The magazines I've been reading lately

It's not always easy to find decent print media if you're after more than the diet tips, high end fashion, and articles about botox that seem to proliferate in mainstream women's mags. I do quite like Oh Comely and Frankie but they can be a tad hipster at times, and I've always found their focus on young, skinny white women in their fashion spreads disappointing.

There are, however, alternatives out there if you look hard enough...

When B, E & I visited Laura in Nottingham last month, we popped into Ideas On Paper, which specialises in esoteric mags and journals from around the world. I picked up a copy of Things & Ink, which I hadn't heard of before. A quarterly magazine aimed specifically at women and covering tattoo culture, I loved the interiors shoot (I'm always up for a nosy at other people's houses) and the stunning images of - what else? - tattoos. An article on the current trend for Disney tattoos was thought-provoking and explicitly addressed it from a feminist perspective. At £6.95, Things & Ink isn't cheap, and obviously has a fairly niche audience, but I'll certainly pick up another issue should I see it in future.

I quite understand why someone who doesn't identify as lesbian, bi or queer might not think to pick up a copy of Diva, but I honestly think they're missing out. Diva provides the only truly radical, left wing, feminist voice in mainstream women's publishing. Recent issues have included articles on the Health At Every Size movement, the history of squatting, why more women are freezing their eggs, and a brilliant piece on privilege. If you're interested in critical feminist perspectives or queer politics, it's a must-read.

Bitch began as a Riot Grrrl fanzine back in 1996 and has grown over the years to encompass an entire non-profit organisation running out of Portland, Oregon. The content skews slightly towards more academic writing - it's accessible, yes, but it'll make you think. I especially loved a recent piece on how food trends are a form of gentrification, often taking foodstuffs that poorer minorities have as a staple, making them trendy and thus pushing prices beyond the means of the original buyers. Their book, music and film reviews are always a great starting point when I'm seeking out new media and their frequent subscriber offers make it affordable to have the quarterly issues sent directly to you.

Bust is of a similar generation to Bitch (it started in New York in 1993) and explicitly apes the look and content of a mainstream women's magazine, but from a feminist perspective. When a friend visited us recently, he flicked through it for a while before exclaiming, "Hey! This is a feminist mag not a trashy one!", which is both the strength and weakness of Bust. If, like me, you love traditional print media and want a decent alternative to Glamour or Cosmo, then Bust is great. However, it can sometimes feel just a tad too glossy - being a subscriber to Bitch at the same time offers me the balance of more in-depth analysis along with the pretty photoshoots, travel articles and celeb interviews. Bust is also particularly strong on craft, cooking and fashion (all with an alternative perspective, such as their regular food contributor being vegan chef Isa Chandra Moskowitz).

Day 7: Ten steps to feeling body positive

Image via Autostraddle

I read something the other day that said the average British woman worries about her size and shape every fifteen minutes. Every fifteen fucking minutes! Now, to be fair this was a Grazia magazine survey and, as I will discuss later, women's magazines are a special kind of nutso about weight, leading to their readers probably being a self-selecting group.  But still. 

Despite pretty much always being on the larger side - I'm a size 14/16 now - I've never been particularly negative about my body.  And by making a really concerted effort over the past few years I have got to a place where I can honestly say that I worry about my size and shape pretty much never. 

So what is being body positive?  Simply put, it's about not only not hating your body, but trying to actively like it.  It's about not participating in common discourses around womens bodies, but instead recognising how they are used to oppress us.  It's about using your mental energy for something more useful than worrying about the size of your hips.  Body positivism is linked to radical fat activisim and being fat positive, but you don't have to identify as fat to be body positive. 

1. Surround yourself with the right people
That is, people who won't talk about diets or pinch their thighs while moaning about how fat they are. It's amazing the difference that hanging out with truly body positive people will make. If your friends tend towards self-hate when you're together, then simply choose to not participate. Conversations shut down pretty quickly when one person doesn't take part.

