CHARMLESS MAGAZINE
content about .............................................................. 1 NLOGs (Not Like Other Girls) and the ‘Other Girl’ .................................................... 2 the problematic history of hypebeast and streetwear culture ............................. 8 does online beauty culture help or harm? .......................................................... 14 the growing importance of sustainability and the future of fashion ................. 19 my favorites (& reccomendations) .... 24 how to compliment women without objectifying them..................................... 26
about This zine was created to present inclusive and educational information focusing on intersectional feminism and queer issues that effect Gen-z; talking about gender and sexuality, the role that media and social media has played in our lives, philosophy, sustainability and environmental issues. CHARMLESS Magazine aims to explore and expand upon issues that affect teenagers in the 21st century. The emphasis of this magazine is on the importance of individual action, radical fashion and youth culture.
Besides the print magazine, CHARMLESS Magazine also offers a PDF version of the magazine online.
1
NLOGs (Not Like Other Girls) and the ‘Other Girl’ - internalised misogyny and the harmful effects it has on women “She was created to be the toy of man, his rattle, and it must jingle in his ears whenever, dismissing reason, he chooses to be amused.” Mary Wollstonecraft, ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Women’, 1792 To some women the worst thing you can be is ‘like other girls’. On the internet and in real life, there is a significant backlash, largely by young women, against other women who look or dress in traditionally feminine ways or primarily enjoy popular femineine media and music. This often takes the form of phrases like ‘I’m not like other girls’ and almost as soon as this phenomenon began to take hold, the backlash against it exploded. There exist entire internet groups exclusively designed to make fun of women who claim they’re ‘Not Like Other Girls’ (or NLOGs for short). Many people feel as though NLOGs are simply pitting women against one another, one Odyssey think-piece by writer Kelsey Dilling called the phrase ‘I’m not like other girls’ sexist, citing the idea that it imposes an artificial binary on women which fuels the notion that women should be shamed for choosing to look or dress in a certain way. This phenomenon is a particularly interesting one to examine largely because a lot of women have been on both sides of the NLOG trend at different points in our lives. Many girls have at some point gone through a phase of hating this archetypal idea of “other girls’’ and eschewing anything feminine, and getting over this hatred is often considered a signifier of having grown up. On the other hand, even though many of us used to be NLOGs to a certain degree, there is a clear lack of empathy towards them, and a lack of cohesive, agreed-upon reasons as to why this phenomenon is so popular in the first place. Why is this such a specific and gendered phenomenon? And are the people claiming they’re “not like other girls” deserving of widespread hatred and mockery, or do they have a point?
2
What is a NLOG? No two “NLOGs” are exactly the same, as there are many ways to be “not like other girls”. It’s difficult to group women who are “not like other girls” into any one specific social category, rather, the common thread tying all of these posts and comments together isn’t about any unique identity that the NLOG has. The central focus of these posts isn’t really on what they are, but what they are not. So what we really shouldn’t be asking isn’t, “Who are the NLOGs”. It’s “who are the Other Girls”? While what NLOGs are tends to vary by subculture, the universal image of what she isn’t tends to be pretty consistent - The Other Girl. We see the ‘Other Girl’ in all kinds of popular media; she’s typically blonde, thin, popular, beautiful, dressed in expensive and revealing clothing, primarily enjoys mainstream movies and music, and is often implied to be sexually active, with negative connotations attached to that activity. The Other Girl is also represented as an archetype media, typically as antagonists, bad because they’re mean and rich, but also because they’re popular, vapid, and fundamentally shallower people than our multifaceted protagonists, who are often valued for their wit and lack of conformity to cultural norms. Most representations of the NLOG and ‘Other Girl’ serve to highlight the protagonist’s awkwardness compared to the flawless beauty of the Other Girl, imbuing further sexist ideals of female beauty. These representations seem to impart a level of authenticity upon their protagonists that isn’t awarded to the rest of society and to the ‘Other Girl’, more interested in makeup and revealing clothes than intellectual pursuits, and don’t seem to be capable of any individual, rational thought. This concept tends to rely on a lot of false binaries when distinguishing between the protagonists and Other Girls - that you can either be an independent human who likes reading and hoodies, or a vapid Other Girl who likes lipstick and miniskirts. The idea that you could be both is never really something brought up or addressed; thus, the implication is that our protagonist is the only woman capable of deep thought and empathy. Indeed, this Other Girl isn’t a real human-being, she’s a strawman embodying everything the author hates about society. So, why does this phenomenon seem to almost exclusively exist within women? Broadly speaking, we’re not typically seeing men who prefer doing something typically ‘unique’ over something more common, feel the need to excessively imply the ‘Other Guys’ are dumb and shallow and they’re the only multifaceted guys in the world.
3
Basically, It’s misogyny. What if the “Other Girl” is Good and what if the main reason NLOGs don’t like Other Girls is because society is fundamentally misogynistic? This is the thesis of a lot of arguments discussing NLOGs, including that of a video by YouTuber Tiffany Ferg titled “I’m Not Like Other Girls”. She argues that we’re taught from a very young age to hate all things typically associated with women - nail polish, clothing, makeup and anything else traditionally feminine - and deride it as stupid or unimportant. Consequently, we associate those negative descriptors with women who prefer traditionally feminine things as well, which is why we have such a hard time believing women can be both intelligent and feminine and why Elle Woods is the greatest film protagonist of all time for using her knowledge of hair perms to catch a murderer. Growing up in a society that often makes fun of women for femininity might lead us to believe that women are lesser, which we might apply both to ourselves and to other women - typically called “internalized misogyny” (which is a controversial term but shouldn’t be). Our dislike for women is reinforced in a few ways, one is popular media. For example the phrase, “You’re not like other girls” has been a compliment from men in romance movies and books for ages, and it’s typically considered to be a very high compliment. I have never seen a woman in a movie respond to that with “okay, well, what’s wrong with other girls? Why do you think so poorly of my whole gender that being as little like a girl as possible is a high compliment”? When you see and absorb these messages from a young age, it’s easy to be taught that girls, on the whole, are bad, and that not being like them is desirable. It’s thus unsurprising that some women react to this lesson by trying very hard to distance themselves from other women. Generally speaking, when love is involved in media, our protagonists tend to be praised by men for their lack of traditional femininity, which some might argue can kind of teach us to hate on femininity and other women for male approval. When the TV and movie representation of Other Girls is generally as shallow, unlikable people, while our female protagonists are portrayed as unique in their depth and intelligence, it makes sense that a lot of young girls are going to start to believe they are the only girl out there with intelligence and depth. That would also serve to explain why this is a phase a lot of women grow out of as they get older, once our worldview becomes shaped a lot more by the people we interact with than by what coming of age movies tell us other women are like, we can gain a much more accurate and fair understanding of how our peers actually work.
