tag:theconversation.com,2011:/africa/topics/magazines-8451/articlesMagazines – The Conversation2024-01-09T19:16:49Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2173712024-01-09T19:16:49Z2024-01-09T19:16:49ZMagazines were supposed to die in the digital age. Why haven’t they?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565041/original/file-20231212-23-u1vhzr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4031%2C3024&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/melbourneaustralia-30th-june-2019-australian-magazine-1439740124">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>In the classic comedy Ghostbusters (1984), newly hired secretary Janice raises the subject of reading, while idly flipping through the pages of a magazine. The scientist Egon Spengler responds with a brusque dismissal: “<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3v_ogRaTf4">print is dead</a>.”</p>
<p>Egon’s words now seem prescient. The prevailing assumption of the past couple of decades is that print media is being slowly throttled by the rise of digital. Print magazines, in particular, are often perceived as being under threat. </p>
<p>While not nearly as popular as they once were, magazines haven’t died. New ones have started since the dire predictions began, while others continue to attract loyal readerships.</p>
<p>So what’s the enduring appeal of the print magazine? Why didn’t it die, as so many predicted?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/substack-newsletters-are-a-literary-trend-whats-the-appeal-and-what-should-you-read-211429">Substack newsletters are a literary trend. What's the appeal – and what should you read?</a>
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<h2>Printed words in an online world</h2>
<p>The word “magazine” derives from the <a href="https://www.etymonline.com/word/magazine">term for a warehouse or storehouse</a>. In its essence, it is any publication that collects different types of writing for readers. Each instalment includes a range of voices, subjects and perspectives. </p>
<p>Print magazine culture has certainly seen a decline since its heyday in the 20th century. Once-popular print magazines have moved <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/garyphillips/2019/04/30/espn-saying-goodbye-to-its-print-magazine/?sh=5dde00c2167c">entirely online</a> or are largely sustained by <a href="https://pressgazette.co.uk/media-audience-and-business-data/media_metrics/womens-interest-magazines-abcs-2022/">growing digital subscriptions</a>. </p>
<p>Elsewhere, internet media sites, of the type pioneered by <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/au">Buzzfeed</a> and its imitators, increasingly fulfil the need for diverse and distracting short-form writing. </p>
<p>The explosion of social media has also cut into the advertising market on which print magazines have traditionally depended. </p>
<p>Online audiences have come to expect new content daily or even hourly. Casual readers are less willing to wait for a weekly or monthly print magazine to arrive in the post or on a newsstand. The ready availability of free, or significantly cheaper, digital content may deter them from purchasing print subscriptions or individual issues. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565365/original/file-20231212-15-90alox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A pile of Vogue magazines on top of each other." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565365/original/file-20231212-15-90alox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/565365/original/file-20231212-15-90alox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565365/original/file-20231212-15-90alox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565365/original/file-20231212-15-90alox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565365/original/file-20231212-15-90alox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565365/original/file-20231212-15-90alox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/565365/original/file-20231212-15-90alox.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Global fashion magazine Vogue has maintained a loyal readership, both in print and online.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/lodz-poland-april-18-2020-stack-1707148741">Grzegorz Czapski/Shutterstock</a></span>
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<h2>Turning from screens to the page</h2>
<p>And yet print magazines refuse to die. Established periodicals, such as <a href="https://www.newyorker.com">the New Yorker</a> and <a href="https://www.vogue.com.au">Vogue</a>, stubbornly cling to a global readership in both print and digital formats. </p>
<p>New titles are emerging as well – 2021 saw the launch of <a href="https://www.mediapost.com/publications/article/369821/magazine-analyst-new-print-magazine-launches-more.html?edition=124786">122 new print magazines</a> in the United States alone. The number is smaller than some previous years, and this perhaps reflects the generally shrinking market for print media. </p>
<p>But given the accepted wisdom, it is remarkable there are any new periodicals at all.</p>
<p>In Australia, print magazines sales have <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/physical-magazines-are-making-a-comeback-with-or-without-readers-20230818-p5dxo4">risen 4.1% in 2023</a> and previously axed publications – such as Girlfriend – are now receiving one-off, nostalgic <a href="https://www.beautydirectory.com.au/news/news/girlfriend-magazine-returns-for-a-special-one-off-print-edition">returns to print</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/equal-social-rights-for-sexes-in-the-1930s-the-australian-womens-weekly-was-a-political-forum-212770">'Equal Social Rights For SEXES': in the 1930s, the Australian Women's Weekly was a political forum</a>
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<p>The market for print magazines isn’t exactly thriving. But they haven’t vanished as quickly as anticipated. </p>
<p>Some commentators have attributed the enduring appeal of print magazines to the physical experience of reading. We absorb information differently from the page than from the screen, perhaps in a less frantic and distractable way.</p>
<p>“<a href="https://fortune.com/2023/05/25/tech-giants-have-gutted-publishing-now-digital-fatigue-is-giving-print-a-new-lease-on-life/">Digital fatigue</a>” from the years of the pandemic has arguably resulted in a small pivot back to print media. The revived interest in print magazines has also been attributed to the <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/media-and-marketing/physical-magazines-are-making-a-comeback-with-or-without-readers-20230818-p5dxo4">“analog” preferences</a> of Gen Z readers. </p>
<p>As the writer <a href="https://catapult.co/dont-write-alone/stories/in-a-digital-age-why-still-read-print-magazines-hope-corrigan">Hope Corrigan has noted</a>, there is also something appealing about the aesthetics of print magazines. The care taken with layout, images and copy can’t always be replicated on as screen. Indeed, magazines with a significant focus on photography and visual design – such as fashion and travel magazines – are enduring in print. </p>
<p>Magazine expert Samir Husni <a href="https://www.fipp.com/news/why-it-might-be-time-to-think-again-about-print-mr-magazine-samir-husni-on-the-formats-remarkable-resilience">has observed</a> that emerging independent print magazines are more focused on targeting a niche readership. Advances in printing technology have made smaller print runs more cost-effective. This allows new magazines to focus on quality over quantity. </p>
<p>The new wave of print magazines tend to have a higher cover price and standard of production. They are also published less frequently, with quarterly or biannual schedules becoming <a href="https://www.sappipapers.com/insights/print-media/launches-print-magazines-2022">more common</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-magazine-that-inspired-rolling-stone-86910">The magazine that inspired Rolling Stone</a>
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<h2>What was old is cool again?</h2>
<p>This trend moves away from the idea of magazines as cheap and disposable. Rather, it reframes them as a luxury product. </p>
<p>Print magazines cannot compete with digital media in providing constantly up-to-date content to a mass audience. But they can potentially maintain a dedicated readership with a meaningful and aesthetically pleasing publication. </p>
<p>This means print magazines may be spared some of the turbulence suffered by media websites that are solely dependent on digital advertising revenue. The past few years have seen staffing upheavals, mass resignations and shutdowns at popular magazine-style websites such as <a href="https://www.npr.org/2019/11/01/775548069/after-days-of-resignations-the-last-of-the-deadspin-staff-have-quit#:%7E:text=After%20Days%20Of%20Resignations%2C%20The%20Last%20Of%20The%20Deadspin%20Staff%20Has%20Quit&text=via%20Getty%20Images-,The%20entire%20writing%20and%20editing%20staff%20of%20Deadspin%20quit%20after,to%20%22stick%20to%20sports.%22">Deadspin</a>, the <a href="https://www.pajiba.com/miscellaneous/the-gutting-of-the-av-club-is-an-embarrassment-to-the-industry-and-a-horrible-sign-of-its-future.php">Onion AV Club</a>, the <a href="https://wolfsgamingblog.com/2023/11/07/the-escapist-looks-doomed-following-mass-staff-exodus-including-yahtzee-crowshaw-creator-of-zero-punctuation/#:%7E:text=Escapist%20staff%20members%20Darren%20Mooney,video%20team%20in%20the%20process.">Escapist</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/nov/09/jezebel-news-shut-down-layoffs-go-media">Jezebel</a> (although the latter has since <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/29/business/media/jezebel-resurrected-paste-magazine.html">returned</a>). The original vision and standards for these sites have arguably suffered from the constant drive to increase daily traffic and reduce costs. </p>
<p>Print magazines may also be seeing a revived interest from advertisers. <a href="https://mgmagazine.com/business/marketing-promo/defying-digital-the-resilience-of-print-advertising/">Recent research</a> indicates a strong preference for print advertising among consumers. Readers <a href="https://www.walsworth.com/blog/print-magazines-arent-dying-and-heres-why">are far more likely</a> to pay attention to a print advertisement and trust its content. By contrast, online advertising is <a href="https://perfectcommunications.com/thought-leadership/print-trustworthy">more likely</a> to be ignored or dismissed. </p>
<p>In a <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/what-are-magazines-good-for">2021 profile</a> of magazine collector Steven Lomazow, Nathan Heller writes: </p>