2. Search out images of real women
By which I emphatically don't mean all that bullshit about 'real women have curves'. Rather, I mean make sure you are regularly seeing non-airbrushed images of women who aren't models or actressess: women of all shapes and sizes, from the smallest to the largest. Search out fashion bloggers who have diverse bodies (an enormous step towards me feeling totally body positive was discovering bloggers like Lilli, Claire and Carla, whose bodies reflected my own). Read websites such as xojane.com, which show women of all sizes and shapes. Read radfat zines and books, the content of which can be extremely helpful in your journey to become body positive, no matter what your size.

3. Put down that copy of Closer magazine

Seriously, womens magazines - and especially gossip mags - are the devil. Feeling positive about your own body is not going to happen easily if you're reading articles about how to get a 'beach body' (whatever that may be) or about stars 'flaunting' their curves (for 'flaunting' read: leaving the house while over a size 10). There are some great alternatives to mainstream womens media (I wrote about some of them here) which won't make you feel like your body is something flawed that needs to be fixed. And whatever you do, DO NOT look at Mail Online!

4. Ignore the size of clothes when shopping

I discussed in a post here why the size on the label means less than nothing.  When trying on something that doesn't fit, it is tempting to believe that the problem is you, that the issue is your body, and that if only your boobs were smaller, or your legs longer, or your hips narrower, then all would be well. We almost never blame what is obviously at fault: the garment itself. Designed for a narrow range of shapes (almost certainly none of which match your own unique and wonderful one), the clothes on the high street are the problem, not you. 

5. Know what suits you 
To feel positive about your body, you need to feel positive about what you're wearing, and this is one of two approaches to take when shopping (and the one that works for me).  I know exactly what suits me and have what my friends would agree is an almost slavish devotion to tea dresses, which nip me in at the waist and suit my short stature, or skinny jeans and Breton tops.  I know what looks good on me and - more importantly - what I feel comfortable wearing, so to a large extent I ignore what the latest fashions are and just wear what I've been wearing for years.  Or alternatively...

6. Embrace the maxim: Fuck Flattering
Not something I've managed for myself yet, but one I admire greatly.  There are some fabulous fatshion bloggers out there who embrace their bellies and wear what the hell they like, regardless of whether society deems it 'flattering'.  I suppose my love of striped Breton tops could fall into this category too; how many magazine articles must I have read as a teenager, telling me chubby girls can't wear horizontal stripes?!

7. Focus on what your body is rather than what it isn't
The thing that finally got rid of any remaining dislike of my own body was when I started to hike and ride a bike.  It's really hard to vilify thighs that are capable of hauling you up a mountain, or cycling 20 miles.  The human body is an incredible thing and it seems almost insulting to waste time focusing on your flabby arms when those arms sew or bake or draw beautifully.

8. Diet is a dirty word
A smart, savvy, funny woman I work with made a comment the other day that she'd been on a diet for "the best part of thirty years".  Possibly hyperbolic, but the sentiment is one that many women will be familiar with.  However, the truth is that the diet industry - Weight Watchers, Slimming World and their ilk - just doesn't work long-term.  If it did, there wouldn't be much of an industry to speak of.  I really don't see the point of worrying about every mouthful, of counting every calorie, in a doomed attempt to shed pounds.  There is abundant medical evidence to show that you will be healthier if you are 'overweight' and active, than if you are 'underweight'* and active.  Far better to eat what you want, when you're hungry, and not feel miserable about denying yourself.

* in quotation marks because these terms are based on the much-derided BMI system.

9. Throw out the scales
Weight really means very little; muscle weighs more than fat, for example. This is something most of us know theoretically, but in practice find it harder to apply to our own bodies. But I don't think it's a coincidence that I have never really fallen prey to body negativity, and I have also never owned a pair of scales.  Simply put, I don't give a shit how much I weigh.  My body works just fine at the weight it is, so why would I want to change it?

10. Fat is a feminist issue
Susie Orbach's seminal 1970's feminist text is as true today as it was then.  Ultimately, refusing to participate in patriarchal ideals of what constitutes a 'correct' or 'attractive' female body is a feminist response.  Choosing to love yourself and your body is a massive "fuck you" to the oppressive forces that work in society. 

Lately...

MAKING ooh, lots.  I fixed some curtains for a friend, then while my sewing machine was out I whipped up an iPad cover.  I upcycled a chair, baked some banana bread, made a birthday present for The Boy, framed some Penguin Classics postcards to put in my living room, made a collage on my craft room wall...  I hope my making streak doesn't end now school has started.