4
And the idea that NLOGs are primarily seeking to distinguish themselves from Other Women so that men will like them or see them as cool is a really prevalent one. Many online groups calling NLOGs ‘pick me’s’, alluding to the fact that NLOGs are primarily seeking out approval from men (‘Get picked’ tends to mean being romantically desired by a man, although this can also more broadly mean wanting to be seen as “cool” or “one of the guys” by men). However, I’m not entirely convinced that the primary reason the NLOG phenomenon exists is because women with internalized misogyny are trying to get “picked” by men. To be honest to me this just feels like it’s further reinforcing the idea that no matter how a woman acts, she’s doing it to impress a man. I mean, when we have prominent cultural figures asserting that the only reason a woman would wear makeup or high heels at work is to attract men, while we simultaneously have people claiming the only reason a woman would aggressively reject makeup or high heels is to attract men, it kind of makes you wonder whether people think we have any agency at all. So why else might women end up being NLOGs? And is the idea of the quintessential NLOG just as flawed as the idea of the quintessential Other Girl? Again, It’s Misogyny, the idea that the main reason women might seek to distance themselves from more feminine women is internalized misogyny. But I also think that this idea blames the individual and concludes that the problem is endemic to her and that’s overly simplistic. This characterization that Hating Feminine Things explicitly means you always have internalized misogyny misses out on a big part of the picture, and that’s that there’s a real pressure for many women to conform to society’s mold of femininity. There’s still a pressure to look effortlessly beautiful, to wear makeup just enough that people can’t tell you’re wearing makeup, to have your hair done just right so it looks like you woke up looking perfect, to be perfectly smooth while never alluding to having to dedicate any time to it lest you look high maintenance. In effect, that means there exists a pressure to be the effortlessly beautiful Other Girl. This is reinforced both systemically and on a personal level. For one, there’s real evidence to suggest that women who wear makeup in the workplace and are perceived as “attractive” are paid more and are treated better than women who don’t do this. Societal pressure for women not to appear overly
5
masculine is a real thing, and it absolutely hurts women who want to cut their hair or not shave their legs or go makeup-free. Certainly, a lot of that pressure comes from society on the whole being misogynistic, but many women can and do reinforce those pressures on each other as well. The idea that you can apply this dynamic of oppression where less feminine women are somehow the oppressors of more feminine women doesn’t hold up, a lot of the conversations surrounding NLOGs are too quick to frame it automatically as less feminine women always bullying more feminine women. In effect, when misogyny in this context is used more for a hatred of femininity than of women, that can equate being a woman with being feminine and that can ignore women who don’t conform to gender roles in a variety of ways by implying they’re somehow privileged or that their desire not to be feminine is a result of the hatred of women. Creating this stereotype of the evil, less feminine woman who universalizes all other women as silly and trivial misses out on part of the picture. And that’s that implying women are dumb and only care about boys and makeup and aren’t capable of rational thought is not unique to women. Guys do it too, and we don’t have specific negative labels we ascribe only to guys for implying women are bad and dumb. In effect, what happens is that in our attempt to criticize women who mock and shame other women, we’ve just created another archetype of women who it’s okay to make fun of. And in doing so, we’ve created a really specific image of the type of person who shames women and is bad. Which means we’ve completely ignored the fact that a) many “feminine”women also bully and shame less “feminine” women, and b) many men also bully and shame both more and less feminine women, and in both those cases, that’s not the behaviour we’re focusing on. Instead, we’re focusing all our energy on criticizing the archetypical NLOG. While we’ve created this persona of a quintessential Other Girl to mock, we’ve also created this persona of a quintessential Not Like Other Girls Girl to mock, and that’s not better. In effect, that leads to us deciding that because some women who shame other women who possess certain traits it is now acceptable and okay to mock women who have those traits. This is highly problematic as It obfuscates the fact that there are many men do this to women too, and effectively creates a socially acceptable type of girl to mock under the guise of feminism.
6
On the whole, we just need to be more kind in terms how we treat each other. Part of that means we need to move away from the societal pressures that reinforce the idea that there’s only one way to look or dress, and that rejecting that perspective means there’s something wrong with you as an individual. We also need to take a broader outlook in terms of understanding why large groups of people all feel a certain way, instead of just assuming they’re inherently bad as individuals. When there’s a massive gendered phenomenon of women seeking to distance themselves from other women in a way that doesn’t really exist for men, we shouldn’t and can’t stop short at assuming it’s just because women are somehow naturally predisposed to hate each other. Usually when this degree of hatred for one another is happening, it’s because someone benefits from it. We need to understand that there are entire industries predicated on pressuring us to look and be certain ways. Starting from a place of love for one another isn’t ever going to be universal, because there are some people who are going to be terrible no matter what. And you’re not going to dismantle every harmful social force in the world through kindness. But you also can’t dismantle every harmful social force in the world without kindness, and it’s a necessary starting point for treating one another with respect. However, more recently there is a phenomenon of young men participating in this culture too. Historically we haven’t seen a mass occurrence of teenage boys claiming there’s something wrong with “other guys” and actively striving to be as little like “other guys” as possible. However, due to social media apps such as tiktok, and the rise of ‘alt’ groups, male stereotypes are instead sorted into sections rather than one group pitted against another. These groups include the ‘alt’ boys, ‘skaters’, and ‘femme boys’, they have existed for decades but are now being reinforced through social media. However, this doesn’t seem to be a mass phenomenon across a huge number of young boys the same way the NLOG phenomenon exists for young girls. But will this phenomenon grow for men in our society? and if it does, will it cause the same level of harm as it does for the women of our society?