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<p>[…] what made magazines appealing in 1720 is the same thing that made them appealing in 1920 and in 2020: a blend of iconoclasm and authority, novelty and continuity, marketability and creativity, social engagement and personal voice. </p>
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<p>While the circulation and influence of print magazines may have reduced, they are not necessarily dead or even dying. They can be seen as moving into a smaller, but sustainable, place in the media landscape.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/217371/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian Novitz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As digital media took off in the 2010s, few believed magazines could survive. While the industry isn’t what is once was, magazines are still very much alive, but why?Julian Novitz, Senior Lecturer, Writing, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2127702023-10-11T01:00:25Z2023-10-11T01:00:25Z‘Equal Social Rights For SEXES’: in the 1930s, the Australian Women’s Weekly was a political forum<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550488/original/file-20230927-21-zi5n1s.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=11%2C5%2C3976%2C1982&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Australian Women's Weekly covers, 1939.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Typical_Australian_Girls_the_Blonde.jpg">Virgil Reilly, via Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Australian Women’s Weekly, the first Australian magazine dedicated solely to the interests of women, turned 90 this year. The magazine is known for its coverage centred around the home and child-rearing, but the early editions of the Weekly also created a space for Australian women to engage with politics through the lens of womanhood. </p>
<p>Since its first edition in June 1933, the Weekly has provided Australian women with a forum to learn, discuss and debate a range of issues. Its coverage throughout the 1930s reveals how the magazine negotiated the tension between conservative and progressive viewpoints on women’s involvement in political affairs. </p>
<h2>The Weekly and the 1930s</h2>
<p>The magazine’s first editor, George Warnecke, developed a prototype for a publication tailored to female readers after studying women’s interests. He wanted it to be “distinctly Australian [and] appeal across age groups”. </p>
<p>The Weekly was immediately popular. The initial estimated print run of 50,000 copies increased to 121,162 copies. By the end of 1939, the Weekly had a circulation of 445,000. </p>
<p>Originally launched as a “forty-four-page black and white newspaper”, it sold for two pence and followed traditional newspaper formatting, printed in broadsheet columns. It appealed to female readers with engaging images of womanhood – the first issue’s cover story was on Sydney women’s fashion. </p>
<p>However, the paper quickly moved away from this format towards a cover centred on a single evocative image. This change can be seen throughout August and September 1933, when the images on the front cover became increasingly prominent. Eventually, they took over the whole page. </p>
<p>Inside, the paper covered fashion, beauty, homemaking, entertainment – and current affairs. The first edition’s <em>other</em> cover story reported on a recent conference of the Women Voters’ Federation in Adelaide under the headline “Equal Social <em>Rights</em> for <em>SEXES</em>”.</p>
<p>In early issues, political topics were primarily addressed in the “Points of View” column on the editorial page, which acted as a forum for the editorial team to provide short critical commentaries on issues they deemed important to Australian women. </p>
<p>This space included readers’ responses. Another dedicated column, “So They Say”, provided space for readers to discuss previous articles, current affairs and social issues. </p>
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<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550480/original/file-20230927-25-l3qhf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550480/original/file-20230927-25-l3qhf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/550480/original/file-20230927-25-l3qhf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550480/original/file-20230927-25-l3qhf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550480/original/file-20230927-25-l3qhf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=840&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550480/original/file-20230927-25-l3qhf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550480/original/file-20230927-25-l3qhf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/550480/original/file-20230927-25-l3qhf1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1056&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">The first edition of the Australian Women’s Weekly, June 10, 1933.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:1933_Women%27s_Weekly_cover.jpg">Bilby, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
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<h2>Politics and the home</h2>
<p>The Weekly’s coverage and reader contributions on current affairs created a platform for women to dissect political topics. But it balanced the tension between conservative and progressive viewpoints on women’s involvement in politics to cater to their commercial audience.</p>
<p>In a March 1934 editorial, Warnecke declared “this paper knows no politics” and “most women are not specially politically minded”. Women’s sphere of influence, he argued, was the household. </p>
<p>But Warnecke implied that women could still influence society and culture. They were outside formal institutions, but could shape the nation politically in other ways: “public opinion starts off as private opinion, and this is formed in the home”. </p>
<p>The editorial suggested that the Weekly’s coverage was not “non-political”, as one reader, Miss Clarke, interpreted. Rather, the paper managed to establish a forum for both conservative and progressive ideological viewpoints by claiming to separate the social from the political. </p>
<p>An example of this can be seen in the editorial “Women and Democracy”, published on July 14 1934, which showcased the political influence women held over their families:</p>
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<p>The fact is that, though [women] may not take a public part in politics, the Australian woman exercises a potent influence at election times, not only because of her voting power, but because of the high esteem in which her opinion is held by the male members of her household.</p>
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<p>Warnecke also defended women’s right to vote: “there has never been any serious question of the Australian woman being in an ‘inferior’ position because of her sex”, he argued.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-australian-womens-weekly-spoke-to-50s-housewives-about-the-cold-war-145699">How the Australian Women's Weekly spoke to '50s housewives about the Cold War</a>
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<h2>Australian women’s political interest</h2>
<p>Although the Weekly often framed political debate through social and cultural lenses, there was still ample traditional political reportage in early editions. This is evident in feature articles, occasional columns and reader contributions that asserted the importance of women’s engagement with political institutions. </p>
<p>Mrs V. Cantwell’s October 1933 contribution positioned her against a fellow reader, identified by the initials A.S., who had declared that women were not interested in politics. Cantwell retorted:</p>
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<p>The improved conditions of women and children to-day, as regards social services, general health, etc., are directly attributable to the fact that women are taking an increased and creditable interest in public affairs.</p>
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<p>Cantwell’s contribution illustrated the progressive view of modern Australian women. Written in response to another reader, her piece illustrates the Weekly’s willingness to foster dialogue and debate. </p>
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<span class="caption">Australian Women’s Weekly cover, October 21, 1939.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/ea/Austn_Women%27s_Weekly_cover_Virgil_Reilly_21Oct1939.jpg">Virgil Reilly, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
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<p>Historian Hannah Viney developed the notion of “feminised politics” to describe the way “the threads of the domestic and the politics that were interwoven” in the Weekly’s coverage in the 1950s. Here we can clearly see that the Weekly allowed readers “politically minded, politically ambivalent or somewhere in between” a forum to engage with political coverage in the 1930s as well. </p>
<p>Towards the end of the decade, as war in Europe began to appear inevitable, Weekly readers were eager to understand the extremist ideologies that threatened world peace. This is apparent in Miss M. Muir’s reader contribution published on August 12, 1939, under the headline: “Need knowledge of foreign politics”.</p>
<p>Muir believed fewer than one in 50 Australian women understood what the Nazi, fascist and communist movements stood for. She proposed the Education Department supply paper lectures to Australian women “on possible political dangers”. </p>
<p>“We should not leave the knowledge of modern foreign politics only to the men,” she argued. </p>
<p>The publication of Muir’s piece in a highlighted box in the “So They Say” column implies the paper’s agreement.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212770/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Zara Saunders does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In its early years, the Australian Women’s Weekly was careful to balance is political perspective, but played a role in raising awareness of important issues.Zara Saunders, PhD Candidate, Australian Catholic UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2114292023-09-17T20:00:21Z2023-09-17T20:00:21ZSubstack newsletters are a literary trend. What’s the appeal – and what should you read?<p>Every week since August 2021, Australian author Bri Lee has released a regular weekly Substack newsletter, <a href="https://newsandreviews.substack.com">News & Reviews</a>, to thousands of paid and unpaid subscribers. </p>