SITTING in the garden in the glorious sunshine, in between all the various makes and bakes.  It was lovely - after a summer full of activity - to have a few days at home over the bank holiday weekend, just chilling out and getting stuff done around the house.

PLANNING an autumn of trips, nights out, family visits and fun escapades with The Boy, because he finally moves back to Leicester next week.  Yippee!!!!

WEARING school clothes for the first time in six weeks :( 

READING stacks of magazines, which all seem to have arrived at once. I'm cancelling The Simple Things because even on second try, I don't like it that much. My subscription to Oh Comely has just finished, too, and I'm thinking I might try something different instead. Any magazine suggestions gratefully received.

EATING the aforementioned banana bread.  Yum.

DRINKING far too much at Leicester Pride yesterday.  It coincides with my friend, Liv's, birthday, so is a double celebration and therefore (in my mind) double the drinking is acceptable.  My head and stomach and liver all beg to differ today.

BUYING nothing except for food, drink, and a bargain £1.50 Persephone Books find in a charity shop.  The £100 challenge is underway and this week, I've spent £83.  When I first attempted the challenge this time last year, lots of commenters said that £100 a week was loads of money... and then  contacted me again a few weeks later to say they'd tried keeping track of every penny spent and been shocked at how easy it is to burn through £100 or more. 

Mag hag: The Simple Things

A magazine from the people behind Mollie Makes?  With cover taglines including 'Living in a thrifted home', 'Autumn bike rides' and 'Market shopping'?!  Sounds amazing, right?

Sadly, The Simple Things didn't quite live up to expectations.  I guess I was expecting someting similar to Oh Comely, and it is trying quite hard to be exactly that, which is part of the problem.  It's trying too hard.  The issue I read (number 2) felt like a bunch of marketing peeps had sat down and said, "well, this [baking bread, vintage shopping, living simply] is what everyone's into these days, let's put a magazine together."  And they went away and read a bunch of blogs and tried to replicate the contents, but without the knowledge or passion required to make it successful. 

All that being said, I did want to nom my way through these parsnip crisps...

...but I felt that too much of the magazine (which, at £4.99, is no bargain) was taken up with shopping spreads.  I stopped reading more mainstream magazines like Red because of not wanting to be constantly marketed to, and if The Simple Things genuinely wants to position itself as an alternative to those kind of mags then it would do well to have more editorial content and less of the, "buy this, it's pretty".  I will be giving it another try with their introductory offer of £5 for three issues (which runs until 30th November), and I'm hoping I start to like it more.

Mag hag

So, I've talked before about how much I love magazines but how much I hate the thinly-veiled contempt for their readership that passes for much mainstream women's media.  One of the things I am most excited about regarding my move to Colorado is a whole new set of mags to read; I have heard good things about Lucky, anyone come across it?  If I focus on easy access to Bust and Bitch, the loss of my Saturday Guardian fix might be less painful. 

This article on Autostraddle.com (from which I shamelessly stole the awesome collage at the head of this post) about 15 women's magazines that don't suck really reminded me of how much good media there is out there.  It's just a shame that it's swamped by the dross. 

This Easter I was excited to find two new magazines to write about though...

Bust
Bust is super-hard to find in the UK since the demise of Borders, but Gays The Word bookshop in Bloomsbury came up trumps last week (although it is the Jan-Feb issue, but beggars can't be choosers and all that).
Coverlines ... Style secrets of fashion rebels; Craft it up - easy apple pie (very yum, I can attest), cute crayon rings, adorbs (ugh, I hate that 'word') aprons.
For women who like the look and feel of glossy women's magazines but want one that doesn't seem like it actually hates it's readership (cf. most other women's mags)
Wants you to buy Softcup menstrual products; a hand-drawn plate from Etsy for $43.50; cushions whose proceeds go to support marijuana reform laws (you don't find that in Elle or Marie Claire). 
Reading it I feel like punching the air and shouting "yes" while reading the oh-so-important What To Expect When You're Expecting An Abortion article.  Bust may be glossier, shinier and more mainstream than Bitch, but don't let the Hollywood stars on the cover fool you: it's just as kickass feminist.  I love the fact it combines crafting tips and recipes with pop-culture commentary and more incisive articles.  My favourite thing?  The postcard trumpeting a subscription special offer, which at only $14.95 is totally going to be the first thing I buy when I arrive State-side in July.