7
the problematic history of hypebeast and streetwear culture and how social media has become the answer to toxic masculinity “The men of our civilization have stripped themselves of the fineries of earth so that they might work more freely to plunder the universe for treasures to deck their ladies in. … Men stripped themselves of all excess or femininity, while women are forced to be the object in which men consume.” Germaine Greer, The Female Eunuch.
Womens fashion is often hounded as problematic, from the image it projects of womens bodies to the racial exclusivity and classist structure that remains heavily prominent today. However, less talked about problems is mens (or more traditionally masculine style) fashion. Street wear is casual clothing of a style worn especially by members of various youth subcultures. Streetwear is an all encompassing umbrella of styles & themes as the ‘enthusiasts’ love to ‘sample’ styles from other subcultures & give it their personal stamp. This mainly includes; 90s sportswear, surf style, early 2000s hip-hop, skate gear, Japanese street aesthetics and recently has moved into high fashion and couture. Since the late 1700s, mens fashion has immensely changed. When looking at the colourful garments that were worn by aristocrats and court members of the past, it’s quite obvious that, along the line, something happened that made men’s clothing far more muted, drab and no-nonsense. How did the epitome of masculinity go from a high-heeled man adorned with jewels, donning billowing, silky, colourful fabrics and even a powdery, made-up complexion, to the austere, monochrome and incredibly subdued three-piece suit? This process, known as the Great Masculine Renunciation, was explored by psychoanalyst John Flugel in his book, “The Psychology of Clothes”. An opinion piece by Anastasia Vartanian titled ‘The Great Masculine Renunciation - A.K.A How the Colour Drained out of Mens Clothing’ speaks on this phenomenon explored by Flugel stating that this ‘revolution in male dress’ was prompted in part ‘by other, bloodier revolutions … such as the French Revolution (1789-1799)’
8
which exported new social ideals of meritocracy over inherited privilege, and equality over steep economic disparity, ‘Liberty, Equality, Fraternity’. As these new ideals permeated society, ‘the decadent dress of the ancien régime fell out of fashion’. According to Flugel, ‘fashion is one of the best indicators of social, ideological and political change’ and The Great Masculine Renunciation ‘occurred around the end of the seventeenth century and beginning of the eighteenth’, was a movement in which ‘man abandoned his claim to be considered beautiful… [and] henceforth aimed at being only useful’. This included the abandonment of bright colours, loud patterns, high heels, shiny accessories and any other types of ostentatious adornment. For contemporary males, it may be a given that an elaborate, extravagant dress has always been merely “a female thing” but evidently that is untrue. Flügel found contemporary European clothing seemed to be out of keeping with what normally occurs in nature where the male ‘is more ornamental than the female’. He argues this is because there was a profound reorganisation of masculinity during the political and economic revolutions of the 18th and 19th centuries. An example of this is heeled shoes which were actually originally worn by men from the Middle East due to their suitability for riding. Heels were soon adopted by aristocrats who thought it gave them a virile, powerful edge then became adopted by women because of a trend to look more masculine around the 1630s. In this time, women were donning heels, smoking pipes, cutting their hair and wearing masculine hats. Heels only fell out of favour with men due to the afore-mentioned shifts in social ideology. Women were not privy to the new belief that all men should be given an education as they were seen as ;emotional, sentimental and un-educatable’, so they were left to enjoy aesthetic pleasure as much as they pleased. This is how the high-heel, which once symbolised military might, came to be associated with female narcissism, frivolity and promiscuity. Clothing has played and still plays a key role in shaping personal identities beyond conventional gender roles as well as, more collectively, those of subcultures who often adopt specific styles of clothing as an expression of solidarity. As the LGBTQ+ community has become part of mainstream culture, so has our style. According to an op-ed by Anita Dolce Vita titled ‘How Queer Fashion Is Changing the World’, “
9
queer style is not simply an of-the-moment trend but rather a social movement”. Queer style is systemically rooted in gender non conformity and intrinsically tied to the communities identities. It dismantles limiting style rules that have been systematically employed as a means of symbolically and literally perpetuating restrictive binaries and suppressing freedom of expression. Fashion has historically been political, particularly for marginalized groups, especially that of women’s rights activists and the LGBTQ+ community, who are at the forefront of revolutionizing the way in which we look at garments in relation to our gender performance and expression. As fashion critic and journalist Alexander Fury once stated, “Clothes are politicized objects, a sartorial billboard, a manifesto on your back. You can still be arrested for wearing the wrong thing in the wrong place — and, beyond the laws of basic public decency, that’s because people often don’t want to hear what your garments are telling them.” For example, ovements such as ‘The Lesbian Avengers’, a direct action group focused on issues vital to lesbian survival and visibility, utilied traditional feminine and sexual clothing to combat the idea of the ‘lesbian prude’. An article by Luke Leitch, Deputy Fashion Editor at The Times and The Daily Telegraph, titled ‘Guys in Skirts Is Only the Start—The Menswear Revolution Is Just Beginning’ cited the recent trend of ‘On the runways ... we were seeing other much more scintillating flashes of wearable rhetoric—some of which would prefigure this about-to-pass decade’s transformation of menswear.’ However, the emergence and popularity of streetwear brands such as Rick Owens and Craig Green that seem “purposefully and playfully burdened by symbolic representations of the traditionally masculine” (Luke Leitch) have started to gain significant popularity. “That shift reflects the wider diversification of apex menswear during the 2010s, which in turn reflects the wider diversification of the notion of manliness between 2010 and 2020”(Luke Leitch). With Supreme now valued at $1 billion, streetwear is no longer a niche market, a development that has its critics. “Streetwear has changed enormously as it’s now fully integrated into the fashion system, streetwear has lost its countercultural status” says Luca Benini, founder of distribution and retail businesses Slam Jam, which has been operating since 1989.