<p>The “news” offers commentary on current events and Lee’s particular interests and knowledge areas. “Reviews” can be of just about anything, ranging from books and articles to film and television, or fashion, architecture, events and miscellaneous “fancy things”.</p>
<p>The writing is erudite and well informed, but also very personal. The newsletter has been successful enough to support the launch of a monthly “magazine” edition of News & Reviews, featuring work from a range of other writers, like <a href="https://theconversation.com/stella-prize-shortlist-2023-your-guide-to-6-gripping-courageous-books-202958">Stella Prize shortlisted</a> graphic novelist Eloise Grills and playwright and <a href="https://www.allenandunwin.com/browse/news/a-u-new-imprint-joan-curated-by-nakkiah-lui">Allen & Unwin publisher</a> Nakkiah Lui.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547709/original/file-20230912-18248-qa221i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547709/original/file-20230912-18248-qa221i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547709/original/file-20230912-18248-qa221i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547709/original/file-20230912-18248-qa221i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547709/original/file-20230912-18248-qa221i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=448&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547709/original/file-20230912-18248-qa221i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547709/original/file-20230912-18248-qa221i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547709/original/file-20230912-18248-qa221i.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=564&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Eloise Grills is one of the writers who contribute to Bri Lee’s Substack publication.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.eloisegrills.com/">Oscar Miller</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Newsletter publications like News & Reviews are becoming increasingly popular outlets for writers at all stages of their careers. <a href="https://www.asauthors.org.au/news/monetising-your-newsletter-bri-lee-shares-her-experience-using-substack-to-supplement-her-income/">Lee notes</a> it provides a useful way of generating regular income between her longer form, traditionally published writing. It also allows her a level of direct connection with her audience, without the algorithmic “flattening” of social media. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/big-beautiful-females-and-familiar-dystopias-new-graphic-nonfiction-interrogates-21st-century-life-182224">Big beautiful females and familiar dystopias: new graphic nonfiction interrogates 21st-century life</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>How Substack works</h2>
<p>Lee was also drawn to the convenience of Substack itself. Newsletters can be managed from a simple dashboard on the platform and start-up costs are virtually nonexistent. </p>
<p>Rather than charge writers a fee, Substack takes a cut of revenue generated by reader subscriptions. Free and paywalled content tiers can be easily included in each newsletter. </p>
<p>Substack and similar platforms allow readers to directly support writers they care about. And writers are free to pursue niche topics and areas of interest, targeting smaller, more invested audiences.</p>
<p>Early adopters of Substack, like <a href="https://sinocism.com">Bill Bishop</a> and <a href="https://tsa.substack.com">Kelly Dwyer</a>, were largely journalists and media commentators who had already established a dedicated readership via news sites. In recent years, however, they have been increasingly joined by literary authors like <a href="https://marygaitskill.substack.com">Mary Gaitskill</a>, <a href="https://cheeseburgergothic.substack.com">John Birmingham</a>, and <a href="https://salmanrushdie.substack.com">Salman Rushdie</a>, among others. </p>
<p>This comes at a time when it’s arguably <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjQn7H5iaKBAxXOk1YBHe4zAKkQFnoECBcQAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.canberratimes.com.au%2Fstory%2F8009112%2Fthe-free-market-is-tough-on-australian-writing-does-the-country-need-a-national-publisher%2F&usg=AOvVaw03ogJJkekvCPI9WEK6OIXO&opi=89978449">much harder</a> to publish literary fiction – and author incomes from conventional publication are <a href="https://theconversation.com/two-thirds-of-australian-authors-are-women-new-research-finds-they-earn-just-18-200-a-year-from-their-writing-195426">often unsatisfactory</a>.</p>
<p>Might Substack newsletters emerge as a viable alternative to print and digital books, and the conventional model of literary publishing?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/is-salman-rushdies-decision-to-publish-on-substack-the-death-of-the-novel-167530">Is Salman Rushdie's decision to publish on Substack the death of the novel?</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>New writing by leading authors</h2>
<p>This seemed like a possible direction in 2021, when several prominent authors began to publish their new fiction through the platform. <a href="https://theconversation.com/is-salman-rushdies-decision-to-publish-on-substack-the-death-of-the-novel-167530">Salman Rushdie</a> and <a href="https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry-news/publisher-news/article/87409-chuck-palahniuk-to-serialize-a-novel-on-substack.html">Chuck Palahniuk</a> were among the early adopters. </p>
<p>Both Rushdie and Palahniuk were deliberately courted via the <a href="https://on.substack.com/p/why-we-pay-writers">Substack Pro program</a>, which incentivises successful writers to publish content on Substack by offering them advance funding. This initiative has been a source of some <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/03/18/substack-backlash/">controversy</a> because Substack does not generally disclose which writers are on the Pro program, nor the size of the advances they are paid. </p>
<p>However, literary authors are not really using Substack as a replacement for conventional books. Rather, Substack publication can provide their subscribers with a kind of “early access period” for forthcoming works. </p>
<p>Palahniuk completed the serialisation of his novel Greener Pastures in 2022, and the novel is now <a href="https://chuckpalahniuk.substack.com/p/closed-for-renovations">due for publication</a> with Simon and Schuster next year. </p>
<p>Similarly, UK author Hanif Kureishi is reworking his Substack reflections on his experience of being paralysed into a memoir, Shattered, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2023/apr/18/hanif-kureishi-to-publish-memoir-about-accident-that-left-him-paralysed-shattered">also due to be published</a> in 2024. It may be fair to say Substack operates more as a supplement to traditional literary publishing than as its alternative. </p>
<p>Often authors are using Substack for forms of writing that wouldn’t always be viable in other mediums. Since the last instalment of Greener Pastures, Palahniuk’s newsletter, <a href="https://chuckpalahniuk.substack.com">Plot Spoiler</a>, has largely focused on personal reminiscences and updates, as well as curating new short fiction from himself and his writing students. </p>
<p>Mary Gaitskill was invited to the platform in mid-2022 as Substack’s “writer in residence”. Since then, she has delivered a brilliant series of <a href="https://marygaitskill.substack.com">fortnightly essays</a> on wide-ranging topics. She has shared her thoughts on the <a href="https://marygaitskill.substack.com/p/two-minutes-of-hate">Depp-Heard trial</a>, the <a href="https://marygaitskill.substack.com/p/incels">“incel” movement</a>, and the handling of public <a href="https://marygaitskill.substack.com/p/writing-about-rape">sex abuse scandals</a>. This is interspersed with insightful reviews and interviews with other writers.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547714/original/file-20230912-21-g6jjky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547714/original/file-20230912-21-g6jjky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547714/original/file-20230912-21-g6jjky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547714/original/file-20230912-21-g6jjky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547714/original/file-20230912-21-g6jjky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547714/original/file-20230912-21-g6jjky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547714/original/file-20230912-21-g6jjky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547714/original/file-20230912-21-g6jjky.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mary Gaitskill was invited to Substack as ‘writer in residence’ in mid-2022.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/shankbone/4984681833/sizes/o/in/set-72157624812563361/">Flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By contrast, George Saunders’ Substack, <a href="https://georgesaunders.substack.com">Story Club</a>, has more of an explicitly educational focus. It offers guided, page-by-page readings of classic short stories, often combined with associated prompts and exercises for aspiring writers. </p>
<p>Saunders uses the newsletter format to make rigorous, textually focused literary criticism more accessible. According to Saunders, discussion of the mechanics of writing and narrative construction should not just be confined to creative writing classrooms. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/gut-punches-and-belly-laughs-in-george-saunders-dark-flights-of-fantasy-theres-the-gleam-of-something-precious-191347">Gut-punches and belly laughs: in George Saunders' dark flights of fantasy there's the gleam of something precious</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Immediacy and intimacy</h2>
<p>The appeal of author newsletters has probably come to reside more in the immediacy and intimacy of these kinds of writings, rather than the prospect of an advance look at forthcoming or developing fiction. </p>
<p>The novels will arrive eventually, but until then it can be enjoyable to find out what is on an author’s mind in any given week, through pieces like Salman Rushdie’s <a href="https://salmanrushdie.substack.com/p/movie-nights-1">brief, withering assessment</a> of Denis Villeneuve’s <a href="https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1160419/">Dune</a>.</p>
<p>Australian authors who have taken to Substack have followed some similar trajectories. </p>
