BRAINWASHzine

two

Women’s magazines make me feel pretty shitty about the way I look. They are filled with images of stunningly gorgeous women

who have perfect makeup and never look bad. I on the other hand frequently experience frizzy hair, bloatedness, bad

clothing choices and all sorts of other appearance glitches that would shock the girls in the magazines.

I hate that by reading these magazines throughout so many of my teenage years I have come to judge others, and myself, based on

the standards presented in the magazines. Sure, you can take what you want from magazines but after repeated reading you simply

get conditioned. There is no other ‘beautiful’ on my radar because of the women I see in magazines. Have you ever questioned why

there’s never overweight/larger people in women’s mags unless it’s the before shot for some ‘miracle’ weight loss diet or treatment?Every single model is tiny, ‘perfect’, and impossible to emulate.

These women’s magazines have taken control of the definition of beauty and butchered it. They have excluded three quarters of the

female population in one foul swoop.

I am so pissed off that this has happened. When did we decide that we wanted them to do this? When did we decide that it was ok?At what point did we stop resisting and just leave it up to them?

Girls who don’t feel as though they live up to the ridiculously high standards in magazines suffer in all sorts of ways. Some are never satisfied with their appearance, some eat to make themselves feel better, others stop alogether. Others suffer from depression and

social struggles.

The select few who do look like the girls on the pages of the magazines might have a slight advantage, but they still have to maintain their appearance to ensure they meet even the most basic of beauty requirements as advised, commented on and

mercilessly picked at by magazines.

Up-to-date, fashionable clothing. Also has to be somewhat unique - never be seen wearing the same as someone else

Thin legs that looked toned without appearing too muscular

Flat tum-my

Thin upper arms(no ‘tuckshop lady flab’)

Silky shining hair, with no fly-aways or frizz

Well-defined eyebrows

voluptuous, glossy lips

A flawless complexion

Tanned skin - with no noticeble streaks that reveal that it is fake.

Shiny, well-manicured nails

A pleasantperfumed scent.

Professional-looking make-up that complements your complexion and/or outfit.

Boobs that are big enough to hold in your hands, pref-erably bigger.

What magazines say all women should have...

or rather, what they edit us all to have.

tight, but voluptuous bottom

To top it all off, after carefully selecting size six-eight models, the magazines at-tack their image with photoshop, rendering them into people that simply do not

exist. I like to say that they barbie-fy them, because if Barbie was a real person she would have all sorts of bodily problems as a result of her size. (For one thing, with

ankles that small she literally wouldn’t be able to walk.)But, I digress.

Photographers and stylists warp, manipulate and change the appearance of their models to suit their elitist, impossible, definition of beauty.

Natural skin lines, wrinkles, pimples, freckles, bumps, tan lines, muffintops, and all manner of bodily features that symbolise both our individuality and beauty are all wiped away using programs like Photoshop. Brown eyes become sparkling blue

and size tens are trimmed down to size six. It is deplorable.

The worst thing is, the majority of magazine readers are unaware of this. They don’t know that the girls exhibited in so called ‘real girl’ photo shoots that fash-

ion editors ‘bump into on the street’ are actually brought into studios for hair and makeup. They are then ferried back to the street where their clothing is styled,

pinned shorter/tighter and adjusted until it meets some predetermined expectation. How do I know this? This happened to me.

Rather than be excited about being in a magazine, I was horrified that I was passed off as someone who looked like that naturally. I couldn’t believe that I had been photoshopped and used as yet another unrealistic example for youg women to

follow.

Seeing photoshopped versions of women your age and older is harmful. Repeated and prolonger exposure has been proven to increase the incidence of poor self-es-teem, feelings of inadequacy and depression. It saddens me to see women’s maga-zines enforcing these unrealistic standards. When the first magazines targeted at

the modern young woman came about, they were all for women’s liberation, sexual freedom and truly empowering women to recognise their potential. Now they are

all about convincing women they aren’t attractive or good enough just so that their readers will buy the products they advertise and keep money from advertisers roll-

ing in. Where the hell did the morals that formed these magazines fly away to?

one face. one pair of scissors. one computer program. 9 different faces.

what progress have we made if women still feel the need to put on a face?

Ok, so these dogs look pretty ridiculous right? If you saw photo-shopped dogs in a magazine you would wonder what the hell was go-ing on. The changes below are really obvious, clearly unnecessary and they have simply created animals that are both fake and impossible. The reason I made these is to demonstrate how close this is from what we currently see in magazines. Like the woman I manipulated by hand on the page before, women in magazines can be dramatically changed in an instant. The problem is that magazines make changes that aren’t immediately obvious to the reader. This subtlety is actually what it makes it such a dangerous practice because we often cannot tell when a model has had wrinkles or inches of skin removed.

