue I received was from May 2012 and I was thoroughly impressed. I'm really passionate about the representation of women in the media - in particular, the over-saturation of impossibly perfect, highly Photoshopped images of women that are jammed down our throats every day. Over exposure to these images of super skinny women with no pores, fat, wrinkles, imperfections or stray hairs creates an an unrealistic beauty standard, which results in many women feeling inadequate.

That's why I was so excited when I saw these models in Diva magazine - they made me feel great! It's not very often that I feel good about myself after looking at women in magazines, but this time I did. It was a fantastic feeling. And I know that it wasn't just me "reading too deeply" into the images, because a friend of mine flipped through the magazine and upon seeing the images said, "HEY! These girls are like... normal! It's so awesome!"

In my personal experiences chatting with women about this subject, I find that women are crying out for images like this in the media. Are you listening, magazine editors? WE WANT MORE REALISTIC IMAGES OF WOMEN!

This is perfectly illustrated by the recent online petition started by 14-year-old Julie Bluhm. She requested that Seventeen magazine print just one unaltered photo spread per month. Over 70,000 people have signed the petition, but Seventeen magazine has refused to budge.

The women in Diva magazine's spread are both slim and have great skin - basic requirements for most models - but they are softer, fuller and their "imperfections" (such as moles) have not been erased by Photoshop. They convey a healthy, natural look and their skin isn't plastic-like. Their faces aren't caked in makeup and their hair styles look like something I could actually achieve at home and feel comfortable wearing in public.

I'm sure that these images have been touched up with Photoshop to some extent (it's pretty much standard in the industry), but it's not ridiculous. They are a more realistic, down-to-earth representation of women. Kudos to Diva magazine for using models like this. I can't wait until we see more of this in all magazines.

Ad-busting L'Oréal's Roller Foundation

Just some good ol' fashioned ad-busting

I used to do a lot of ad-busting when I was in university. I even taught ad-busting workshops to teens and university students. I haven't done any in a while and I kinda miss it, so I thought I'd post a few of my favourite busted ads and maybe it'll help inspire me to do more!

A Word-y Pledge

Thanks to Readtheprintedword [dot] ORG, print lovers all over the world can now find and embed one of ten buttons to be used all over the Internet as a way of displaying their love of hand-held texts (no matter the form) and of supporting publishing in its most basic fashion.

We obviously love to read, not only as writers and publishers but as educated students. If you also love to read (and find this as neat as we do), feel free to choose your favorite image and embed it on your Facebook, blog, website or any other online tool you enjoy using and pledge to support printed words.

GQ's November issue turns Glee into porn

Is this Glee photo shoot too sexually explicit for the audience it courts? I think so. Glee is a hugely successful television program that's popular with tweens and teens. It's also wildly popular amongst adults too, but the producers of Glee have to remember that if youth are a big part of their audience, the actors shouln't be posing like porn stars.

The racy photo shoot features Dianna Agron (Quinn), Lea Michele (Rachel) and Cory Monteith (Finn). The Los Angeles Times has a really good article about this, and these two paragragraphs were stand-outs for me:

Monteith is, of course, fully clothed. Not so his female costars, who bare their midriffs and décolletage, bras and panties, in thighs-spread, derriere-hoisted poses made more than slightly unsettling by their school-girl ensembles. Michele, in particular, seems to be auditioning for a live-action version of Japanese anime porn.

The result is not so much saucy and in-your-face as it is predictable and depressing -- oh look, more young women being asked to assume the position, this time complete with pom poms and lollipop. No doubt Agron and Michele did it to be sexy and playful, and were not at all manipulated by forces that have put generations of young women in precisely the same poses for precisely the same reasons -- to feed the fantasy, promote the show and sell magazines. And that just makes it worse, doesn't it?

First, it upsets me that young girls look up to these actresses and here they are posing like porn stars... great. Second, I'm so fucking sick of the same old "sexy" poses: girl licking lollipop seductively, guy with two girls, girls sticking their butts and breasts out, etc. I mean really. Get some god damn originality. Third and finally, I know that all the people in this photo shoot are adults, but they play teenagers on a television show. GQ is a magazine for men, and considering that these photos are set in a school, the photographer has essentially served up over-sexualized images of school girls to grown men.

Any other Glee fans out there? What do you think of these pictures? Today, I am sad to report that I've lots a little bit of respect for Glee.

The Threesome. Super creative and original!

The crotch shot. Another classic.

Oh, the lollipop in the mouth! Another CLASSIC!
And by classic I mean completely unoriginal.

If this isn't skinny, I don't know what is

The feminist blog-o-sphere is up in arms about the new cover of Shape magazine. This month's cover girl is Kim Kardashian - looking smokin' hot (although probably highly photoshopped) in her purple bikini. So what's the problem? Well, read the words printed next to her left bicep: "I'll never be one of those skinny girls."



Hortense, a writer at Jezebel comments, "As if we're supposed to find this admission believable and heroic as it sits next to an airbrushed picture of, uh, a 'skinny girl' who is currently a spokeswoman for the Kardashian QuickTrim diet pill system, a program she claims, in commercials for the brand, will help you create the body you deserve... In celebrating and promoting Kardashian's statement that she'll "never be one of those skinny girls," even though she very clearly already is, the magazine is essentially telling its audience that Kardashian doesn't represent thinness, which is ridiculous."



