Essence: Apr. 2010
Although I consider myself pretty knowledgeable about popular fashion/art magazines, I had never heard of the magazine called Essence before. This magazine combines fashion and culture that targets African-American women readers. Reading this magazine reminded me of Seventeen but for African-American woman in their twenties. Initially, I noticed the large quantity of advertisements as well as the type of advertisements. Most of the ads had African-American faces; only two of them had Caucasian women as their models. Although the audience of this magazine is intended for an African-American audience, I would have liked to see other races in the ads, too. In magazines like Seventeen, Caucasian women are not the majority of the models anymore. Many Latinos, African-American, Asian-American, etc. women are included to make the magazine more appealing to all races.
On the other hand, I really enjoyed reading Essence for the first time. Many of the articles and fashion tips were directed for women of color, but they had appealing general qualities to them as well. For example, the piece called “Best in Show” included famous black women who wore beautiful, designer dresses like Zoe Seldana. The emphasis of this article was to show how successful black women can shine from the inside out. At the bottom of the page, there were hairstyle and makeup types for thicker hair and darker skin tones.
The most appealing part of the magazine was the listing of high fashion designers. Often, African-American women are left out of the “fashion designer scene”; they are underrepresented compared to the thousands of Caucasian and Asian designers. There was even a six-page spread of an African-American model featuring African Maashi influences photographed by New York fashion photographer David Roemer. Not only were there high fashion lines offered, but looks for less as well. Essence does a great job of balancing the varying budgets of many women readers.
One article in this magazine felt very biased and offended me as a Caucasian reader. In “The Wince,” Grammy Award-winner Jill Scott wrote about the interracial relationships between black men and white women. She began her piece with a personal anecdote about an intelligent, successful man that she knew who was married to a white woman. She then went further to explain the racial divide of whites and blacks during slavery and how black people needed to stick together during those horrible times. Although these reflections are true, I do not find them as a valid argument as to why a black woman would “wince” when she sees a black man in a relationship with a white woman. I found the article more negative than positive; it did not bring new understanding to the issue and threatened the credibility of Scott’s character.
Quote from “The Wince:” “These harmful truths lead to what we really feel when we see a seemingly together brother with a Caucasian woman and their children,” Scott said. “That feeling is betrayed.”
Who is “we”? Is she not speaking like she can represent all African-American women's feelings?
Likes: “What Strong Women Know”
“Culture Club”
“Mix Master”
Dislikes: “The Wince”
“No More Games”
Suggestions for Improvement: Include more articles targeted to women of all races.
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Imagine you are part of the minority culture. Now imagine each day in some way, you were told you could never be as smart or as beautiful as those in the majority culture. The reasons given were due to physical characteristics they possessed, but you were not born with. These characteristics are nearly impossible to attain with out surgery and toxic chemicals to straighten your hair and more chemicals to bleach your skin. Whiteness has been heralded as the standard of beauty and this standard pushed on other cultures for centuries. I think the betrayal Ms. Scott speaks of when seeing a Black man with a White woman is another reminder of being historically thought of as being lesser, and what is White being thought of as having greater value. I believe Ms. Scott is stating that the betrayal is even a man of the same ethnicity is believing the lie that whatever is White is better. I do not think this is the case in every interracial couple, but I believe Ms. Scott's statements do have some merit.
ReplyDeleteLily,
ReplyDeleteIt's awesome that you can be honest in your observations and feelings. I can definitely understand both your point of view and the comment to your point of view. Personally, I understand why a magazine like this is in existence and geared toward black women. It is a way their voices can be heard when those voices aren't always given merit in other places.
On the other hand, I'm all about bringing people together and I want to see the need for these specialized magazines dissipate, though I'm not sure how likely that may be. Also, I'm not one to look for the negative things in general, so when I see an interracial couple it makes me happy. To me, it means that whites and blacks are getting along and that's what I want to see. I think we need to keep moving forward and quit assuming that a black man is with a white woman because he thinks white people are better, but because he loves her.
I think it's all about attitude with any person. We all need to believe inside that we are awesome and worth something. When we begin to despise others and what others have I think it's more about an inner struggle that's not always the white man's fault. We need to have a positive outlook and find the strength within ourselves to overcome these challenges.
Anyway, you have inspired me to get moving on my new blog. These are the very types of issues I love talking about. Thanks for starting the discussion!
blackbutterfly- I definitely understand where you are coming from; I just feel that articles like that cause more racial divide and hostility. Personally, I love seeing interracial couples but I can only see from the "majority" culture.
ReplyDeleteBrittney- Thanks! Your input is very insightful.