10
You might not immediately associate streetwear with the topic of gender politics. However, with streetwear having gone from a niche, tribal community to a billion-dollar industry, it’s clear that men (and particularly young, straight men) are taking an interest in fashion - streetwear has a grip on pop culture and with its rise comes perhaps a little bit of liberation. Bobby Kim, owner of Los Angeles streetwear label The Hundreds, stated that ‘Streetwear was an easy way for guys who were interested in clothes to get into it and also not be seen – in a homophobic sense – as being gay or trying to be like a girl.’ The space it gives for straight men to express themselves through fashion without worrying about any unwelcome assumptions about their sexuality is important, however, it’s a problem that any such labels would be assigned to someone based solely on their dress (and it’s a problem that this label would even be a problem). The fact that the streetwear industry is dominated by and marketed to men, separating it from the fashion industry at large (traditionally steered by gay men and marketed primarily to women) ... With the rise of male style icons, particularly in hip-hop and rap, who push fashion boundaries yet maintain mainstream and significant masculine respect, although there is a fair way to go, this is a welcome alternative to the oppressive masculinity of the streetwear and hip-hop culture of the past. For instance, lover of streetwear and luxury fashion, rapper Lil Uzi Vert is unphased by the traditional constrictions of the industry. In 2018, he was asked by a reporter about his decision to wear women’s clothing, responding: “I bought everything in the men’s section. There’s nothing else to buy, I bought everything, literally.” Portraying the wearing of women’s attire as a “flex” (a sign of affluence) rather than something unnatural or disgusting is a valuable step. Fashion-wise, women are not limited to the same constraints because for us it is obvious that the choice to wear a dress vs. a pair of trousers from the men’s section does not say anything about our sexuality. Tyler, the Creator, long a favourite amongst skaters, established his own clothing label in 2011, Golf Wang. In 2017, he showcased a softer side to his persona with his album Flower Boy, which inspired an aesthetic embraced by boys the internet over. The album was accompanied by Tyler’s collaboration with Converse, giving the world colourful, flower-adorned trainers. Amongst the colourways are pastel shades of blue and pink; purple and green; orange and ‘candy pink’. Granted, men wearing rosy shades is hardly revolutionary, it’s a start.
11
However, despite the wins in chipping away at gender constrictions, I should be careful in assigning too strong a progressive label to this movement. Hypebeast culture is by no means a liberal utopia. An article titled ‘To Survive, Streetwear Must Abandon Sexism’ from 2018 by Enrique Menendez and Nav Gill addresses the idea that ‘streetwear is a culture built on an unwavering sense of community’ and at the core of this is ‘streetwear’s unique ability to appeal to men in ways that have eluded mainstream fashion’. Ironically, the very idea of streetwear was, in the beginning, that it was ‘the antithesis to traditional fashion’. But whereas mens fashion has traditionally been ignored, ‘streetwear is a game changer, enabling men to express themselves through style without having to worry about societal labels they deemed unbefitting’. From its creation, ‘streetwear was set on a path to gain prominence within the fashion industry and also in other cultural industries, shielded by its ‘boys’ club’ mentality … bolstered by male privilege, it found itself grounded in sexism and the objectification of women.’ According to Bobby Kim, owner of The Hundreds, a Los Angeles streetwear label ‘From the very start, streetwear has been this weird, strangely male thing, But I think the reason why it was like this from the very start is because of the subcultures that this fashion was associated with.” An article titled ‘we need to talk about streetwear’s problem with queer people’ By Douglas Greenwood asks ‘What will it take for the streetwear community to address the rise of anti-LGBTQ+ hate speech breeding within it? Fashion is gay as hell. From Yves Saint Laurent to Karl Lagerfeld to Cristobal Balenciaga, the greatest designers in history have ... been queer men. ...The fashion world has long been a safe space for members of the LGBTQ+ community. Nowadays though, that’s not entirely true.” He sites the origins of streetwear in skating and hip-hop culture as potential reason for the often ‘socially-conservative culture’ of the ‘hyper-masculine views’ of streetwear and “part of the reason homophobia is so salient in online streetwear communities is the way queer lingo has been used as a pejorative, a slur, by its members for so long”. The hypebeast community appeared to have a highly transphobic side too when Supreme unveiled their ‘link-up’ with the legendary photographer Nan Goldin. Her work, often depicting LGBTQ+ people, is intrinsically tied to the idea of rejecting manufactured and sanitised culture.