<p>For the award-winning memoirist Maggie Mackellar, her <a href="https://maggiemackellar.substack.com">newsletter</a> is a weekly impetus for work that may go into a future book, as well as the chance “to write exactly what I want and not have to fit into a magazine’s agenda”. Mackellar’s Sydney Review of Books <a href="https://sydneyreviewofbooks.com/essay/mackellar-newsletter-curious-experiment/">essay</a> on the merits of the newsletter as a literary form is worth investigating. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547717/original/file-20230912-3061-pg6s6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547717/original/file-20230912-3061-pg6s6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547717/original/file-20230912-3061-pg6s6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547717/original/file-20230912-3061-pg6s6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547717/original/file-20230912-3061-pg6s6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=288&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547717/original/file-20230912-3061-pg6s6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547717/original/file-20230912-3061-pg6s6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547717/original/file-20230912-3061-pg6s6y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=362&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Maggie Mackellar’s Substack is a weekly prompt for work that may go into a future book.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other writers, like YA authors <a href="https://emilygale.substack.com">Emily Gale</a> and <a href="https://liliwilkinson.substack.com">Lili Wilkinson</a>, use Substack newsletters to engage their readers by offering tips and advice for writing, insights into what they’ve recently been reading and pop-culture commentary. </p>
<h2>The Paris End</h2>
<p>More recently, a new publication from Melbourne writers Cameron Hurst, Sally Olds and Oscar Schwartz follows the magazine-like Substack model explored by Bri Lee. <a href="https://theparisend.substack.com">The Paris End</a> typically delivers two to three long-form essays each month (illustrated by cartoonist Aaron Billings) and a bi-weekly review section covering trends, books, dining and more. </p>
<p>The Paris End is hyperlocal in its focus and very conversational in style. Its writers are dedicated to reviving “the art of reportage”: they get out into the streets of Melbourne to interview locals and explore issues and events firsthand. </p>
<p>It aims to move away from the trend towards removed and highly reflective online writing on current events and controversies. By contrast, the Paris End writers get involved – they put themselves into the stories. </p>
<p>So far, they have covered <a href="https://theparisend.substack.com/p/whos-afraid-of-the-green-haired-girls">gender studies controversies</a> at the University of Melbourne, the <a href="https://theparisend.substack.com/p/design-files-mindset">Nightingale apartment project</a>, the revival of <a href="https://theparisend.substack.com/p/mass-appeal">traditional Catholicism</a>, the (second!) <a href="https://theparisend.substack.com/p/the-tote-autonomous-zone">campaign to save </a> historical Melbourne music venue The Tote, Jordan Peterson’s <a href="https://theparisend.substack.com/p/reply-guy-resurrected">recent Melbourne visit</a>, and more. </p>
<p>The pieces are characterised by a sense of genial curiosity and open-mindedness. While the authors are forthright about their own positions, they are generally willing to give space to contrary voices in their pieces and entertain alternative points of view. </p>
<p>As a model, the Paris End writers <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/culture/art-and-design/melbourne-meets-the-new-yorker-the-bold-new-magazine-reviewing-the-city-20230725-p5dr21.html">are drawn</a> to the wry, gossipy voice of the early New Yorker, which flourished in the early 20th century when there was still a sense New York was just “a big country town”. </p>
<p>It’s a term that no longer fits New York, but possibly applies to Melbourne today – and the awkward meeting point between booming big city populations and lingering small-town mentalities The Paris End’s editors aim to capture. </p>
<p>The Paris End is like the New Yorker if the entire magazine consisted of feature-length “<a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/talk-of-the-town">Talk of the Town</a>” pieces. It feels distinct and unique, and it is difficult to imagine it being delivered through any other medium. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/substack-isnt-a-new-model-for-journalism-its-a-very-old-one-151245">Substack isn't a new model for journalism – it’s a very old one</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Is it sustainable?</h2>
<p>The growing volume of author newsletters on Substack and other platforms is already starting to feel overwhelming for some, however. After making a few well-intentioned subscriptions, my inbox is now starting to fill with unopened newsletters. They are in good company with the unwatched shows on my Netflix list, and the unread books on my shelves. </p>
<p>While there are benefits to the regular writing habits demanded by the newsletter model, it may not always be sustainable. Mary Gaitskill, for instance, has <a href="https://marygaitskill.substack.com/p/just-stepping-out-for-a-bit">just announced</a> a lengthy break, so she can concentrate on fiction writing: “I’ve been trying to work on fiction and do SStack and for right now it’s not working.” </p>
<p>For some authors, the income stream it generates may help to support longer writing projects. For others, the grind of generating enough weekly or fortnightly content to retain paid subscriber bases may not be worthwhile or workable. </p>
<p>One issue is that Substack users will typically need to have a preexisting readership and established networks. In most cases, writers will need to also be publishing material through other outlets to establish and maintain an audience for their newsletters. </p>
<p>Substack has recently attempted to make it easier for writers to promote their work directly on the platform. They have launched the Twitter-like <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/5/23670452/substack-notes-tweets-posts-twitter">Notes</a> for shorter content, and added the ability for readers to <a href="https://www.theverge.com/2023/4/5/23670452/substack-notes-tweets-posts-twitter">follow</a> writers’ profiles and updates before they subscribe to their newsletters. </p>
<p>These developments are moving Substack more in the direction of conventional social media, and it is not yet known whether they will help writers to establish or build audiences. </p>
<p>Despite these efforts, X (formerly Twitter) remains an important promotional tool for Substack writers. Strong engagement on the platform is often indicative of success on Substack (and has been one of the criteria used to recruit writers to Substack Pro). </p>
<p>This dependence is not always beneficial, however. In April of this year, links to Substack content were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2023/apr/11/row-between-twitter-and-substack-ends-with-uneasy-truce">temporarily prohibited</a> on Twitter. At the time, Twitter’s new owner Elon Musk had publicly objected to the similarities between Substack Notes and Twitter. </p>
<p>The matter now appears to be resolved, but it demonstrates how the current volatility surrounding X can impact Substack writers.</p>
<p>These concerns aside, Substack is still arguably the most prominent and accessible email newsletter platform available. Its rapid adoption by both local and international authors has resulted in the creation of fascinating and innovative new content.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211429/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Julian Novitz does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>So many authors are creating Substack newsletters – from Bri Lee’s magazine-like News & Reviews, to George Saunders’ writing tips and Hanif Kureishi’s reflections on being paralysed. But can it last?Julian Novitz, Senior Lecturer, Writing, Department of Media and Communication, Swinburne University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2040972023-04-28T12:46:41Z2023-04-28T12:46:41ZHow the US military used magazines to target ‘vulnerable’ groups with recruiting ads<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523264/original/file-20230427-22-8gas0s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C11%2C3840%2C2132&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Ad agencies developed distinct ads for the U.S. military to reach different demographics over the years.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/photo/young-military-cadet-enjoys-classroom-training-royalty-free-image/1004304340?phrase=military%20recruiting&adppopup=true">SDI Productions via Getty Images</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In his forthcoming book, “Tactical Inclusion: Difference and Vulnerability in U.S. Military Advertising,” Jeremiah Favara, a communication scholar at Gonzaga University, examines military recruitment ads published in three commercial magazines between 1973 – when the federal government ended the military draft – and 2016. The three magazines are Sports Illustrated, Ebony and Cosmopolitan. In the following Q&A, Favara explains the rationale behind his book and discusses some of its key findings.</em></p>
<h2>Why did you decide to look at these ads?</h2>
<p>I chose to look at these three magazines because they allowed me to explore ads designed to reach different groups, namely white men, Black people and women.</p>
<p>Scholars have argued that content in Sports Illustrated – known for its racy swimsuit editions – has long been <a href="https://sunypress.edu/Books/T/The-Swimsuit-Issue-and-Sport2">designed to appeal to straight white men</a>. My own research for the book and other scholarship has found that straight white men have consistently been portrayed in recruiting ads as <a href="https://global.oup.com/academic/product/enlisting-masculinity-9780199842827?cc=us&lang=en&">ideal service members</a>.</p>
<p>Ad agencies J. Walter Thompson and Bates Worldwide developed recruiting plans that singled out Sports Illustrated as one of the most effective publications for reaching a high concentration of potential recruits because of the magazine’s popularity with male readers.</p>
<p>Advertisers contracted by the military viewed Ebony as crucial for reaching Black recruits. That’s largely because Ebony sought to balance content focusing on <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/9781315586861-4/presenting-black-middle-class-john-johnson-ebony-magazine-1945%E2%80%931974-jason-chambers">Black middle-class life</a> with content covering the fight for racial inequality in American society.</p>
<p>Recruiting plans for the Marine Corps and the Navy all sought to place ads in Ebony, especially as part of efforts to recruit more Black officers.</p>
