Saturday, June 9, 2012

Out of Vogue

I'm not a reader of Vogue magazine. Go figure. I don't look like that; I don't dress like that; I can't afford that. I have strong opinions about the magazine's influence on how women view our bodies and our worth -- but it's part of such a pervasive, ridiculously unattainable culture, Vogue really doesn't come across my radar even when I glance at the magazines while I'm in line at the grocery store.

Except today. Evidently the editors of Vogue's international editions signed a pledge they're calling the "Health Initiative." Basically they've given themselves new rules to live by -- as if they didn't make the rules before.

The first and last of their position points seem like a definite departure from business as usual.

"1. We will not knowingly work with models under the age of 16 or who appear to have an eating disorder. We will work with models who, in our view, are healthy and help to promote a healthy body image.

6. We will be ambassadors for the message of healthy body image."

So Vogue is going to show us what healthy, normal women look like, huh? Instead of starving children in ridiculously expensive, not to mention ugly, clothes? Do you really believe that?

Here's how some of them kicked it off. This article shows photos of the Healthy Initiative covers. Doesn't look new to me. Most of those arms are thinner than my index finger! I'm not sure what looks healthy about any of those covers. But OK, they're covers. What's inside is what matters.

Each of the international issues ran their own version of a healthy body pictorial. Here, for example, is a photo from the German issue. It's one of several black-and-white photos of nude women that haven't been Photoshopped.



We're supposed to be impressed because it's not airbrushed. Seriously? (There are other photos in the story, including some of the editor. This one stuck out though -- like a bone.)

Fuck you, German Vogue, if you think this represents healthy. No offense to you skinny women out there, but this initiative is supposed to represent a change. This girl does not represent healthy -- whatever that is. She might be healthy, but she doesn't represent it in a magazine that says it's changing its image.

Italian Vogue went a different direction. Here's one of their photos. Except that her hair is so big it will probably put her in a neck brace, she looks healthy, and so do the other women in the pictorial. It's better, right?


Nope. They called this their "plus-sized" issue. That right there, ladies and gentlemen, is your fat model. She was hired for the fat issue of Vogue. Not the healthy issue, the fat issue, because don't kid yourself, that's what they mean by "plus-sized" at Vogue magazine.

Fuck you, Italian Vogue.

I haven't seen all the other issues, but I don't buy their shit for one minute. Here's what I have to say to Vogue: You've been complicit stealing and distorting women's body images for decades. Don't pretend now that you're promoting images of healthy women. You're not. Your lawyers have told you you've taken it too far and now you're trying to do damage control, and make money by pretending you've changed. You still don't get it.

So if you're going to make a big deal about showing healthy women and doing it without Photoshopping them, first do it in color. That's right. Don't hide behind black and white photos. And second, do it without making a big fucking production of how you're showing "healthy" models who are ::::applause::::: over 16 years old. Start there. But until then .....

Fuck you, Vogue. You don't represent me and I'm am a healthy woman.

Update:
Here is the video my son Drake posted in the comments section below. Love this video! Love my son!

 


14 comments:

  1. This pisses me off. I get that we need to start small and that any movement in the right direction is still movement, but you can't ask/expect the people who are the puppeters behind the scences constructing and perpetuating the sick to be the ones to be the ones to make the change. It's like asking someone with an eating disorder to pick the images of the healthy woman. And they're invested in continuing to construct and perpetuate a particular view and image of women. If they were to REALLY portray images of healthy women, and society were to see them as beautiful and worthy and healthy and whole, it would change everything. And that is beyond what they--and the majority of society--can handle. It makes me so fucking angry.

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    1. Good points, AutoD. I waited several hours to post this because I wasn't sure I wanted to give them any attention at all for this. But it pissed me off too much to stay quiet.

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  2. Sometime in 1998 while I was in grad school, I was doing a research paper on media socialization and body image perceptions of adolescent girls in the U.S. Oprah Winfrey happened to have a segment one day on her talk show on the changing image of beauty. I thought, "This is Oprah. She's going to have something profound on this image issue. It might just be a game-changer because, after all, it's Oprah." I was very sorely disappointed. She picked what I would call exotic looking female models to be on the show--a Sudanese, an Asian, an Hispanic. They were beautiful, thin but not bone-showing thin. This, to me, did not represent any change in our perception of beauty. I included Oprah's segment in my paper. It just reinforced what the researchers were saying about our media socialization of girls in this country. Obviously, with this new position taken by Vogue, not a damn thing has changed and it won't change until women reject the media's notion of healthy, beauty, etc., and adopt a more realistic notion, a notion they own.

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    1. I don't imagine anything will change, Dawn. We need to be kept miserable and wanting so we'll continue to try to buy happiness.

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  3. LOL! Ok, I am reading this on a computer that doesn't show the full screen. So, when I saw the picture of the Italian Vogue chick, I was so tickled, because, absent the 60's hair, that's what I look like! My body is shaped like that, almost exactly! Yay, I made Vogue!... oh wait. scroll down... I made FAT vogue! Thankfully, I don't allow fashion magazines to govern my sense of self worth.
    I have TV for that!
    Just kidding.
    Great post!

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  4. I should have said something about how gorgeous and sexy the "fat" model is, but that photo doesn't need words.

    The sad thing is -- and I hate this, but I'm not going to lie -- I'd rather look AT the Italian model, but I'd rather look LIKE the German model.

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  5. I think you missed a prime opportunity here. You showed us pictures that you feel don't truly represent healthy women and you finish this post by saying that you are "A Healthy Woman" but did not post the pictures for us to see. Don't hold out on us now!

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    Replies
    1. You flatter me, Vapor. My next post will explain why you'll just have to be happy with the pole-dancing photo. Knowing I'm healthy doesn't mean I don't see myself as disgustingly fat.

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  6. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gW6yQZyx5w

    ~Drake~

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    Replies
    1. Ha! Martini and I were torturing ourselves with a few hours of private karaoke practice and he sang "Baby Got Back." I love the acoustic version!

      I also remember the day my students introduced me to this song and how they laughed at my reaction.

      Delete
  7. Seriously though, that "plus size" model is where its at. I wouldn't look twice at the little stick figure (except maybe to ask if she was recently tortured in an concentration camp, and to buy her a half a sandwich (eating too fast after a period of starvation is bad for you))

    ~Drake~

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    Replies
    1. I'm glad I raised my son right. Seriously, there are some shit I'm glad I didn't pass on to you guys. Next post.

      Delete
  8. Those still don't look like the average woman!

    Here is a link to something I saw this week kind of poking fun of the poses models are in in pictures! It really tickled me! http://www.bust.com/blog/what-fashion-poses-would-look-like-in-real-life.html

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  9. To be fair, they said they were going to show healthy women. What a vague adjective.

    I don't think there is such a thing as an average woman. I wish they'd just show a wide variety and not insult us with designations like "plus sized."

    The poses are hilarious. I liked one commenter's suggestion to open a page where people can post their own poses.

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