During winter break, I decided I wanted to make a zine. Or a zine-y type thing. So I took out a heap of magazines - most were old issues of Seventeen Magazine (S/O to 2008 T-Swift!!) - and tried to find some sort of inspiration/common theme in them. What resulted was GORGE-OUS - basically a teeny tiny collection of simple collages that focuses on the relationship and interplay between food and body in teen magazines.
I first noticed throughout my digging was this weird contradictory message about how girls should feel about their body. On one hand, ideals of body positivity and loving yourself were sprinkled throughout the magazines quite a few times. On the other hand, there were specific sections tailored for girls yearning for that "bikini bod," including workouts ("GET FLAT ABS") and dietary suggestions ("DON'T EAT FRIES") . I felt this was kind of confusing. Is my "natural self" pretty enough? Do I listen to what I'm told to eat? At which point am I allowed to accept and love my body?
Likewise, I discovered that Seventeen (I suppose I'm now umbrella-ing other similar girl-targeted media under Seventeen, as I'm sure they do the same) surreptitiously objectified bodies itself. In most every issue, there was a recurring feature on which jeans/dress/whatever a women should buy, according to their "body type." The types that weren't "tall," "athletic," and "petite," were identified as "apple" and "pear." To me, designating the shape of a women's body - namely, those that don't align with the prevailing standards of beauty - as fruit is a little off-putting. Wouldn't it be just as odd if we dubbed "tall bodies" as "celery" and "petite" as like, "baby carrots"? For many in the beauty and fashion industry (not just Seventeen!), however, it seems that equating certain women's body shapes as kinds of food is more palatable.
What if instead, people just wear whatever they feel like wearing? Because in essence, these kind of guides for buying clothes that are your "most flattering fit" are basically trying to find ways for your body to conform to the typical mainstream beauty expectations. I mean, for some that may be what they aim for. But if I'm a "tall girl" and want to wear baggy boyfriend jeans even though it's a technical no-no for my body type, I shouldn't have to feel a shred of self reproach.
Lastly, a sort-of unrelated non-food-thing-but-still-body-objectification-thing was how Seventeen treated men (!!). I'm far from a meninist/MRA/red pill reddit user, but I do know that guys are also harmed from expectations for their gender. Like, imagine a men's magazine that has an article title "How to Meet Hot Girls!!" Seventeen was essentially the same; it advised its readers on where and how to snag a cute boyfriend - not unlike male pick-up artists teaching people how to charm girls. Seventeen defined the male psyche as basically sport-obsessive and masculine. The simplification of males as dudebros contributes to the standard that "real men do this, this, and this!" Another problematic and worth-mentioning issue with Seventeen's "love" section was the practically sole focus on just heteronormative relationships. Besides the occasional reader-submitted story, the magazine didn't publish much advice for LGBTQ individuals.
ANYWAY, these were my semi-coherent thoughts when making GORGE-OUS. It's a pretty short zine and doesn't take itself too seriously, but I had fun doing a non-writing creative thing and seeing how the collages almost formed themselves.
Hope everyone's had a good holiday season, and Happy 2016!
(Video Music Credit: https://soundcloud.com/keyboard-kid-side-stuff/pure-pure-you-look-so-good)
No comments:
Post a Comment