<p>Since the 1960s, Cosmopolitan has played a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/016344399021003004">key role for advertisers</a> in reaching self-sufficient working women as a consumer market. The desired reader of Cosmo – young, straight white women seeking independence – was also an ideal target of military advertisers, particularly in the 1970s and early 1980s.</p>
<p>Following President Ronald Reagan’s election in 1980, the military sought to <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/Women_in_the_Military.html?id=Ea8MAAAACAAJ">decrease the numbers of military women</a> – an effort now known as the “<a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.7249/j.ctt19gfk6m.10?seq=5#metadata_info_tab_contents">womanpause</a>” – and recruiting ads published in Cosmo tapered off. </p>
<h2>How were the ads in each magazine distinct?</h2>
<p>In the course of looking at more than 1,500 ads published in the three magazines between 1973 and 2016, I discovered interesting distinctions. Some themes – how much money you could make in the military, the educational benefits you could access, the sense of purpose the military could provide – were similar across the different magazines. But what was really distinct was how different ads portrayed different people as service members. </p>
<p>For instance, in the 1970s, the Army and Army Reserve placed ads in Cosmo that depicted the military as a way for young women – mostly young white women – to find careers and gain financial independence. The ads used headlines like “Did the last good job you wanted go to a man?” and “The best man doesn’t always get the job.” Text detailed the equal treatment – the same salaries, educational opportunities and chances for promotion – that military women would find in the military. The idea was to portray the Army as a unique site of opportunity for women. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Advertisement with four women wearing different military uniforms on the left." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523272/original/file-20230427-14-rcbmud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523272/original/file-20230427-14-rcbmud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523272/original/file-20230427-14-rcbmud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523272/original/file-20230427-14-rcbmud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=811&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523272/original/file-20230427-14-rcbmud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1019&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523272/original/file-20230427-14-rcbmud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1019&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523272/original/file-20230427-14-rcbmud.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1019&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An ad in a 1973 edition of Cosmopolitan presents the military as a place where women can get a fair shot.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Cosmopolitan, August 1973</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Similarly, in the 1970s, <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/23337486.2018.1463759">ads published in Ebony</a> portrayed the military as a site of equal opportunity for Black men. A series of Navy ads talked about a “new Navy” where Black men had opportunities they wouldn’t have had 20 years prior.</p>
<p>In more recent decades, Ebony ads were less likely to use such explicit language of equal opportunities. Instead, they celebrated Black History Month by highlighting the accomplishments of exceptional Black service members from the past, such as the <a href="https://daily.jstor.org/who-were-the-montford-point-marines/">Montford Point Marines</a> and the <a href="https://airandspace.si.edu/explore-and-learn/topics/blackwings/tuskegee.cfm">Tuskegee Airmen</a>. </p>
<h2>Were the magazine ads effective?</h2>
<p>While there is no way to know if the magazine ads – and not TV ads or other methods of recruiting – were directly responsible for increasing enlistments, my research for the book found that the publication of ads targeting Black recruits and women corresponded with high <a href="https://www.cna.org/pop-rep/2016/summary/summary.html">rates of enlistment</a> from those groups. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.cna.org/pop-rep/2016/summary/summary.html">Between 1973 and 2016</a>, the percentage of military women increased sevenfold, <a href="https://www.cna.org/pop-rep/2016/appendixd/appendixd.pdf">from 2.2% in 1973 to 15.57% in 2016</a>. In the same time frame, Black recruits were consistently overrepresented in the military compared with their share in the civilian population. For example, in 1980, 1990 and 2000, <a href="https://www.cna.org/pop-rep/2016/appendixd/appendixd.pdf">between 19% and 22% of new enlistees were Black</a> compared with roughly 12% to 14% of the civilian population.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="Advertisement with two men to the right, one with his arm around the other man and his hand on the other's chest." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523268/original/file-20230427-26-tbmiyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/523268/original/file-20230427-26-tbmiyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523268/original/file-20230427-26-tbmiyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523268/original/file-20230427-26-tbmiyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=737&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523268/original/file-20230427-26-tbmiyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523268/original/file-20230427-26-tbmiyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/523268/original/file-20230427-26-tbmiyp.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=926&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">An ad that appeared in a 1976 edition of Ebony presents the Navy as a way for Black men to get ahead.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ebony magazine, 1976</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>To me these demographic changes show how, as recruiting ads were being designed to reach women and Black recruits, the military itself was becoming more diverse. </p>
<p>I am interested in exploring how ads created a certain vision of the military as what I call a tactically inclusive institution. By that I mean an institution that has been selectively inclusive of different groups but ultimately exploits the vulnerabilities of potential recruits and perpetuates state violence.</p>
<h2>What does it mean to be ‘vulnerable’ to military ads?</h2>
<p>The term is not one that I or other scholars initially decided to use to describe what the military does. It comes from J. Walter Thompson, an advertising agency that has been creating Marine Corps ads since 1946. In a 1973 proposal for an integrated research program for the armed forces, housed in the <a href="https://guides.library.duke.edu/jwt">J. Walter Thompson Co. archives</a>, one of the first stated objectives was to identify “vulnerable target groups.” </p>
<p>The agency considered those vulnerable to military recruiting as people already inclined to join the military and those who might have reservations but were seen as persuadable. Ad agencies and the military used the term “<a href="https://doi.org/10.1177/0095327X9902500304">propensity</a>” to describe these two groups. Propensity refers to the likelihood that individuals will serve in the military, regardless of whether or not they really want to join the military. </p>
<p>Drawing on an array of different scholars, such as <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/the-right-to-maim">Jasbir K. Puar</a>, <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/death-beyond-disavowal">Grace Kyungwon Hong</a>, <a href="https://www.upress.umn.edu/book-division/books/aberrations-in-black">Roderick A. Ferguson</a> and <a href="https://www.dukeupress.edu/normal-life-revised">Dean Spade</a>, I think of vulnerability as being at the center of military recruiting. One is deemed vulnerable to military service because of a lack of opportunities, resources, support or cultural capital that the military can promise.</p>
<h2>Is your book pro-military, anti-military or neutral?</h2>
<p>The book argues that military inclusion is a form of power that furthers state violence. I am interested in studying military inclusion and recruitment advertising in order to challenge and resist the violence of the military. However, there were moments that made me think of military inclusion in a more complicated way. During an event at the <a href="https://www.fulcolibrary.org/auburn-avenue-research-library/aarl-eresources/">Auburn Avenue Research Library</a> in Atlanta, Georgia, I heard a panel of Black women veterans talk about their experiences in the military. They spoke about how the military provided them with financial stability, a chance to see the world and the opportunity to buy a home. </p>
<p>Despite the violence of the military, it is also one of the best avenues for upward mobility for many Americans. It is this tension, between seeing military inclusion as an opportunity and as a risk and form of exploitation, that I grapple with in the book.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204097/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jeremiah Favara does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The US military’s switch to an all-volunteer force in 1973 led to a series of magazine ads that sought to portray military service as a way for women and people of color to move up in society.Jeremiah Favara, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies, Gonzaga UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1868762022-08-05T15:41:21Z2022-08-05T15:41:21ZSpare Rib: 50 years since the groundbreaking feminist magazine first hit the streets – its legacy still inspires women<p>In the summer of 1972, the Women’s Liberation Movement was fighting hard, through rallies and marches, for social, sexual and reproductive liberation. The “second wave” of feminism was at its peak, gaining notoriety after a group threw flour bombs at the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/feb/26/i-heard-the-signal-and-threw-my-flour-bombs-why-the-1970-miss-world-protest-is-still-making-waves">Miss World beauty pageant in 1970</a>, highlighting the objectification of women. It hit the news once again in the UK in 1972 when a group of <a href="https://eastendwomensmuseum.org/blog/2020/11/11/may-hobbs-and-the-night-cleaners-campaign">women night cleaners went on strike</a> in London for better working conditions. </p>
