I yelled at Bust today
I got my usual Bust Magazine newsletter email today and something caught my eye. An ad (see below) at the bottom for an upcoming B-movie festival pissed me off. I sent the editor a brief email stating I was already bombarded by images of violence against women all day from every other media source, why did a so-called feminist magazine have to become part of that? I haven't heard back yet.
I stopped subscribing to the actual magazine years ago because it became too commercially hipster-ish and too focused on toys of the adult variety. (Not that I have a problem with such devices, but I do think a feminist mag could certainly find something else to talk about besides the 83 new varieties of vibrators available in a given month.)
It's a problem I find in many women's magazines: they're always at an extreme. They're either too oversexed or too intellectual and/or depressing. It's as if normal everyday ladies just don't exist. Sometimes I just want to pull my hair out... but then I remember my inherent love for the glossy periodical and I get sucked back in. I read certain vapid magazines because I know they're vapid. I read other magazines because I know they're not. I just don't want to see the content from one seriously presented in the other. That'd be like reading an interview with Pam Anderson about miniskirts in Ms. Magazine.
Getting back to the issue at hand:
So why does Bust need to accept revenue from a client that has such provactive and violent images in its ads? Oh yeah, the Almighty Dollar... promoting the virgin/whore dichotomy since the beginning of recorded time.
Okay, I'm going to step down off my soapbox now.
3 comments:
good for you, tiny robot. what's insidious about this ad is that it not only promotes violence against women, but it also sexualizes such actions. unfortunately, not the only image of its kind that we see every day. yes, kids, doesn't it feel hard-on-riffic to victimize 51% of the population. it's soooo coool to put a gun in a woman's mouth!!! hence, Valley of the Dolls and a million other such "cool" and/or "underground" titles. but, i'm not bitter about our culture or anything. not at all.
even if you're not sure exactly what you DO want in a magazine, it's still good for you to express specifically what you DON'T want in one. and i'd say this kind of hits the nail on the head.
I agree with Baby G. Stand up, unite! We should launch our own mag. It will talk about women's health, women's issues, subversive cookery, and pop culture. Hellz yeah!
And whatever else you want. Cuz that's what I want to cover. Oh, and one section devoted to just how awesome women are!
Love ya!
~The Booklahver
Damn, I forgot to rail against the sexualized nature of the image. It's quite creepy and adds yet another level of misogyny to the ad. Thanks for bringing that up, Baby G.
Booklahver, I've been trying to think of a theme for a multi-person blog or website and your idea may be just the thing. Hmmm...
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