Sunday 22 April 2012

Glamour Magazine- The New Mental Health Guru?

The Vagenda Team have been giving me all kinds of blogspiration lately (if I haven't already made it obvious, I am currently a little obsessed with this amazing team of writers). A couple of their tweets in particular caught my eye recently:

"The editor's letter of this month's Glamour seems to imply that having a support network which includes staff will help you beat depression"
"I'm sure having a nanny, a PA, and your girly friends may help. But don't doctors say that a combo of therapy and medication works best?"

Magazines often embark on awareness raising campaigns about all kinds of issues, from safety to sexual health, in a bid to educate and support their readers. There's absolutely nothing wrong with this in itself. In fact, I love when my favourite monthly reads provide me with more than a shopping wish list I cannot afford.

I think the problem arises when magazines begin to stray outside of their remit and oversimplify issues they're not really qualified to advise on. As the Vagenda Team point out, they can often skim over (or completely leave out) important parts of the story (ie. that Depression is an illness which usually requires more than the ability to delegate in order to be beaten). Whilst it's important to encourage sufferers to get support it's equally important not to undermine the seriousness of mental health problems.

This doesn't mean, however, that the glossies should shy away from the topic. There are so many amazing organizations working hard to destigmatise mental health problems and it's great that the magazine industry wants to join them. They don't need any criticism for this- if Jo Elvin's (Glamour editor) letter prompts just a handful of women to seek support (whether it's from their best friend or their GP) then I'd say it's a job well done. We just need to ensure the right information is out there so that those who need to access support are not put off when they realise a laugh with the girls won't necessarily be the miracle cure they hoped for.

It's also worth bearing in mind that the path to mental wellbeing doesn't always require a prescription of Prozac. Being free from a diagnosed condition is only the beginning and it's also important to look after our mental health on a day to day basis. In a society where our waistline is sometimes prioritised over our own true happiness, perhaps such campaigns can remind women to place the same emphasis on their mind as they do on their bodies? If we are encouraged to ask for support as we go about our day to day business perhaps we will find it easier to reach out for help if we come up against bigger challenges.

We need to get to the point where society can encourage those suffering with depression that things will get better without implying that they should just 'snap out of it'. Is Glamour  in a position to do this? Magazines may not have the specialist knowledge to recommend treatment plans however they are in an excellent position to shape the way thousands of young women view mental health issues which has pretty amazing potential.

Since starting this post (yeah I have issues with concentration!) I saw on twitter that Time to Change were putting on an event about the representation of mental health in women's magazines (which Jo Elvin spoke at). I think the timing is perfect and, despite my adoration for magazines, we need to hold these big names accountable when it comes to the way in which they influence their readers. Mental health problems don't just happen to other people (one in four is a pretty big statistic) and so it's in everyone's best interests to keep this issue high on their agenda.

Saturday 14 April 2012

Too damn fabulous

Like many people, I had a scroll through the Daily Mail website during yesterday's lunch hour in order to see what people were wearing to this year's Ladies' Day at Aintree. I won't post a link to the article as it's pretty predictable, ending with readers (anonymously) insulting people's chosen attire. Luckily, I also came across this article by Stephanie Heneghan which sums up my feelings on the matter perfectly.

A day later, however, and I just can't shake off my feelings of anger. Since when was publishing deliberately bad photos of women (as one commenter observed) in order to spark a string of hurtful insults a valid career choice? And as for the comments themselves, I appreciate we're all entitled to an opinion but where do we draw the line? You wouldn't shout at a woman in the street because you didn't like her fake tan (well not if you're a decent human being) so why does the Daily Mail make it okay for us to do so online?

Women really cannot win. If we don't make an effort we're seen as lazy and committing a crime against femininity however if we dare to show a bit of personality through our style then, as Stephanie points out, we're publicly ridiculed. But there's a happy medium you say? I'm sure there is however when society continuously changes its idea of  what's desirable in a woman, this 'happy medium' gets increasingly difficult to achieve.

Considering beauty is so very subjective, how about people just shut the hell up and stop criticizing the ladies of Liverpool for being too damn fabulous.