The most excellent Liz Henry, who has her finger on the pulse, just posted Kelly Martin Broderick’s My Picture Was Stolen And Turned Into A Fat-Shaming Anti-Feminist Meme On Facebook article from XOJane to Facebook. I believe XOJane was founded by Jane Pratt of Sassy and Jane magazine fame. Sassy was ground-breaking in its depictions of teen female sexuality, instantly making Seventeen look like a relic from a vanished time. Jane even wrote up Blue Blood’s BarelyEvil very positively, so I’m warmly disposed towards them. I’m probably even a little extra-disposed towards liking what Liz Henry writes because I thought she was hot when we had food or drinks or whatever at SXSW some years ago.
So I’m not saying that I oppose all beauty standards. Human beings base some of the way they socialize on visual cues. I think it is part of the path away from oppression for oppressed populations to assert alternative beauty standards.
As a publisher, I am well-aware that eventually somebody has to pay the bills. Juicy Couture wants to sell to women. Women, including feminist women, tend to buy a lot of beauty products. XO Jane has a largely female audience. I get why there are Juicy Couture adverts for Viva La Juicy or whatever on there. I do get it.
But, when I clicked over to My Picture Was Stolen And Turned Into A Fat-Shaming Anti-Feminist Meme On Facebook and was whacked with the Juicy Noir pop-up advertisement, it just really made me wince.
PS The notion that Facebook thinks it is fine to make derivative works from someone else’s image and get Facebook extra traffic with those derivative works . . . well, it is probably fortunate that I did not carry on the family tradition and go to law school or I’d be spending all my time and resources on pro bono work.
