As a magazine writer, I tend to have a lot of magazines laying around -- in my office, at home and especially in my car (I usually catch up on reading when I'm waiting around for my kids at their various activities).
Last week, as I drove my son and his friend to baseball practice, the friend picked up a copy of a women's magazine that was on the floor between the seats. As he paged through it, he began to read coverlines and feature titles in an over-the-top dramatic voice.
"Sculpt sexy curves," he intoned breathily. "Walk your way thin...blast belly fat."
You get the picture.
The more he read, the more dramatic he got, and soon all of us -- my daughter included -- were laughing so hard I thought I was going to have to pull over.
In his voice -- and from his perspective -- it all sounded completely and utterly ridiculous.
And you know what? It is ridiculous.
The often-torturous things we women put ourselves through -- and the emotional investment we make -- in trying to meet a "standard" created by the very people who stand to profit most from our feeling insecure.
Sometimes, it takes a 12-year-old boy to put things in perspective.
So true! I actually had to go cold-turkey on the diet and fitness magazines, because I realized that not only were they not helping, they were actually hurting.
For me, the last straw was reading a fitness magazine that extolled the virtues of exercise and clean eating, and at the same time was filled to the brim with glossy, multi-page ads for fat-burning supplements.
Practicing what they preach? Hardly!
Posted by: Alyssa | 05/17/2010 at 10:35 AM
Oh, I love picturing this moment. How funny and, indeed, absurd.
Posted by: Rosie | 05/17/2010 at 05:35 PM
It's a pity that we seem to lose that perspective once we hit a certain age! Sighs.
My dad's come home for a visit from his United Nations job in Cambodia for just a couple weeks, and his stories of the corrupt things going on there really struck a chord with me... every time I hear about the Khmer Rouge and the after effects of it, I've reminded that there are much more important things in life than being the "perfect" size! It's good to have that does of reality.
Posted by: Sagan | 05/17/2010 at 06:28 PM
I know what you mean, Alyssa, about the advertising vs. editorial.
Rosie, it was funny...and absurd.
Sagan, you're so right. It's all about perspective.
Thanks for chiming in, everybody!
Posted by: Dara Chadwick | 05/18/2010 at 04:03 PM
Dara: Your post makes me wonder about what our culture does to boys though, too!
Because you're right: most 12 year old boys probably read mags targeted at women and think they're hilarious and useless. But yet the boys somehow evolve into the audience for 'lad mags' (basically all popular men's magazines, with their focus on hot chicks and getting hot chicks and cool gadgets) in such a short time.
So while the boys may be escaping some of these messages as kids and tweens....something reaches them soon after that usually affects how they think about and value women in our culture.
Still ruminating myself on what to do about that--and trying to make time to read Lyn Mikel Brown's Packaging Boyhood. http://packagingboyhood.com!!!
Posted by: Audrey Brashich | 05/21/2010 at 01:10 PM
That's an excellent question, Audrey, and I suspect you're right. Boys are just as affected by these images as girls are. Off to check out Packaging Boyhood...thanks for reading and commenting.
Posted by: Dara Chadwick | 05/23/2010 at 11:22 AM