<p>Unsurprisingly, not everyone at the time was on board with these women’s claims for equality and the British and American presses often caricatured them as humourless, hairy-legged, bra-burning, unsexed harpies who were set against marriage, families and femininity. To counter the noise of this sort of coverage came the groundbreaking feminist magazine Spare Rib.</p>
<p>With witty coverage and incisive features, the magazine echoed the demands of the Women’s Liberation Movement (WLM). The magazine supported campaigns and generally exposed women’s social and cultural experiences of sexism. Spare Rib did all this with captivating journalism and a great sense of humour. The magazine closed in 1993 due to commercial pressures. This year, we celebrate 50 years since its first issue and look back at the legacy it has left behind for feminist media.</p>
<h2>A new kind of feminist magazine</h2>
<p>The magazine’s founding editors, <a href="https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/b039yz4x">Rosie Boycott and Marsha Rowe</a>, railed against the sexism and chauvinism of the underground, alternative press, where women were restricted to mundane tasks and excluded from editorial decision-making. </p>
<p>Spare Rib and women’s presses, such as <a href="https://www.virago.co.uk/imprint/lbbg/virago/page/about-virago/">Virago</a>, forged a radically different approach to publishing. Female-led editorial boards enabled open debate of previously taboo subjects such as female orgasm and lesbianism long before these became mainstream concerns. Many feminist magazines operated as collectives and encouraged women to develop publishing skills in the male-dominated profession. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Magazine cover with two women." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477141/original/file-20220802-23-o805db.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477141/original/file-20220802-23-o805db.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477141/original/file-20220802-23-o805db.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477141/original/file-20220802-23-o805db.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477141/original/file-20220802-23-o805db.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477141/original/file-20220802-23-o805db.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477141/original/file-20220802-23-o805db.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The first Spare Rib cover.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.bl.uk/spare-rib/articles/introduction-spare-rib-the-first-nine-years">Angela Phillips</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In format and content, Spare Rib crossed boundaries between magazines that focused on home, beauty and lifestyle, such as Woman’s Own, and more overtly political, grass-roots movement media, such as Shrew or Red Rag. In this way, it emphasised both the personal and the political sides of the feminist movement. </p>
<p>In its early days, Spare Rib partially emulated conventional women’s magazines by including articles about <a href="https://www.routledge.com/The-Recipe-Reader-Narratives---Contexts---Traditions/Floyd-Forster/p/book/9780754608646">cookery</a>, handcrafts and DIY – albeit with a feminist twist and a “can-do” attitude. But it was never conventional in its topics and opinion pieces. </p>
<p>Like Cosmopolitan, which launched the same year in the UK, Spare Rib never shied away from bringing women’s sexuality to the fore. But unlike Cosmopolitan, it also directly addressed sexism in Britain. Spare Rib’s “news pages” kept feminists informed and involved with current protests, updates and achievements. Its lively letter pages also encouraged heartfelt reader involvement.</p>
<p>Over two decades, Spare Rib worked relentlessly for social change, investigating and promoting awareness of serious topics concerning women’s mental and physical health. These ranged from women’s diverse sexuality, home life, domestic abuse, equal pay, sexism in the workplace, female genital mutilation and the refuge movement (which provided safe shelter for battered women) and more. Heightened awareness today of these issues owes much to the campaigning work of those <a href="https://fiveleavesbookshop.co.uk/events/feminist-magazines-past-and-present-with-dr-laurel-forster-and-dr-joanne-hollows/">second-wave feminist magazines</a>.</p>
<p>The magazine had a complex relationship with <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14680777.2012.708508">consumerism</a>, navigating an uneasy path between needing advertising revenue but rejecting the sexism of the industry at the time. They did this by trying to advertise ethical products only alongside subscription ads and its own-brand products, such as the Spare Rib diary. </p>
<p>But it struggled to sustain itself with diminishing ad sales and subscriptions. Alongside this, distribution problems and arguments over the direction of the magazine led to its demise and eventual closure in 1993. </p>
<h2>The difficulties of representing a movement</h2>
<p>From as early as 1982, Spare Rib <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09574042.2021.1972657">faced criticism</a> that it was too white, middle-class and London-centric. In 1984, a crisis within the editorial collective revealed that many – including women of colour, Jewish women, Irish women, lesbians and more – felt that Spare Rib, alongside much British feminism, didn’t speak for them or address their particular concerns.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Picture of women at a protest, holding a banner." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477144/original/file-20220802-19-ajk0jj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/477144/original/file-20220802-19-ajk0jj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477144/original/file-20220802-19-ajk0jj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477144/original/file-20220802-19-ajk0jj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=483&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477144/original/file-20220802-19-ajk0jj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477144/original/file-20220802-19-ajk0jj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/477144/original/file-20220802-19-ajk0jj.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=607&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Spare Rib collective members on a march.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.bl.uk/spare-rib/articles/introduction-spare-rib-the-first-nine-years">Jill Posener</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/">CC BY-NC</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>While Spare Rib grappled with diverse identity politics, other feminist magazines spoke directly to different groups. <a href="https://edinburghuniversitypress.com/book-women-s-periodicals-and-print-culture-in-britain-1940s-2000s.html">Women’s Voice</a>, founded through the Socialist Workers Party, focused on working-class women. </p>
<p>Mukti: Asian Women’s Magazine, was published by the Mukti collective in six languages and funded by London Camden Council. FOWAAD was a national newsletter for women of African and Asian descent. There were also local feminist publications, such as the Leeds Women’s Liberation Newsletter, which highlighted regional feminist concerns around the UK. </p>
<p>Spare Rib itself became much more international in its feminism too. Recent research on women’s activism <a href="https://womenscommunityactivism.projects.portsmouthuni.ac.uk/">around Britain</a> has found that regional feminism and Spare Rib were more far-reaching in their perspective than previously thought.</p>
<p>Innovative, informative, contemporary and political, Spare Rib educated and politicised its readers, galvanising and encouraging feminism in Britain. More than this, it gave women a voice and forum to tell their life stories, enabling them to raise awareness of a myriad of issues. </p>
<p>The self-expression and persuasive writing of Spare Rib have their legacy in feminist media today such as <a href="https://thefword.org.uk/2008/01/marsha_rowe/">the F-Word</a>, <a href="https://everydaysexism.com/">feminist websites</a> such as Everyday Sexism, and online blogs like <a href="http://vagendamagazine.com/">The Vagenda</a>. Because of its standing in feminist history, Spare Rib has become a touchstone for later feminist magazines, and there was even an attempt in 2013 by Guardian journalist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2013/apr/25/sarah-raven-relaunch-spare-rib">Charlotte Raven to revive Spare Rib</a> itself. Sadly this came to nothing, but the legacy of Spare Rib continues to this day.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186876/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Laurel Forster has received funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund. </span></em></p>Run by a collective of women and covering both the political and personal, Spare Rib was unlike anything before it.Laurel Forster, Reader in Cultural History, University of PortsmouthLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1639552021-07-13T14:37:47Z2021-07-13T14:37:47ZVictoria’s Secret joins the ‘inclusive revolution,’ finally realizing diversity sells<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410424/original/file-20210708-25-hvedm1.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=14%2C0%2C4962%2C3315&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The Victoria's Secret we've become accustomed to is no more. The brand has finally realized that diversity sells.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Andy Wong) </span></span></figcaption></figure><p><a href="https://www.latimes.com/entertainment-arts/story/2021-06-17/victorias-secret-rebrand-influencers-angels">Victoria’s Secret recently announced a cast of new “angels.”</a> They include American athlete Megan Rapinoe, actress and activist Priyanka Chopra Jonas and the brand’s first transgender model, Vanetina Sampaio. Together, they speak to a far more diverse image of beauty than was common for the once popular company. </p>
<p>Victoria’s Secret learned a lesson other leading fashion brands and the industry at large are coming to realize: diversity sells.</p>
<h2>Better representation</h2>
<p>This isn’t surprising. For years, consumers have <a href="https://www.businessoffashion.com/articles/news-analysis/fashions-long-road-to-inclusivity">called for greater inclusion and better representation in mainstream fashion</a>. And the industry’s most avant-garde players have already responded, including <a href="https://www.theroot.com/rihannas-savage-x-fenty-show-is-a-masterclass-in-divers-1845252031">Rihanna’s much talked about Savage X Fenty</a> and <a href="https://people.com/style/summersalt-beach-body-campaign/">Summersalt’s “every body is a beach body”</a> campaign. </p>