Cloth

I'd never heard of Cloth until I spied it in Salt's Mill bookshop, Saltaire, last weekend.  Full of sewing ideas and patterns, and at only £3.50, it seemed worth a try.

Coverlines... Cool makes, flirty fashion; Free shift dress pattern.
For women who live in the Midlands or North of England.  I say this because, compared with other craft mags, Cloth seems refreshingly full of shops, classes and workshops outside London and the Home Counties.
Wants you to buy The Liberty Book Of Home-Sewing, £20; Eurostar tickets to Paris to explore the craft scene there, as promoted
Reading it I feel like I want to love it more than I do.  All the ingredients are there - a surfeit of practical projects and patterns (one of my pet peeves with Mollie Makes is that it's overly-reliant on nice photos but doesn't give much actual crafting guidance); an interesting article about a charity providing sewing machines to women in the developing world - but for some reason I'm not feeling it.  Most of the projects are taken from books, including the aforementioned Liberty one, and as I have a huge stack of sewing books I've already come across at least half of the ideas.  Definitely a good magazine if you don't have a library of books to refer to at home, but otherwise it might prove to be surplus to requirements.

Mag hag: the alternatives

Just before Christmas, I devoted a post to magazine reviews.  As much as I love whiling away the hours reading things online, it's just not the same as holding a magazine in your hand and having something tangible, beyond an internet bookmark, to keep.  But as my reviews showed, I had been feeling dissatisfied with what was on offer in terms of womens mags.  Even though this great post on xojane.com sung the praises of mainstream media, this time round, I tried to seek out some genuine alternatives.

Oh Comely
Recommended to my by commenter Laura after my last magazine post, it took me a while to track down the independently-published Oh Comely in my local Smiths.  Issue 8 was finally located last weekend - yay!
Coverlines ... well, no traditional coverlines as such, just a blurb announcing, "We wondered how biscuits began, photographed tattoos with stories, confessed our secret crushes, talked about kindness with old and young, and dyed scarves with fennel and onion."
For women who aren't afraid of all things winsome and twee, and who dislike the term 'hipster', but (let's face it) are a little bit hipster themselves.
Wants you to buy a Lomography camera; Tatty Devine's new book How To Make Jewellry. 
Reading it I feel like I want to get another tattoo.  I was worried Oh Comely would leave me feeling like Mollie Makes - stressing about the number of craft projects I want to complete, and depressed that my house and life isn't as lovely as the ones shown - but it really didn't.  One to buy again.

Bitch

I let my subscription to American feminist mag Bitch lapse a couple of years ago when I bought my house and was cutting out all non-essential expenditure.  A recent 20% off deal led me to renew again, and I'm so glad I did.  Bitch has been struggling to stay afloat over the past few years (a fact which is reflected in somewhat cheaper production values).  But I'm pleased to say that it's as interesting, thought-provoking and brilliant as ever.

There are articles about lifestyle blogs and the competition they can engender between women; a feminist summer school here in the UK (I take back everything I said about it being US-centric in my last post!); the always-amazing San Francisco writer and activist Michelle Tea; how disability activism has been helped and hindered by online communities... SO much great stuff.

Coverlines are short and sweet, not giving too much away: Busting out fatshion; Gunning for women; Michelle Tea.
For women who have any small ounce of feminist or political urge and want to read something amazing.  Can you tell I love it?!
Wants you to buy xojane.com columnist Lesley Kinzel's new book about fatshion and fat activism, Two Whole Cakes; the latest album by St Vincent.
Reading it I feel excited, informed, politicised... and sorry I stayed away for so long.  Subscribing again is the best $40 I've ever spent: please support them at www.bitchmagazine.org/.