12
When Supreme chose to use some of Nan’s work depicting the drag queens and trans women she had photographed over the years, the response was ugly. Greenwood sites “Fear of backlash or trolling” means that many of “streetwear’s queer leaders online would prefer to downplay their sexuality … There’s a lot of homophobia and negativity shown towards the LGBTQ+ community … it all adds up to create a level of normalisation surrounding homophobia” in the streetwear community. The dark corners of the streetwear industry don’t invalidate the culture as a whole, though it is still a conversation that must be had. The movement is flawed and has a terrible homophobic and sexist underside, but credit should not be taken away from those who are making it more acceptable for other men to express themselves through fashion. Perhaps it’s natural that in such a male-dominated sphere there would be instances of toxic masculinity, but it fosters some hope seeing those who are using the environment, which was born as the antithesis to fashion, to push style boundaries. For example, K-pop and its stars are known for breaking traditional gender boundaries. An article from the Korean Herald titled ‘K-pop stars lead luxury brand genderless trend’ states that ‘high-end labels are more and more embracing a blur of the masculine-feminine divide … and K-pop male stars are leading this trend’. Korean pop stars, known for rocking makeup, perfectly groomed styles and the polished pretty-boy look ‘are leading luxury labels’ gender-bending movement’. As we see the idea of visual activism and queer fashion becoming mainstreem and clothing moving away from traditional gender ideals, hopefully we will come to see clothing as a realm of self-expression regardless of traditional gender roles. For more information i recommend watching the video ‘Queer Style as Visual Activism’ from the youtbe chanel ‘dapperQ’ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqSSzRvJf84
13
does online beauty culture help or harm? an analysis of the gender divide in beauty “Taught from infancy that beauty is a woman’s sceptre, the mind shapes itself to the body, and roaming round its gilt cage, only seeks to adorn its prison.” Mary Wollstonecraft, ‘A Vindication of the Rights of Women’, 1792 I remember watching makeup videos 3 or 4 years ago when I started to feel like my eyebrows were wrong, so I went out and I bought an eyebrow pencil and it was a bit of a mess. I’d watch these beauty videos on youtube and almost without fail, all of these beautiful women with gorgeous, flawless skin and beautiful bold eyebrows and i felt really insecure. Day to day i think i have quite a minimal beauty routine, I use moisturizer, concealer, mascara, highlighter and maybe some lip-gloss. I think about how many times i have gone out without makeup and people say that i look tired or sick, and that makes me feel like i need to put on makeup. Over the past few years, research shows that more and more women are saying that they feel beautiful. But at the same time, the vast majority of women say they feel pressure to be beautiful. What effect is this online beauty culture having on us? The State of Gender Equality for U.S. Adolescents Full Research Findings from a National Survey of Adolescents on Belief in gender equality (September 12, 2018) by PerryUndem commissioned by Plan International USA found that the vast majority of adolescents (92 percent) says they believe in gender equality, but some uncertainty exists beneath the surface. For example, over half of adolescents (54%) strongly or somewhat agrees that they are “more comfortable with women having traditional roles in society, such as caring for children and family”. Several of their findings illuminate why most girls perceive sexism as a problem and why they say gender equality does not exist. By far, girls perceive physical attractiveness as the most common trait or characteristic our society values in girls and about half of girls (53 percent) look in the mirror at least once a day and imagine how others might see them. About one in three older girls (31 percent) does so “many times a day.” Nearly two-thirds of girls (64 percent) say they are
14
exposed everyday to women and girls in the media who have unrealistic bodies and seven in ten girls ages 14 to 19 (69 percent) feel judged as a sexual object in their daily life at least once in awhile – significantly more than the proportion of adult women who says the same (58 percent). A study from the Pew Research Center from November 2017 confirms this as “Honesty tops list of traits that people say society values most in men; physical attractiveness top trait for women”, over 35% said that they value physical attractiveness most in women. The data shows that people interact with influencers’ videos and posts more often than they do on brands. Tiffany Gill, a professor and an author who writes about the history of beauty culture stated in a Vox interview “I think the digital aspect is what really has changed. What it has done is really democratized what beauty and beauty culture is, so that the people who are consumers now have a lot more control over what constitutes beauty and beauty culture.” The reason why I think we’re beginning to see more women sort of defining themselves as beautiful, is because they’re able to find these micro communities online that affirm their brand of beauty. And as much as selfies get a bad rap, there’s something very libratory about being able to show yourself to the world publicly. Historically, at every level in these magazines, somebody was making a specific decision about who gets to be there and who was considered beautiful. Not just the editors and the gatekeepers at these institutions, but the agents of the models. Whereas now, it’s not as though somebody’s making a decision about who gets to make a video, everyone has access to posting. I follow a lot of people on Instagram that align with my ideals of beauty and match my style of beauty and makeup. Consumers are more informed than they’ve ever been. They can take these tools and change the way they present themselves to the world. But if you look at it another way, then it’s this constant cycle that ultimately is costing women big chunks of their paycheck but also something that’s more valuable, which is the space in their mind. Renee Engeln, a professor of psychology at Northwestern University discussed the idea of ‘beauty sickness’ in her book “Beauty Sick - How the Cultural Obsession with Appearance Hurts Girls and Women”. She explored beauty sickness as what happens when women’s
15
comes harder for them to see other aspects of their lives, beauty sickness is emotional energy gets so bound up with what they see in the mirror that it befed by a culture that focuses on women’s appearance over anything else they might do or say or be. Engeln stated in an interview with Vox Media that social media culture “never misses a moment to comment on a woman’s appearance, to criticize it. … To keep drawing our attention over and over again to how we look. … And the minute your focus shifts to thinking about how you look, it did shift away from something else.” If you’re like me, you’re spending hours on your phone every day. Last week I spent nine and a half hours on Instagram. Which means we’re constantly faced with images of other people to compare ourselves to and a lot of the time, with the advent of apps like face-tune and filters, those images are full of subtle changes And if everyone around you is making subtle tweaks to their face, it can warp your understanding of yourself and how you fit in. One study found it made women feel worse when they compared themselves to beautiful peers on social media as opposed to beautiful celebrities in traditional media like magazines and in movies. Researchers think that’s because our peers on social media feel like more relevant comparisons. They feel more like us. And then there’s all the likes and comments. Another study found that seeing someone leave a compliment on a pretty woman’s photo on Instagram, made the viewer less happy with their own body. It makes sense that the more we compare ourselves to good-looking people, the more dissatisfied we are, and the more beauty work it feels like we have to do to keep up. Recently, a group of computer scientists figured out a way to analyze the language that writers use when they describe men and women in three and a half million books in English, both nonfiction and fiction books. So what they did is they pulled out the adjectives that were most uniquely used to describe men and women. They found that the words used to describe women were twice as likely to be about their physical appearance or their bodies, ‘Pretty, fair, beautiful, lovely, charming’. The American Association of University Women found that women working full-time in the U.S. were only paid 80 percent of what men were paid. Worse,
16