These dogs look ridiculous - they looked great naturally so why the hell have I changed them?

Ask yourself the same thing about the women in magazines.

embrace your individuality.

The funny thing is we aren’t even our bodies. Our bodies are not who we are. We are not physical beings, but spirits. Our bodies are only the vessels we ride around in and use to experi-ence life. They say as much about us as the car we drive. For we are the riders of our vessels as our vessels are the riders of vehicles.

Take a moment to stare at someone’s eyes really closely. Watch their eyeball dart from side to side, up and down. Wait for the moment when the per-son you are looking at disappears and all you see is mechanics. It is terrifying and wonderfully exhilerating all at the same time. As you look at their mechanical eye you realise that their flesh is simply flesh - it’s not Mikaela, or John, or Sam.

It simply is.

A moment later and you will realise that you are not your body either. Your hands are not yours, your face is simply a product of chemical reactions. This is what freedom feels like.

The sad reality is that we’ve always had this freedom. We never were our bodies.

But we’ve become so wrapped up and obsessed with them that now they are all that anyone sees. Magazines, photographs, fashion shoots, Facebook, mirrors, television, approval-seeking and advertising: we can’t get enough of what we look like. Yet what we look like is nothing but chance. You didn’t make yourself. Your body isn’t you - you have no idea what you, or anyone else, really looks like.

Take a moment. Stare at someone elses eyes and realise that their body reveals nothing about them. Get right up close until their eye is almost all you can see.

Any of us could be inside any shape. Any of us could be inside any body. Any of us could be inside your shape. Any of us could be inside your body.

Anyone can pull off a facade.

Calling someone beautiful isn’t a compliment. They didn’t make themselves.

Science did.

Trying to define yourself is like trying to bite your own teeth.-

Allan Watts

ì The scale can only give you a numerical ąøűøöćüĂā Ăù ČĂĈą ąøÿôćüĂāĆûüă Ċüćû gravity. Thatís it. It cannot measure beauty, talent, purpose, life force, possibility, strength, or love. Donít give the scale more power than it has earned. Take note of the number, then get off the scale and live your life.î ~ Steve Maraboli

Words to live by.

Check out the Brainwash Project Facebook page to pick up some of

these badges for yourself. All proceeds go towards the production

of Brainwash Magazine.

$2 each, or 3 for $5.

If you get anything from this little zine, let it be this:

×âáŧç õôĆø ČĂĈą ÷øŰāüćüĂā Ăù õøôĈćČ ĈăĂā Ċûôć ČĂĈ Ćøø üā magazines. You are far MORE BEAUTIFUL, ATTRACTIVE and INTERESTING than any computer program, diet or stringent

exercise regime can make you.

Never aspire to be like the girls pictured in the magazines - at least, not like their appearance. (If they have a good brain, by

all means lust away!) Wishing to look like any of these photoshopped generic darlings is as good as wishing to look ÿüþø ô ăøąùøöćÿČ ùĂąĀø÷ űĂĊøą À üć ôüāŧć úĈāāô ûôăăøāÁ

Some people you see in magazines do exist in real life. They have real names, real lives, real clothes and real jobs. Iím not

disputing that. What I am disputing is the way magazines choose to portray their bodies - ie. THEY CHANGE THEM. Most of the time their bodies get reborn and manipulated on screen so that you wonít know that they have normal features, or as

magazines call them: ëimperfectionsí. Sadly, it is these very ëimperfectionsí that make them, normal, relateable and

unique.

Magazines should be celebrating our diversity and encouraging us to be proud of our bodies. Instead they are

conditioning us to hate ourselves.

This zine has been produced as part of The Brainwash Project by Jessica Barlow.

It aims to encourage the major players in women’s magazines to take more

responsibility for the consequences of the content they present to readers.

It involves creating a prototype magazine to show what women’s magazines could be like if the focus was taken away from sex, boys, appearance and shopping.If

you are interested and want to take part or learn more- please visit the websites

listed over the page.

Brainwash

Do women’s magazines make you want to vomit?

Do you want to read about something other than sex, makeup

and boys?

Do you believe that young girls should have the option of a

magazine that is thought provoking, body positive and

realistic?

Do you want to help shape a new magazine that answers all of these questions with a resounding YES?

Brainwash Magazine is officially in the making but to get it printed I

need your help...

www.facebook.com/brainwashprojectwww.twitter.com/#!/BrainwashMag

www.brainwashproject.wordpress.com www.pozible.com/brainwashproject