Sociological Images also has some great comments about this magazine cover - be sure to check it out.

backyard bliss

to me, the best things in life are: sunshine, a drink, and a good read.
ok so maybe not the BEST things, but some of the best! yesterday (and once again today) i sat in my backyard enjoying some magazines and books while sipping on some lemonade and then breaking out the deck of cards and playing card games with le sisterrrr. today its going to be a whopping 24 degrees Celsius in Toronto, not that hot but definitely warm enough to possibly get a tan and sit outside sleeveless! before i head back outside i'll have to hit the gym up to feel like i've accomplished more than sitting. BTW, I finally got a job, a REAL job...aka 40hrs/week permanent! horray for me! maybe i will finally be able to do some posting later on with some fabulous new wardrobe items courtesy of my new paycheques to come! for now: enjoy the pictures and if you have time to sit in the sunshine today i highly recommend it!!!! :)

Pattinson's Pretty Props

Robert Pattinson (a.k.a. Edward the vampire from Twilight) is on the cover of the March 2010 issue of Details magazine. And so is a woman's crotch.



Every photo used in this story includes random naked women. Their bodies are used as objects or props - perhaps they're meant to add "mystery" or "beauty" or "artistic merit" to these photographs - but using beautiful naked women as props in photography is the oldest, sleaziest trick in the book. The women's bodies are dehumanized - they look like mannequins, and their purpose is the same as a mannequin - look good and be silent.



Gwen from Sociological Images comments,

"What struck me was the way that the photo shoot uses naked women as props for Pattinson’s masculine display... It’s not just that there are naked women as props or backdrop; it’s that in some cases, he seems utterly disinterested in them... It’s a double form of objectification: women’s naked bodies are used as stage decorations in masculine displays, and yet their presence is not even necessarily interesting to the male protagonist."

Throw your very own B-Word/ Bitch Party!

Now, how much fun would it be to gather a handful of your coolest feminist friends together for drinks, snacks and a good cause? A crapload of fun, that's how much!

Bitch Magazine is asking all lovers of alternative women's media to support B-Word Worldwide, the non-profit organization that publishes Bitch magazine (one of our favourites) by throwing your own house party fundraiser.

We at Yeah, What She Said are pretty passionate about having the ability to voice our fiesty opinions. Publications such as Bitch magazine have played a huge role in allowing the women of our fine generation to do this, so we thought it would be nice to spread the love and encourage you to get involved. The goal is to generate a minimum of $1000.00 at each party. There's an in-depth House Party Planning Kit available to print or download if you would like some guidelines on how to make it all happen. Of course, the nature of your house party can take on a number of forms depending on your
preference (a chilled out sit-down dinner, perhaps? Or a cool mixer with tons of drinks and rad tunes!) There are few things better than socializing for a good cause and B-Word Worldwide is giving each of us the perfect excuse to do just that.
Grab the planning kit here and visit this link for further contact and donation details.

Should "Childlike" and "Sexy" Go Together?

This is the current cover image of Rolling Stone magazine. From a feminist perspective, I have two problems with the way the women are pictured here.

#1 Infantilization – This is a common technique used in advertising/fashion photography. Women are photographed in child-like poses that are meant to convey a sense of innocence. I find it creepy that as a society we are so outraged by pedophilia, yet we continually portray grown women in child-like poses and think it’s sexy. There is something deeply disturbing about sexualizing childhood.

#2 Lesbian Reference – Again, this is commonly used in the media. We seem to have no problem showing two beautiful young women in a sexual pose together – yet we never see two butch women, two regular-looking women, a butch with a femme... etc. We only see beautiful models together. And don’t even get me started on that fact that we never see male homosexuality in our media. You know our society is fucked up when we feel more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than two men holding hands.

Anyhow, I digress.
My point is that this image is completely lacking in creativity (it’s been done a million times before) and it also continues the North American media legacy of degrading and over-sexualizing women. Final verdict: two thumbs down.

Maybe women have come to their senses?

Have women come to their senses and stopped reading rubbish "women's magazines"? You know, the ones that claim to empower and educate us, but really just make us feel shitty about ourselves.

The following magazines reported double-digit declines in the second half of 2008. Which ones will survive 2009?

• O, the Oprah Magazine
• Redbook
• Teen Vogue
• Glamour
• Harper's Bazaar
• W
• Marie Claire
• Allure
  

*PS - if you're looking for a rad feminist-minded magazine to subscribe to, check out Bust and Bitch.

This is what Christmas looks like at Playboy

Just in time for Christmas, the Mexican issue of Playboy features a nude "virgin Mary." I'm not even religious and I'm offended by this!

From an article in The Sun:

The December issue features model Maria Florencia Onori posing as the Virgin wearing nothing but an angelic white cloth.

The release was timed for the day before Mexico's traditional Day of the Virgin of Guadalupe, a celebration of an apparition of the Virgin in the town.

Its headline reads in Spanish: "We adore you, Mary."

*Sigh* I hate our culture's obsession with female virginity.