not only are women paid less at work, they also pay more for the same items and services as men—about $1,351 more annually. Further, there’s a lot of research that shows that they way a woman looks can affect things like her earnings, and how her personality is perceived. every aspect of your life you’re getting stared at and judged. And I think this all comes from this cultural context that I’ve been telling you guys about that dates back centuries, which is a world that cares a lot about the insides of men and the outsides of women. An article by Nadra Nittle titled “Brands once used elitism to market themselves. Now inclusion sells - Millennials value authenticity, so businesses are embracing inclusion like never before” examines the change in marketing from exclusivity to brands are making inclusion the entire focus of their product lines. Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty won widespread praise, including being named one of Time magazine’s best 2017 inventions, for its 40-shade foundation range. Nittle states that “In reality, of course, no brand can be all things to all people, but it’s in the best interest of socially conscious shoppers to distinguish the companies genuinely invested in inclusion from the ones that view it as a means to financial gain.” Makeup artist Zarielle Washington stated that “We have millennials and a society that’s more interested in putting their money into brands that resonate with them personally,” Washington said. “It’s not just about the product; it’s all about people and their personal choices and their lifestyles. I do feel like the industry is being more receptive to inclusion, and that’s also translating into dollars.” Anna North’s 2018 article titled “What the rise of men’s makeup means for masculinity - As cosmetics for men become more mainstream, they could give men more opportunities for self-expression — and more pressure to live up to unrealistic beauty standards” highlights the growing trend and ‘mainstreamification’ of makeup for men as a result of the expansive attitude toward masculinity among Gen Z. Makeup and skincare for men are now not just accepted, but seen as tools men should use “to practice self-care, but also just to look and feel better,” (David Yi, founder of the men’s beauty site Very Good Light). Men’s makeup is far from a new phenomenon, male courtiers in 18th-century Europe wore it, and as Yi points out, cosmetics are already fore
17
popular among men in South Korea but in the West, men have traditionally shunned makeup. He stated in the article that “Generation Z is now at the front of culture ... They’re so much more progressive and open, sexually fluid and gender fluid than millennials are. … They’re now rethinking what masculinity means, what it means to be a guy, and painting your face or using skincare doesn’t make you any less manly” he said. Lisa Wade, a sociology professor at Occidental College and the author of the textbook Gender: Ideas, Interactions, Institutions, stated; “Somehow gender ideology beat capitalism in this competition. … Gender is all about maintaining the idea that men and women are different. Anything that we do that undermines distinction is a real threat to male superiority. For me, this becomes not a question about gender but a question about capitalism. [Contemporary capitalism] thrives on making us feel like we’re not good enough”. However, If men’s makeup becomes mainstream, they may find themselves facing some of the same pressures women feel and, perhaps, gaining some of the same opportunities for expression. But Yi argues that men already have a lot of the same insecurities as women, “it’s just that they have been conditioned not to talk about it.” So, it seems like we’re being presented this endless list of things that we can do now to beautify ourselves. It doesn’t seem like we can build a society that expects women to be young and beautiful above all else, then flood society with products that promise just that, and then judge them for buying them. It’s the inequality between what women are expected to do and what men are expected to do that really makes me angry. Beauty standards become more open and welcoming, but it also is still true that beauty is still the point, at which we are judging people, it is still the metric of value. Women have long debated the politics of makeup for women, the opportunities for experimentation and self-expression may come at the cost of the pressure to conform to a certain standard of beauty. However, beauty culture is so much more interesting and approachable and diverse than it’s ever been before but maybe it can make it seem like we’ve made more progress than we have. i think we’re beginning to see some changes, but our definitions of beauty are connected to other systems of power in our society and culture. They’re connected to ideas about class, to ideas about what race is. It really will take the dismantling of systems of power for beauty to be truly democratized.
18
the growing importance of sustainability and the future of fashion As sustainability has become a significant mainstream concern, Generation Z (Gen-Z) are beginning to use their consumer power to present their beliefs about sustainability. Research has shown that with every generation, the quest for sustainability strengthens. In 2015, a Nielsen report found that 73 percent of Gen-Z and Millennials were willing to pay more for sustainable goods. According to research from the New York University Center for Sustainable Business (CSB), CSB found 50 percent of sales growth among consumer packaged goods between 2013 and 2018 came from sustainability-marketed products, despite the fact such goods account for just under 17 percent of the market. It’s tough to build a case that making the planet a cleaner place is not in everyone’s best interest but the question has always remained about whether the cost of implementing models that make products more sustainable was actually economically sustainable for retailers. So what can you personally do to be as sustainable as possible when purchasing goods (more specifically clothing)? In an article for Forbes titled ‘Sustainable Retail: How Gen Z Is Leading The Pack’ by Greg Petro stated ‘younger generations have … [proven that they are] seeking not only sustainable products and brands, but openly stating they are willing to pay more for them’. A Forbes report from 2019 “The State of Consumer Spending: Gen Z Shoppers Demand Sustainable Retail,” notes that 62 percent of Generation Z, who will begin entering the workforce this year, prefer to buy from sustainable brands. Further, the majority of Generation Z (54 percent) state that they are willing to spend an incremental 10 percent or more on sustainable products. This compares to 34 percent of Generation X and 23 percent of Baby Boomers. ‘With Generation Z on track to becoming the largest generation of consumers this year, retailers and brands must start supercharging sustainability practices now if they are to keep pace with expectations around sustainability for these next-generation consumers.’ This article also cites several studies that show that a majority of younger generations - 59 percent
19
of Generation Z and 57 percent of Millennials are buying upcycled products while only around 15% of Baby Boomers and the Silent Generation are using these more sustainable options. An ABC news article titled ‘Three ways you can reduce your fashion footprint for a sustainable wardrobe’ by Lucy MacDonald states several ideas such as ‘choosing fashion made from more sustainable fibres’ (but this can be expensive), ‘Op shopping’ and ‘ getting the most out of the clothes you already own’. Australians collectively spend about $5 billion on fashion and three-fifths of that is trashed within a year and according to the United Nations, the fashion industry is responsible for 8 to 10 percent of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions. We send half a million tonnes of leather and textiles to landfill each year, that includes 6,000 kilograms of clothing thrown away every 10 minutes. One of the best choices is to embrace pre-loved clothing and go second-hand shopping. Second-hand fashion is on the rise and it’s expected that in the next 10 years, as an industry, it will exceed the fast fashion industry. According to sustainable fashion academic Dr Lisa Heinze, the first step is to check what the garment is made of. “There’s no silver bullet in terms of what is the best fabric or the most sustainable fabric. Like everything in the world, every material we make has some type of impact,” she said. “Natural fibres are a better textile to use because there’s fewer chemicals involved in the production of that textile and also it means that the textile can biodegrade at the end of its life.” In the article ‘Sustainability and Diversity: True Development or Trendy BuzzWords?’ by Anastasia Vartanian, asks if sustainability is simply a trend in the fashion industry or a long term …. Vartanian cites the January 2020 Vogue Italia covers which used illustrations rather than photoshoots. Editor of Vogue Italia, Emanuele Farneti, painted a picture of just how wasteful getting the perfect cover photo can be: ‘One hundred and fifty people involved. About 20 flights and a dozen or so train journeys. Forty cars on standby. Sixty international deliveries. Lights switched on for at least ten hours nonstop, partly powered by gasoline-fuelled generators. Food waste from the catering services. Plastic to wrap the garments. Electricity to recharge phones, cameras.’
