Women's Media

The beauty stage and pamper zone are under construction.

Eighty-thousand mini boxes of Special K are on standby.

Womans World 2009 [sic] is coming.

The event, hosted in the RDS, is yet another consumerist, marketing binge which will see beauty and fashion businesses pitching their wares at women of all ages – giddy from complimentary fizzy wine and the intoxicating smell of sample perfumes.

Now in its third year, Womans World is not the first event of its kind, and it is not the only one in the industry either. As these events become more and more frequent, the singularity of one voice for women in the Irish media in turn, becomes more and more glaring.

Symptomatic of this voice is a certain type of language. Warning words include; ‘fashionistas’ and ‘glamarama’, and references to cocktails, Carrie Bradshaw and Manolos are also used to titillate potential customers.

The three day show intends to reign in Irish women with the allure of exhibitions and stalls in “fashion, accessories, make-up, tanning, jewellery, wine-tasting, shoes, nails, hair and healthy eating.” A ‘Womans World’, apparently.

Currently, its website is quite vague on the specifics. But crucially, the site is pink. Very pink.

Earlier this month in the same arena, TV3 hosted its first ever Xposé Live event (or ‘haven’ as they dubbed it), which showcased “all the glitz and glamour of the fashion, beauty and health and lifestyle industries.”

These industries were divided into colour-coded areas in the RDS: pink for beauty products, purple for ‘high-street chic’, black for designer jewellery and couture and finally, green for relaxation, health, fitness and nutrition.

The predictable pattern that has emerging is not exactly veiled. The same formula was spoon fed to Irish audiences at the Trinny and Susannah’s Style in the City event hosted last September.

It was Off the Rails that sparked the trend for these events, their annual ‘glamtastic’ fashion and beauty showcases have been running for over six years now and the Xposé Live event seems to have modelled itself on its as The Style Exchange, Fashion Village, The Ultimate Pamper and Well Being Zone and Boutique Boulevard.

In their press release RTÉ asked; “Cocktails, Champagne and Strawberries what more could a girl ask for?” whereas this month the Xposé urged women to “grab your Manolos girls and join us for a fashion extravaganza!”

To give credit, at least the Xposé, Style in the City and Off the Rails events do highlight that these are industries and interests, but Womans World 2009’s offensiveness lies exactly in the name - ‘a woman’s world’.

The complete saturation of this discourse in Irish media is becoming more and more apparent. Although the magazine pool is small, each one seems to feature article after article of shopping secrets, beauty buys, celebrity gossip and self-help/confidence articles, with little variation.

It’s a far cry from the US who have well established titles like Bitch, Bust and Ms., all of whom have been offering readers something a bit difference since 1996, 1993 and 1971, respectively. Yet Ireland’s most progressive move in mainstream Irish media seems to be the adoption of a ‘no diet’ policy by U Magazine.

Closer to home, one ‘A5 antidote to the guff that passes for women’s media’ is celebrating its fourth issue. Edited by journalist Marie Berry, KnockBack magazine has given UK readers some alternative to the commercial magazine industry. Berry was inspired to found KnockBack after leafing through magazines whilst working in a call centre.

Berry says following one magazine binge, she felt patronised and manipulated by what she had read; “By the time I left the building that day I felt like an ugly, masculine, washed up neurotic. They had turned a spotlight on things I had never even considered worrying about. Is my forehead shiny? Am I silky enough? Is my boyfriend cheating on me? Has my dad paid for sex? Do I want matt skin like Liv Tyler or a radiant shimmer like some other broad? Why IS Donna so very thin? What am I wearing?!”

She articulates the thoughts of many, “Glossy magazines concentrate on the flaws and fallibility of celebrities while simultaneously selling us products to look like them, it’s too obvious. The game is up”, Berry says.

Cue KnockBack.

The magazine does not feature advertisements, it relies on donations to stay afloat, which means the editorial team never have to compromise content. Throughout the issues, are articles that challenge the everyday sexism of pop culture, as a result the humour is not dissimilar to what you might find in lads’ magazines.

In the third issue, articles included: ‘How to Lose 85 pounds in just two hours (by visiting a style consultant), ‘Why we Don’t Wanna be Feminists’ and ‘Woman’s Intuition, The Feminine Razor: A Consumer Guide’.

The latter road tested the sharp minefield of the disposable razor world; “My left leg under the influence of Gillette takes to running down a beach in a pink bikini, while my right, a victim of one fourth of a 15p, stays at home with a pie.”

This kind of quirky humour peppers KnockBack and makes their handling of even conventional topics to be off-kilter.

They have also featured a run of ‘offensive’ headlines from other women’s’ magazines to ‘point and laugh’ at. These ‘offensive and patronising’ headers include: “Genius! Lily Allen’s Eyeliner – How To” and “The Weekly Guide To Your Life – Men > Real Life > Shop”.

Despite the saturation of women’s media, Berry is optimistic; “Media for women is emerging from its diet-induced coma, it’s changing into something much more engaging.” Considering the magazine is public funded and is successfully publishing its fourth issue, it would seem many other agree.

Zadie Smith is also a fan; “Receiving the zine in the post made me feel that the present situation for women is possibly not as absolutely fucking awful as I had previously felt it to be. It was a little ray of pink and black hope.”

Here in Ireland the situation is finally beginning to change. Naturally with a smaller demographic alternative print is more expensive and accordingly, less viable. But one ‘anarcha-feminist magazine’ is bucking the trend.

The Rag, now on issue three, is a content heavy A4 produced by the Rag collective, a group who distinctly align themselves with feminist causes. The magazine is certainly more academic that its foreign counterparts. Articles in the most recent issue look at ‘gender binaries’, feminism in Muslim countries, lengthy book reviews and it also features a sort of ‘feminist how-to’ which asks, ‘I’m a feminist… Now what?’

Currently The Rag is the only printed alternative in Irish women’s media, although the first issue of Lash Back, another Irish feminist zine is ‘coming soon’. Undeniably financial restraints do limit print possibilities, but there is also a distinct lack of an Irish-specific, humorous and non-didactic voice in the ‘no overheads’ world of blogging.

The closest thing to a non-print outlet was the club night Noveau Vadge, which was very short-lived. The club night was set up to showcase an eclectic mix of music, photography, zines, arts and crafts and “dot dot dot”, but hosted just one night in Seomra Spraoi. The future of the ‘monthly event’ is still uncertain.

Noveau Vadge’s motto is, ‘Looking to showcase women who do shit!’ Time will tell whether new collectives and established institutions decide to follow their lead. In the meantime, we have Womans World and Xposé for company.


www.ragdublin.blogspot.com

http://www.myspace.com/lashbackdublin

http://www.myspace.com/nouveauvadge

http://www.knockback.co.uk/