<p>Consumers are willing to <a href="https://www.foxnews.com/lifestyle/aeries-latest-inclusive-campaign-featuring-women-with-disabilities-and-medical-conditions-praised-online">back brands that feature diversity with their praise</a> and more importantly, their dollars. </p>
<p>In the last two years, fashion brands like <a href="https://fashionunited.uk/news/business/tommy-hilfiger-commits-to-diversity-with-people-s-place-program/2020071349808">Tommy Hilfiger</a>, <a href="https://www.cbc.ca/news/entertainment/flyease-adaptive-fashion-1.6026277">Nike</a> and <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/shelleykohan/2020/06/28/aeos-aerie-brand-built-on-body-positivity-and-inclusion-is-slowly-edging-out-sexy-supermodel-juggernaut-victorias-secret/">lingerie competitor Aerie</a> all made efforts toward greater inclusion. They feature plus-size models, transgender models and models with disabilities in their stores and online campaigns. </p>
<p>Each brand has been rewarded with public kudos and a flurry of consumer purchases. Yet others in the industry lagged. Despite Victoria’s Secret’s latest inclusion and diversity efforts, models with disabilities were missing.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Women with diverse bodies wear bikinis and hold signs that read 'fashion for every body' and 'We want diversity on our runways.'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410442/original/file-20210708-19-h1k2jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/410442/original/file-20210708-19-h1k2jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410442/original/file-20210708-19-h1k2jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410442/original/file-20210708-19-h1k2jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410442/original/file-20210708-19-h1k2jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410442/original/file-20210708-19-h1k2jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/410442/original/file-20210708-19-h1k2jm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Undressed activists in swimsuits with posters that read ‘fashion for every body’ and ‘We want diversity on our runways’ on the street during London Fashion Week in 2019.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">(Shutterstock)</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Embarking on diversity initiatives</h2>
<p>According to our new study, <em><a href="https://doi.org/10.1177%2F14695405211022074">A model who looks like me: Communicating and consuming representations of disability</a></em>, the $3 trillion fashion industry has, until recently, paid little attention to gender, sexuality, race and disability. </p>
<p>We ask how and why the industry almost suddenly embarked on diversity initiatives. </p>
<p>We focus our attention on disability because it’s traditionally seen as <a href="https://www.euronews.com/green/2021/02/13/why-disabled-people-have-been-forgotten-by-the-fashion-industry">inconsistent with fashion</a>. The industry largely saw a person with disabilities as someone who can’t embody, reflect or convey beauty. In other words, disability would turn off consumers.</p>
<p>Our analysis over five years of three mainstream fashion magazines - <em>Vogue</em>, <em>InStyle</em> and <em>Harper’s Bazaar</em> - revealed not a single person with a disability appearing on the cover. A look at 2,500 ads in <em>InStyle</em> turned up similarly little. </p>
<p>So we turned to the recent and well-known Nike, Aerie and Tommy Hilfiger campaigns that featured a diverse cast of models, including those with a range of visible and non-visible disabilities.</p>
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<p>Tommy Hilfiger’s campaign went a step further. The brand developed <a href="https://usa.tommy.com/en/tommy-adaptive">adaptive clothing specifically designed for people with disabilities</a> — a step few others have taken. </p>
<p>This inclusion, though hugely important, often comes with more “sanitized” depictions of disability – creating images thought to be “more palatable” to consumers. </p>
<p>We found that editorials often reinforced distinctions between “ability” and disability, suggesting that disability is something to be overcome. For example, when athletes were praised for pushing the limitations of their disability. Sometimes, no photos of people with disabilities were included in editorials about them. When models with disabilities were included, they were often treated as too unremarkable to dress in brands referenced by the magazine’s editorial staff. </p>
<h2>Disability, diversity and inclusion efforts</h2>
<p>So why has disability become a more significant part of the fashion industry’s diversity and inclusion efforts?</p>
<p>Some brands take the leap, <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/sarahkim/2020/01/31/aerie-disability-representation/?sh=329e933250bd">challenging beliefs about potential consumer backlash</a>. They lower perceived risk as other brands follow suit. Risk, though, is also lessened when <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/tommy-hilfiger-spring-2018-adaptive-collection">consumers respond favourably to more inclusive initiatives</a>, sending a message to the industry at large. </p>
<p>We analyzed more than 200 online consumer comments about <em>Teen Vogue’s</em> “<a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/story/jillian-mercado-runway-debut">The New Faces of Fashion</a>” campaign that featured three models with disabilities: Chelsea Werner, Mama Cax and Jillian Mercado. We found that an overwhelming majority of consumers gave praise and admiration. </p>
<p>One viewer thanked <em>Teen Vogue</em> for “making great changes.” Another, eager for inclusion, wrote: “Let’s see this on a regular basis, please.” Brands like Dove Beauty and <em>Allure</em> left comments on the magazine’s Instagram page.</p>
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<p>In response to <em>Allure’s</em> praise, one viewer called on the magazine to “join the Inclusion Revolution too.” It wasn’t long after that Allure announced its own series on “<a href="https://www.allure.com/topic/the-beauty-of-accessibility">the beauty of accessibility</a>,” positioning Ellie Goldstein, a young model with Down syndrome, on the cover of their digital print magazine.</p>
<h2>Poised for a reboot</h2>
<p>Away from social media and after more than a year in lockdown, the fashion industry is poised for a reboot. Couturiers <a href="https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/dior-show-celebrates-fashion-up-close-personal-after-pandemic-2021-07-05/">like Dior</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/fashion/2021/jul/06/begin-again-chanel-returns-first-major-live-shows-pandemic-paris-haute-couture">Chanel have convened</a> in Paris for the industry’s first set of in-person shows since the pandemic began. </p>
<p>As Victoria’s Secret and others set about reimagining the world that will be, we wonder what the “inclusion revolution” will look like — and whether people with disabilities will continue to be part of it. </p>
<p>We should look to industry leaders for signs of lasting change, but consumers matter too. They must continue demanding that fashion and beauty brands engage meaningfully with their efforts towards diversity and inclusion. </p>
<p>These demands will need to move beyond casting calls and runway models. They must include boardrooms and brand teams – those who ultimately influence and make decisions about what consumers see and purchase.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/163955/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Pettinicchio receives funding from SSHRC</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jordan Foster receives funding from the Government of Ontario and from the Social Science and Humanities Research Council. </span></em></p>Victoria’s Secret learned a lesson other leading fashion brands and the industry at large are coming to realize: diversity sells. But when it comes to disability, brands aren’t quite there yet.David Pettinicchio, Associate Professor, Sociology, University of TorontoJordan Foster, PhD Student, Sociology, University of TorontoLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1438012020-09-08T19:21:55Z2020-09-08T19:21:55ZComic-Con@Home: Virtual comics event declared a failure by industry critics, but fans loved it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/355620/original/file-20200831-21-hu412v.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=203%2C8%2C5235%2C3343&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Don't forget fans. Here, Phuong Nguyen (left) as Captain America with Derrick Petry as Deadpool, at Comic-Con International in July 2018, in San Diego. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">(AP Photo/Richard Vogel)</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>With the vast majority of North America’s <a href="https://benjaminwoo.carto.com/builder/5bfa6c88-f43d-438c-bbd1-1e6787b0c1f3/embed">thousand-plus fan conventions</a> cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, virtual conventions (called cons) have been a bright spot for fans in an otherwise bleak year. Although <a href="https://icv2.com/articles/news/view/45768/with-comic-conventions-lockdown-organizers-move-online-mixed-results">organizers have experimented with different ways to run an online convention</a>, none had as high expectations as the San Diego Comic-Con’s <a href="https://www.comic-con.org/cci/2020/athome">Comic-Con@Home</a>.</p>
<p>The virtual event, held July 22–26, featured content distributed across several platforms, including video panels, a virtual exhibition hall and a <a href="https://fandom.tumblr.com/post/624634965150302208/comicconathome-cosplay-masquerade-winners">cosplay masquerade on Tumblr</a>. From the <a href="https://twitter.com/Comic_Con/status/1258898741622382593">beginning</a>, it promised not only to fill the Comic-Con-shaped hole in regular attendees’ summers but also to make a Comic-Con experience accessible to fans who ordinarily can’t attend or are turned off by the scramble for badges and hotel rooms or by endless lines.</p>
<p>Comic-Con@Home inevitably drew comparisons <a href="https://www.dictionary.com/browse/irl">to the in-real-life</a> event, but some critics promptly <a href="https://news.avclub.com/the-comic-con-at-home-experiment-didnt-work-out-especia-1844525307">branded it</a> <a href="https://screenrant.com/comic-con-home-a-massive-failure/ment-didnt-work-out-especia-1844525307">a failure</a> — perhaps most prominently in <em>Variety</em>, the entertainment industry trade magazine. </p>