20
By working directly with the illustrators, Vogue Italia was able to save on resources and money. The fashion industry is all about statements, however, is this just Vogue making a political statement meant to feign innovation? Its clear that fashion journalism is so vital to the development of the industry, critiquing and developing the ideas and ethicality of the fashion industry. It’s all well and good to preach sustainability and diversity in a time when social awareness is popular and trendy but it is clear from the Vogue Values (an international commitment signed by the editors-in-chief of every edition of Vogue at the end of last year) that sustainability and diversity are priorities for the industry. It is important to preach sustainability, but we should be careful not to alienate lower-income customers who may not have access to sustainable brands or wearable second-hand clothing. It is clear that our purchases exercise a certain voting power over businesses. But to ensure that this mood of social consciousness is more than just a tokenistic PR exercise, we need a passionate public stoked by the fire of honest, critical, accessible journalism. A video from the youtuber Gabe (aka ‘Trollfunk) speaks on a popular brand favored by Gen-Z in the video ‘UNIF Needs to STOP!’ from October 2019. UNIF produces 90s and Y2K inspired clothing popular with Gen-Z (especially from its newfound popularity on Tik Tok). She cites the fact that UNIF used to be ‘high quality’ and handmade in LA, presented their manufacturing and distribution services publicly and spoke on ethical business practices as a large reason why many members of gen-z with ‘alternative’ style shopped at UNIF. However according to Gabe ‘none of that is true anymore’. Although their clothes came with a ‘very high markup’, gen-z were willing to pay due to the high quality of their clothing, focus on sustainability and their unique style however the clothing now appears to be made in China but the prices have stayed the same or even increased. The number of sweatshops have reduced in China however, due to the fact that China does not have the same level of regulations as Australia, Canada or the USA (UNIFs biggest customer bases), therefore it is the companies responsibility to make sure that the chinese manufacturing company is paying their workers a living wage and are working in safe conditions. According to the co-founder of UNIF on twitter,
21
Christine Lai (Username: @xxchristeric): ‘we are friends with our factory in China … have been for over 10 years. They only make UNIF items so its a small family business like ours. I assure you they are all living well cuz we pay a higher than standard price for their work hence our prices aren’t cheap.’ However, according to Gabe, the company had only existed for 9 years at the time, and until recently their tags said ‘made in LA’. @UNIFcopied, an instagram account which documents the blatant copying of vintage ‘rare’ designs that UNIF has stolen, has commented several times on the blatant ‘green-washing’ that UNIF presents in its instagram and other social media. UNIF has been shown to project a positive halo based on sustainability that may aim to draw attention away from the fact that they have unethical and potentially dangerous treatment of their workers in China. ‘Why there is no “ethical consumption” under capitalism’ by Olive Pape mentions the history of sustainable culture as when companies ‘began to advocate for what is called “ethical consumption”’. Ethical consumption is the idea that if each of us, as individuals, choose to ‘vote with our dollar’, then due to the laws of supply and demand, capitalism will in time stop exploiting people and the environment. Some even have gone so far as to refer to this new movement as ‘compassionate capitalism’, declaring that it would end the ills of capitalism while leaving the market system in place. According to Pape, although people have “gone green”, eaten vegan, shopped “fair-trade”, and recycled for years now, the atrocities that spurned the ethical consumption movement continue unabated, however, it is not individual consumers that are to blame. Statistics show that the richest 10% are responsible for 59% of the world’s private greenhouse gas emissions, while the poorest 50% are responsible for only 10%.’ Research done during a 2012 study at the Corvinus University of Budapest found that there is ‘no significant difference’ between the carbon footprint of those who consume “ethically” and those who do not. The study concluded that targeting consumer purchasing cannot counter the impact of the pollution caused by major corporations. The study also showed that working class people cannot afford a ‘sustainable lifestyle’ due to poverty, lack of accessibility and long working hours, among other things. Many of these workers are unhappy about these circumstances, but find the
22
system rigged against them. Sustainability is more expensive but makes no real difference in the carbon footprint of consumers. These individual based solutions may make the consumer feel better about living under capitalism, but do they really address the root cause of exploitation and environmental destruction? Not only will it never be possible for everyone to make environmentally friendly choices due to systemic economic and social inequality, under capitalism the desire to do so by many working class people has been made into a commodity for the capitalists to profit from. For example, so-called ethical products are often more expensive than products created unethically and the profits often go to the same major corporations who are doing the majority of polluting. As long as the majority of wealth and resources are owned and controlled by a minority exploiting class, producing for profit instead of human need, workers’ rights and environmental sustainability will always suffer. The choices of individual consumers are ineffectual within the context of capitalist production. The major flaw in ethical consumption is the illusion that there is a more ethical option under capitalism. Ethical consumption suggests that production for profit is acceptable, as long as it comes from a more kind and gentle version of capitalism which treats its workers nicely and cares about the environment. Ethical consumerism ends up dividing the working class by implying that those who purchase ethically are more moral than those who do not, regardless of their means of doing so. It does not matter how many people turn to more ethical options under capitalism, the system will never be ethical. Exploitation, oppression and environmental destruction are inherent to a system based on private ownership of the means of production and production for profit. In my opinion, the answer to this question is not to be found in the individualistic approach of ethical consumption, but rather through organizing all layers of the working class in a united struggle against capitalism, which is the root of all modern exploitation and misery. The answer to the question of ethical consumption can only be found under socialism – a truly democratic economic system with a rationally planned economy that meets the needs of the majority. However, you can not conflate the idea of ethical treatment of the workforce and environmental sustainability. As with the example of UNIF, a company
23
can project the idea of ethical consumption through the false perception of environmental sustainability. Clothes make up part of our immediate identity, however, its important to remember they also carry extreme political weight. Our clothing can have the greatest impact on others and sustainability and ethics is highly important for the future of clothing and the fashion industry.
