Odds and Ends: That's 'totes' barf-arific

I wiped off my makeup, threw back my hair and pulled on my $10 pajama pants. I was determined to get through four copies of female magazines without a dip in self-esteem.

I spent my teenage years absorbing crap from Cosmopolitan and Glamour. Eventually, I decided to put down the glossies and pick up a newspaper. My reflection is much brighter now, even without the $85 bronzer Glamour advertised in their December edition.

Half way through my first magazine, I felt a familiar feeling of nausea. But now I cringe for different reasons. It wasn’t because a perfectly Photoshopped wonder was taunting me from the page; it was because I knew she was taunting younger girls around the world. And the taunting won’t stop for many of those girls.

The magazines depict what makes a female sexy and “totes” desirable — “totes” is new slang everyone should use in the place of “totally.” Just a little something I picked up from my read.

Oh, and Cosmo suggests creating cleavage to up your “hot factor” — in case the economy hindered your boob implant piggy bank this season.

Oh, and one more — I promise.

“When you’re sitting on a bar stool, cross and uncross your legs every minute or two,” Cosmo’s December edition suggests. “It’s a flirtatious action that draws attention to a body part men are dying to touch.”

Okay. I’m done.

Magazineland has gradually changed since I moved on. Glamour seems to battle between female empowerment and female objectification. The edition included Women of the Year acknowledgements. It also touched on the sex-slave trade and female politicians. But some parts were contradicting.

The writers said a Sarah Palin action figure — complete with a short, pink skirt — was disrespectful. A few pages later, the writers suggested rocking “anything short” like a dress.

If women continue dressing and acting like sex objects, we’ll be seen that way regardless of what title we hold. We can be chic, stylish and confident without looking like sex on a stick.

Three hours and one headache later, I couldn’t bring myself to read my last two glossies. I’ll save that battle for the trashcan.



----
Contact Emily Stuart at estuart@lsureveille.com

Comments

1 comments

DD

Fri Nov 28 2008 13:07

It's confusing; A vicious cycle such as this one makes me not want to be associated with the female sex.

Add comment


I am not posting spam. I understand posting spam or other comments that are unrelated to this article will cause my comment to be flagged for deletion and possibly cause my IP address to be permanently banned from this server.

Verify you are human:

Enter the characters in the image above: