Friday 22 May 2009

Magazine Bashing - EDITED

Someone told me this week that Glamour magazine had published a list of the 50 best employers for women in the UK. So I bought it for the first time in ages. I really wish I hadn't!

I have to admit, I have bought it before - it's very little, so it's relatively convenient for train journeys and stuff like that. Unfortunately it appears that in creating a pint sized mag, Conde Nast have succeeded in doing away with any kind of intelligence or depth along with the excess pulp (if you absolutely have to read a mainstream fashion mag, make it Marie Claire...it's still rubbish, but is trying not to be).

I really shouldn't knock the "Best Bosses" feature, as it is well-intentioned, but I have to: because it is terribly researched. For example, it states that Enterprise Rent-a-Car's board of directors is 56% women. Great...except I happen to know that those women are all the daughters of the chairman of the company. I can't comment on their ability, but it's irrelevant because it didn't get them the gig. Furthermore, this is a company that employs graduates to the seemingly business-orientated management programme and requires them to clean out cars, and graft till 9pm. (Insider info!)

There is also a faux thoughtful article about domestic violence, with the now uncomfortably familiar photo of popstar Rihanna's bruised face making up most of the content. Much of this article states the obvious, and turns into cliche: women stay with their abusive partners too long, they have no self-confidence, they think things are going to get better. "Experts" back this up - yeah, so? We know all this already, don't we? The ground isn't breaking here. The article ends pretty prematurely with a rather impotent word of warning: once a hitter, always a hitter...but hey, those "real" people that we interviewed escaped and are now amazingly happy, so you can be too! No mention of where women can go to get help, no real and non-idealistic statistics, and absolutely no understanding of the realities of the situation. Just waffle about a topic that I suspect they don't have the confidence to get stuck into, so just skim the surface instead which is frankly insulting to victims of domestic abuse and valueless to all others.

Turn to page 121 (irony!) and there's another serious and investigative piece on the topic of female teachers sexually abusing their pupils. This isn't an easy issue to tackle, I admit, and Glamour seriously shouldn't have bothered trying.
The Times magazine actually published a far superior investigation on the subject back in March...actually worth reading. What I learned from Glamour was that a) not only attractive women commit these crimes, contrary to popular belief , ugly ones do it too, and b) that women receive less harsh sentences for the crimes than their male counterparts. Oh, and the boys don't actually benefit from the abuse long term, just in case we thought they did. Again, I don't think we'll be stopping the press...although I wish someone at Conde Nast had.


The rest of this post has been removed. So much for freedom of speech.

9 comments:

Coupon Finder said...
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Anonymous said...
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Stephanie Clayton said...

wayyy back, i was a faithful glamour mag reader. it was the 80s, when most of the writing was about fashion and relationships. the articles didn't meander into politics, social issues, etc. fortunately, as a 40-something year-old, i've long since outgrown the mag. but i'm disappointed to learn they've gotten so lame through the years. they need to stick to fashion. back in my day, glamour rocked.

Braindance said...

Very well written I thought, I enjoyed the honest sensibility that came through without sounding holier than thou. x

tor (fabfrocks) said...

I read that article in the glamour i subscribed my sister to for her birthday. And i'm pleased to say i agree with every word you've written!

Jemima said...

I suggest you remove this blog immediately before I take legal action for defamation of charachter. You should not jump to conclusions before knowing a persons full story. I actually own the hair salon, and if you read the article correctly would know that I designed and created a website which I do all the PR for and was behind the story. So to answer your question Yes I do work running 3 businesses I also manage a singer working 7 days a week, on average 15 hours a day. My daughter comes first has alot of attention from myself and my close knit family network and everything I earn is to provide a better lifestyle for her and my family. Maybe with the amount of time you spent to write the article you should have spent 5mins to listen to one of my interviews before making accusations and comments that are insulting and un neccessary. Jemima Slade

em_321 said...

Hi Jemima.

I can only presume you found my blog by Googling your own name?

I'm really sorry if you took offence to the article, but all my assumptions about you are based on the article in Glamour, and if you are honestly telling me you approved this to be published and had control over the content, what did you expect? Surely you didn't think everyone would think you were brilliant, hard-working and intelligent? We're in a bloody recession for example - going on about your designer clothes and flash nights out was always going to court controversy. If you're suggesting you didn't think it would, perhaps you're not as smart as you think you are.

I have no interest in reading about you further, particularly in other self-celebratory interviews.
My digust at this article remains and I stand by my belief that you are a bad role model for women.

Maybe you should look at the other comments - I'm not the only person that thought the article was in bad taste.

Nevertheless, I will remove this post, but only because your sniffing around it might jeopardise my being able to run my blog in the future.

So now you've succeeded in censoring free speech and opinion as well as promoting a bad message for young women.

Congrats.

Emma.

moxycrouton said...

WELL SAID Emma. I read the article, and also Googled her out of curiosity,she's done some interesting stuff! Weirdly she appeared in an article for the Sun about going out with Gold Digging men...she needs to make her mind up...or she's just desperate for fame. Keep writing your blog and don't cow to pressure from people like this - you have more intelligence in your little finger than Jemima Slade is even worth wasting your breathe on. xxx

Art Deco said...

LOL I want to read the part that got cut out! Love your guts xo S