My favorites (& recommendations) recommendations) PODCASTS My favorite podcast currently has been ‘Pod Save America’. Hosted by former Obama aides Jon Favreau, Jon Lovett, Dan Pfeiffer and Tommy Vietor it’s a clear and informative conversation about American politics hosted by. They break down the week’s news in American politics with clear and concise discussion. Recently, Obama joined them on the podcast and examined the effects of right wing media on the public in compassion to when Obama was running for president. https://crooked.com/podcast-series/pod-save-america/ The ‘Same but Different’ podcast, co-hosted by sisters Ellie and Keelin Moncrieff, similar in morals and looks but even with a small age gap have vastly different outlooks on life. Opinions and views on topics ranging from politics and socialist issues to sexual liberation and masturbation from the perspective of a teenager and a 20-something will give a fresh, socialist voice of the youth to your ear holes. (Keelin also has a very popular youtube channel that will be linked below). https://open.spotify.com/show/4xRXwvD8lVWrx30Le8SoYc https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpEafrVmXKOepvXK-b2HEYA INSTAGRAM @queernightstands on instagram presents a voyeuristic look inside the bedrooms of the UK’s queer youth through images of night stands. This instagram account has given me so much joy over the recent weeks as I momentary glance into others cosiest happy places of their rooms. The past several
24
months have seen us all become very well acquainted with our bedrooms and the items that fill them. Bedrooms are deeply personal, and for most, a microcosm of our wider interests and identity, every individual’s bedroom is telling in some way. Our bedrooms are where we feel safest. The Queer Night Stands grid is chock full of queer clichés; books on queer and feminist theory, journals, house plants, ceramics, art pieces, healing crystals, and sex toys — are cliché for a reason, and are part of what unites us as queer people. It’s in our bedrooms that we’re able to be our truest self, tucked away from societal constraints, the pressure of performativity and heteronormativity. This account clearly showcalses the things that connect LGBTQ+ around the world, and Instagram account Queer Night Stands perfectly captures and celebrates them. https://instagram.com/queernightstands?igshid=eofg261zrg5e BOOKS ‘The Female Eunuch’ written by Germain Greer (published in 1970) is a highly important text in the feminist movement outlines Greer’s thesis is that the ‘traditional’ suburban, consumerist, nuclear family represses women sexually, and that this devitalised them, rendering them eunuchs. Although this novel is certainly of its time, (some sections have some TERF (Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminist) messages) it still rings true that women must embrace sexuality, ‘imperfection’ and themselves to become women and not hold the burden of perfection in societies eyes. In sections titled “Body”, “Soul”, “Love” and “Hate” Greer examines historical definitions of women’s perception of self and uses a premise of imposed limitations to critique modern consumer societies, female “normality”, and masculine shaping of stereotypes quoting, “The World has lost its soul, and I my sex.” ‘Fight Like A Girl’ written by Clementine Ford (published in 2018) Fight Like A Girl is an essential manifesto for feminists new, old and soonto-be. A much more modern and introspective view of feminism then Greer’s ‘The Female Eunuch’ speaking directly to Ford’s own experiences. Ford uses a mixture of memoir, opinion and investigative journalism to expose just how unequal the world continues to be for women.
25
how to compliment women without objectifying them In the typical process of complimenting people, something may go wrong - the possibly well-intentioned compliment has an undesirable effect of objectifying someone, usually the woman. I’m all for positive self statements but I’d much rather hear those statements address other than physical parts of who women are. A lot of us love getting compliments but it’s the intent behind the compliment that can be problematic. The idea of sexual entitlement is wrong - when the person feels entitled to that sexual desire being reciprocated - it infringes on the other person’s boundaries and turns creepy. Please compliment women on something other than their appearance. Women are evaluated overwhelmingly on their physical appearance. Some women appreciate being recognized for what they do or who they are more so than for what they look like. Please avoid Sexually-Charged ‘Compliments’, if you do decide to say something nice about her appearance avoid using sexual overtones, that is just sexual objectification. You are reducing the woman to nothing but the sum of their parts to be used for another’s pleasure. People’s bodies belong to them, and trespassing into that personal space can make some people really uncomfortable. According to author and psychologist Patricia A O’Gorman, “The struggle women have with compliments is that these acknowledgments of their ‘desirability’ hit what I’ve named ‘girly thoughts.’ Girly thoughts are how women internalize societal messages that inundate them with information about how they should act, should look, and what they should want, turning this into an inner toxic self-talk that misdirects their energies. This is what women need to learn to fight against.” An article titled ‘The Transformative Power Of Feminist Compliments’ by Teresa Newsome suggests the although ‘feminism can be complicated in practice
26
… getting this stuff right matters’. They advise to use empowering image-based compliments and to check your motivations in complimenting others. If you are not giving a compliment for the sake of giving a compliment, don’t give a compliment. When complimenting women you must understand and reflect on your compliment on the male gaze - the idea that women only exist to be pleasing to men, that men look at us and see our bodies and nothing else and you must not treat people (specifically women) that looking good is a requirement. Don’t put yourself down In the process of making a complement. You don’t have to use yourself as a bridge to make others feel better. Please don’t make comments about people’s size, you never know how they’re going to be received and it’s problematic on so many levels. All bodies are good bodies and there’s no need to attach a size-based element to the compliments unless you know you’re in a body positive space. We must learn to teach girls and women their worth. We carry internalized beliefs about our place, worth and role in society as dependent on acting and looking typically feminine. This only further reinforces gender stereotypes. Make sure women know they are more than their appearance: praise them for their intelligence, strength, or leadership. Show them their thoughts and actions matter by asking their opinions and listening when they speak. The idea of compliments as a world-improving feminist act may seem like a stretch but compliments, language and the way that we interact with each-other holds enormous power. Remember to be kind to others and to attempt to educate yourself about what makes others feel safe and respected.
27