But she always has good points about things, and this week her letter to Seventeen magazine caught my eye, and I feel that I must re-post it because it raises such a good point.
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Dear Seventeen,
I am writing you concerning your headline on your June/July cover, "THE PARTY DRUG THAT CAN MAKE YOU FAT & UGLY." I hope you keep these problems in mind for your future issues.
First of all, "fat" is a descriptive term. It is not a negative thing if it is what is healthiest for a person, and I mean ACTUAL health, not like how your "Health" section is really just code for "Skinny" ("Feel lighter and leaner!") It's very disappointing to see your efforts with the body peace treaty and Jess Weiner's column about body image contradicted with the suggestion that fat=ugly.
By trying to discourage the use of drugs with the threats that it will make someone fat and ugly, you're saying the worst thing that can happen to your average reader, a teenage girl, as a result of drug use, is not that she will have any damage done to her brain or become unhappy, but that her appearance will suffer (again, being fat does not mean bad appearance, but that is what you imply.) Notice anything wrong with this picture?
I know that the reality is that people do value looks over intelligence, and that therefore, the easiest way to convince them not to do pot is that it will make them unattractive. But it doesn't have to be that way. Pop culture and the media, two things teenagers especially breathe, have quite a bit to do with the way teenage girls are expected to value beauty over all else. You, Seventeen, do too, and you have an influence, so use it. I know your intentions are good, but there are ways to discourage drug use without taking away from another important message. Teenage girls are worth more than looks, and we don't need another media outlet telling us otherwise.
Sincerely,
Tavi
P.S. I'm just taking a guess here, but could it be at all possible that your valuing looks over intelligence or happiness is somehow related to your advertising content?
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Fat is not Ugly.
And the fact that a young girls magazine is basically advertising that it is, is truly disgusting.
How are we supposed to stop anorexia if magazines are going to carry on going like this.
Just today I watched Saturday/Sunday's episode of Jessica Simpson's The Price of Beauty, where she meets a French model who became severely anorexic through modelling. It was such a sad story. It's quite grotesque that to become a model in France, you're contract states that you have to be a certain weight, and they weigh you and measure you everyday to make sure you don't gain weight. And if you gain weight it's a matter of losing your job/career! It's horrible!
You know what's even more disgusting? The fact that the other day someone (I won't name names) said to me that being fat makes it harder to make friends. I completely blew up at this because it's just so harsh to think that people these days will actually avoid making friends with you because you are fat. It's beyond shallow. Maybe we should just start avoiding the really skinny people... What the hell is coming to the world? Just imagine that, if this happened, we all separated ourselves from each other because of how much we weigh and how we look. Gross.
More things need to be done to stop this.
Which is why it was nice to hear that Isabelle Caro (the anorexic model from Jessica Simpson's The Price of Beauty) modelled naked to advertise the troubles with anorexia during Milan Fashion Week 2007.
xo
Listening to City and Colour.
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