The Big Issue
Not a womens magazine, obviously, but still worth a mention.  Since I stopped working in the city I buy it less, and haven't been too impressed with it when I do manage to get it.  However this recent issue (February 27-March 4) was a veritable treasure-chest of interesting articles: secularism vs. religion; community groups regenerating areas in Liverpool and Margate; a great, gossipy interview with Dame Eileen Atkins.
Coverlines... just one: rhetorical question 'The opium of the masses?' alongside a TV screen. 
For women  people who want to support the ideals of the Big Issue, giving homeless people "a hand up not a hand out", while also reading about activism, politics and entertainment.
Wants you to buy tickets for the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra; rechargable batteries.
Reading it I feel engaged and interested in the issues it raises.

Mag hag: 24 hours with a pile of magazines

Pretty much the only benefit of spending the last two days languishing in bed with a bug has been the chance to tackle the large pile of magazines I'd aquired over the past few weeks.  Reading them back-to-back led me to ponder the weirdness that is women's mags.

Red
Traditional glossy, aspirational woman's magazine.  I used to love it but cancelled my subscription recently when I realised that reading it made me feel bad.  The Christmas issue is a must-buy though, if only for the annual 25% off at Paperchase voucher.
Coverlines include 'My 10-year love affair with Botox'; 'Lorraine Pascal's totally lazy Christmas'.  Did feminism ever happen?
For women who, judging by the articles therein, are in their 30s or 40s, live in impossibly nice houses with their impossibly nice husband and 2.4 children.
Wants you to buy Tom Ford eye shadow palette, a bargain at only £62; a £920 sheepskin beanbag from The White Company; an £8,000 Rolex watch.
Reading it I feel an increasing sense of dissatisfaction with my life.  Looking at the glossy interiors photographs, my thoughts turn to the grubby grouting in my bathroom.  There are some articles that resonate - particularly 'Get an experience high', about how to cut down on buying and focus more on doing (which seems ironic in a magazine that is 50% adverts) - but overall reading it reminds me why I cancelled my subscription. 

Mollie Makes
Relatively new (only on it's eighth issue) craft magazine aimed at young, trendy crafters who might watch Kirstie's Homemade Home then go out to a gig.
Coverlines include 'Thrifty style secrets: recycled makes for your home & wardrobe'; 'Scandinavian inspiration: Norway's coolest design blog'.  Clearly not your average craft magazine, with patterns for teddy bear cross stitch.
For women who have always been into crafts, honest, I'm not jumping on the 'cool craft' bandwagon, I swear...
Wants you to buy a new Janome sewing machine, £99.99; handknitted lambswool egg cosies.
Reading it I wonder who are these people who find amazing junkshop finds for a few quid?  My local junk shop is full of, well, junk and it costs a damn sight more than the £6 for a chair quoted in here.  Mollie Makes is just as aspirational as mainstream women's mags, it's just a different kind of aspiration.  Instead of lusting after Rolex watches and posh make-up, we're lusting after vintage fabrics, car boot bargains and screenprinted cushions.

Fat Quarter
Recently defunct quarterly magazine, clearly published on the thinnest of shoestrings but packed full of interesting articles that feel aimed at women exactly like me (whoever they may be).
Coverlines include 'Kristin Hersh of Throwing Muses'; 'Drag kings'.  Terse and to the point.
For women who "are after a 'countercultural ladies' mag," according to the tagline.  I'll assume the "ladies'" is ironic.
Wants you to buy albums by bands so obscure even I haven't heard of them.
Reading it I want to weep that after only three issues, the only possible UK alternative to Bust or Bitch has folded.  Blogs are all well and good, but I'm old-fashioned and like to turn pages when I read.

Diva
This is neither the time nor the place to go into detail about my sexual preferences.  Suffice it to say that I've dated girls and boys in the past (is it bad that I still think in terms of 'girls' and 'boys' at the age of 33?!) and I enjoy the ocassional flick through Diva, if only for the novel experience of reading a magazine for women that isn't obsessed with diets.
Coverlines include 'Feminine lesbians: Too straight looking to be gay?'; 'New Leeds gay quarter - ghetto or fabulous?'.  They like rhetorical questions.
For women who like women, duh.
Wants you to buy The new Bjork album; an Annix dildo for the special offer price of £29.99.
Reading it I decide I want some fabulous red lipstick, like the women in the vintage fashion feature.  But no rage, no yearning for consumer goods... this might just be the winning mag.