[rant]
I work at Shoppers, so on Saturdays, when it's usually dead, I whip out Cosmo, Glamour, et al., to relieve my boredom. I never used to read this stuff, save for YM when I was a teen. I look at the ads, see what they recommend, I sell this stuff, so I like to know.
Anyhow, recently, I find myself more and more angered by the material in these mags. The pictures of skinny and beautiful women, in expensive clothing. The images of unattainable status. The generic articles that point out that ALL women are the same when it comes to men, or how to deal with his mother.
It's no wonder women struggle with themselves and the way they look, the way they measure up. It's perhaps wrong to blame print media for the insecurities of society, but seems to me, that there is a correlation.
But the problem doesn't end or begin there. I look at the pics of models on the runway. The way they look sick, with sunken cheeks. Like heroin addicts. Who decides what is beautiful? What is fashionable. They surely haven't decided for me. I can't help but wonder, how is it that more women aren't depressed when they read these magazines. How does it make them feel, generally? To think that even if we could afford that 700$ jacket or those 600$ Manolo Blahnik's, they surely wouldn't look the same as they do on the models.
Nevertheless, we read anyways. I do it to combat boredom. I do it because I sell cosmetics. I guess you could say I'm in the industry. Thankfully, most of my customers don't come in telling me they want to look like Halle Berry, or Sarah Michelle Gellar. But I wonder, do the young girls suffer as a result of the unrealistic images they see in magazines?
Ming.
[/rant]
I work at Shoppers, so on Saturdays, when it's usually dead, I whip out Cosmo, Glamour, et al., to relieve my boredom. I never used to read this stuff, save for YM when I was a teen. I look at the ads, see what they recommend, I sell this stuff, so I like to know.
Anyhow, recently, I find myself more and more angered by the material in these mags. The pictures of skinny and beautiful women, in expensive clothing. The images of unattainable status. The generic articles that point out that ALL women are the same when it comes to men, or how to deal with his mother.
It's no wonder women struggle with themselves and the way they look, the way they measure up. It's perhaps wrong to blame print media for the insecurities of society, but seems to me, that there is a correlation.
But the problem doesn't end or begin there. I look at the pics of models on the runway. The way they look sick, with sunken cheeks. Like heroin addicts. Who decides what is beautiful? What is fashionable. They surely haven't decided for me. I can't help but wonder, how is it that more women aren't depressed when they read these magazines. How does it make them feel, generally? To think that even if we could afford that 700$ jacket or those 600$ Manolo Blahnik's, they surely wouldn't look the same as they do on the models.
Nevertheless, we read anyways. I do it to combat boredom. I do it because I sell cosmetics. I guess you could say I'm in the industry. Thankfully, most of my customers don't come in telling me they want to look like Halle Berry, or Sarah Michelle Gellar. But I wonder, do the young girls suffer as a result of the unrealistic images they see in magazines?
Ming.
[/rant]
