Women's magazines have circulated since 1693, with articles highly populated around relationships, fashion and beauty. With the constant tips on 'how to make him fall in love with you' or '10 ways to get a flatter stomach' I'm quite frankly bored of the underlying misogyny that comes with most articles. Can we get an amen to the lesser existence of magazines based upon vanity and nonsense?
At 14, going into the local shops searching for magazine literature left me feeling as if I was less than - especially by the time pre-adulthood came. The dominating thoughts within my mind were that 'my boobs were not big enough, 'I was unattractive if I didn't have the latest 'it' bag' and that 'my hairstyle was definitely out of touch. A multitude of self-deprecating issues that were far from the truth.
I wished women's magazines focused less on frivolity and more on the core of womanhood. What does it mean to be a woman? How could I reach my highest potential? How could women survive in a work environment dominated by men? I searched curiously for deeper meaning - but never found it in magazines.
Could it be that magazines were not for the woman on a quest to become her best self? Or were they meant to be light-hearted and fun? With hundreds of thousands of copies sold weekly to young impressionable females - this was setting a trend for women in society to be dumbed down, surely.
In my 20's when my body didn't resemble the shape of the women that covered the most popular magazines in my local newsagent, I began to hide it - just as many young women and girls tend to do also. This was a message sent from society, a message that constantly echoed that my shape was not acceptable. Where were the stretch marks, cellulite, and rosacea? The women looked perfect - and I looked nothing like perfection (in my mind at least.)
I became tired of the quest for perfection, running towards something thing that was unobtainable.
Why has it taken me over 20 years to discover that these women never existed? I hate that we're still here. Still in living in a society full of denial. I say stick it to the media outlets who do not include every shape and colour of women on their front covers. You have lied to women for years and essentially damaged our truth.
When will you truly support women with the truth and take the next generation's confidence and mental health seriously? We're so tired of the lies.