<p>But calling Comic-Con@Home a flop for <a href="https://www.thegamer.com/comic-con-at-home-schedule-no-marvel-dc-warner-brothers/">not having enough exclusive movie reveals</a> or <a href="https://www.slashfilm.com/comic-con-at-home-numbers-failure/">failing to produce enough social media buzz</a> assumes too much. Not all participants share the same goals as the largest industry players. </p>
<p>While Comic-Con has always had a relationship to Hollywood, to many fans, gaining virtual access to panels that might have been otherwise capped by space constraints and the sense of community matter more than a simplistic analysis about metrics or interactivity.</p>
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<h2>Industry views of Comic-Con</h2>
<p><em>Variety</em>’s Adam B. Vary’s story, “Why Comic-Con ‘At Home’ Was a Bust” cites <a href="https://www.facebook.com/ListenFirstMedia/posts/2926734444104271">data from social media analytics firm ListenFirst</a>, which found “<a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/news/comic-con-at-home-analysis-walking-dead-new-mutants-1234717509/">tweets that mentioned Comic-Con@Home were down 95 per cent from 2019’s live convention</a>.” Vary is unimpressed by YouTube views of around 15,000 per panel, and he laments the lack of fan interaction — “the most elemental reason for Comic-Con’s 50-year success” — in Comic-Con@Home’s video panels, which were pre-recorded and disabled user comments.</p>
<p>But the relationship between fans, Comic-Con and big media companies <a href="https://www.rutgersuniversitypress.org/only-at-comic-con/9780813594705">has often</a> proven a point of tension. When <a href="https://www.thewrap.com/20th-century-fox-pulls-out-of-comic-con-hall-h-presentation-exclusive/">a major studio skips a presentation</a> in the <a href="https://comicbook.com/irl/news/comic-con-2020-someone-made-a-hall-h-sign-for-their-home/">celebrated Hall H</a> or <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2011/06/13/business/media/13comic.html">an apparent cult classic in the making bombs at the box office</a>, the media are quick to speculate whether Comic-Con attendees have lost their most favoured audience status.</p>
<p>If anything, <em>Variety</em>’s focus on analytics proves that, when it comes to the entertainment industry’s attempts to shape and define the Comic-Con experience, the virtual con wasn’t really all that different than other years.</p>
<h2>Another look at numbers</h2>
<p>Evaluating at-home participation by the same yardstick as an in-person event doesn’t account for differences in format and mode of engagement. These metrics need to be understood in context. Even then, they don’t tell the whole story of Comic-Con@Home.</p>
<p>For instance, the more than <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/news/comic-con-at-home-analysis-walking-dead-new-mutants-1234717509">84,000 views logged for AMC’s <em>The Walking Dead</em> panel</a>, (now over <a href="http://youtube.com/watch?v=FDwoZKvV6q0">95,000</a>) would be an impossibility in Hall H, which seats 6,500 fans. </p>
<p>This same panel also aired on gaming and entertainment site <a href="https://www.ign.com/events/comic-con">IGN’s official Comic-Con hub</a>, which did feature live chatting among users. (As of this writing, the IGN version of <em>The Walking Dead</em> panel has garnered another <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pno12-zKD8g">63,000</a> views, and their <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PYlpa4_qFis">livestream of that day’s programming</a> was accessed over 180,000 times.)</p>
<p>Add the <a href="https://variety.com/2020/film/news/comic-con-at-home-analysis-walking-dead-new-mutants-1234717509/">11,900</a> tweets about this panel alone cited in <em>Variety</em>, and these impressions and engagements begin to rival, if not exceed, the <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/simonthompson/2017/07/25/a-thor-subject-comic-cons-biggest-winners-on-social-media/#392353ab5ff4">103,000</a> social media mentions logged by <em>The Walking Dead</em> in 2017. </p>
<p>And let’s not forget fan- and community-led panels. Their views this year frequently outstripped the capacity of the rooms they are typically assigned in the San Diego Convention Center. For example, this year’s Super Asian America panel has received <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKBifGHxhPY">1,700 views on YouTube</a> so far; in 2019, it was <a href="https://comiccon2019.sched.com/event/RstI/super-asian-america">scheduled in room 5AB</a>, which has a <a href="https://sdccblog.com/2015/06/san-diego-comic-con-room-capacities/">maximum capacity of only 504</a>.</p>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Super Asian America panel.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Sense of community</h2>
<p>Throughout Comic-Con@Home, fans used social media, blogs and forums to share memories and connect with friends they made at previous Comic-Cons. Some went so far <a href="https://twitter.com/ParksAndCons/status/1286505754086617089">as to travel</a> to San Diego and hold <a href="https://twitter.com/Crazy4ComicCon/status/1287220815491022848">socially distant meet-ups</a>, including cosplay <a href="https://twitter.com/batcap50/status/1287505035924869121">photo shoots</a>, in <a href="https://twitter.com/Crazy4ComicCon/status/1283456466309885952">beloved locations</a> nearby. </p>
<p>The San Diego Convention Center’s <a href="https://twitter.com/SDConventionCtr/status/1285632280409628672">video tribute</a> prompted an outpouring of love for the building, which for many attendees symbolizes the experience of Comic-Con (<a href="https://twitter.com/yesterdaysco/status/1286337614866505728">an “I Miss SDCC” pin featuring the convention centre sold out in two minutes</a>). </p>
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<p>Fans even bonded over negative experiences, such as <a href="https://twitter.com/OriginalFunko/status/1286110722489872395">the glitches</a> in the online sales of exclusive merchandise. In these moments, the sense of community mattered more than the relative absence of Hollywood buzz and hype. </p>
<p>Contrary to <em>Variety</em>, the largest fan-run SDCC blog stated, “<a href="https://twitter.com/SD_Comic_Con/status/1287917039571685382">we had an amazing time</a>,” a sentiment <a href="https://twitter.com/toddlandstore/status/1287903359513448449">echoed by</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/CABrowncoats/status/1288104693709672448">many virtual</a> <a href="https://twitter.com/EnglishmanSDCC/status/1287868004085063681">attendees</a>. </p>
<p>Experiences like these are absent from industry-oriented assessments of Comic-Con@Home. </p>
<h2>Comics go beyond Hollywood’s needs</h2>
<p>Instead of definitively capturing the meaning of Comic-Con@Home, criticisms of the event illustrate how <a href="https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/e/9780203872604/chapters/10.4324/9780203872604-8">media companies still claim pop-culture pride of place for themselves</a>, even as the popularity of Comic-Con and other <a href="https://doi.org/10.1386/jfs_00007_1">con events</a> is frequently cited (often by <a href="https://variety.com/2014/film/news/hollywood-points-the-focus-to-fans-at-comic-con-1201266232/">these same</a> outlets) as evidence of fandom’s growing influence. </p>
<p>This is not to suggest that cultural industries should be understood in simplistic, fan-versus-industry terms.</p>
<p>But with fan events moving mostly online for the foreseeable future, the debate about Comic-Con@Home is a useful reminder that these relationships don’t start and end with Hollywood’s needs. </p>
<p>The Comic-Con experience may have looked different this year, but competing attempts to define this experience — as either failure or success — made it just another Comic-Con.</p>
<p><em>This analysis was collaboratively authored by the members of the <a href="https://roccetlab.ca/projects/swarming-sdcc/">Swarming SDCC</a> project team, including Anne Gilbert, Felan Parker, Suzanne Scott and Matthew J. Smith.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/143801/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The Swarming SDCC collective's research is funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Erin Hanna and Melanie E.S. Kohnen do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Some comic fans have found a bright spot in virtual conventions in an otherwise bleak pandemic year. The sense of community matters more than a simplistic analysis about metrics or interactivity.Benjamin Woo, Associate professor, Communication and Media Studies, Carleton UniversityErin Hanna, Assistant Professor of Cinema Studies, University of OregonMelanie E.S. Kohnen, Assistant Professor of Rhetoric and Media Studies, Lewis & Clark Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1426682020-07-14T15:39:07Z2020-07-14T15:39:07ZJournalism of Drum’s heyday remains cause for celebration - 70 years later<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347320/original/file-20200714-38-1x8kss9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South African lawyer and part-time fashion model, Thando Hopa, at an exhibition of Drum magazine front pages in
Johannesburg. </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Gianluigi Gueracia/AFP via Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Drum becomes an online-only magazine this month, almost 70 years after it was first launched as an African print publication. </p>
<p>The magazine is now a celebrity-focused human interest magazine. But it played a very different role in the 1950s and 1960s, when it is widely considered to have created new possibilities for identity for black South Africans. It was also crucial to the development of South African literature.</p>
<p>“The Drum boys”, a group of young writers employed by the magazine in its early years, served an emerging urban black readership in the first decade of apartheid, which came into force in 1948. Their lively chronicles of urban adventures made them popular characters, as well as contributing to Drum’s commercial success. </p>
<p>The magazine grew to be the largest circulation publication for black readers in South Africa, and expanded to include East and West African editions. </p>
<p>The “Drum era” of the 1950s has been romanticised as “the fabulous decade” through posters, photographs, film and exhibitions. The Drum look has found its way into fashion (T-shirts printed with Drum covers), décor and television, commercials and game shows such as Strictly Come Dancing.</p>
<p>Despite the nostalgia, many South Africans are not familiar with the journalism of early Drum. But magazines, as media academic Tim Holmes notes, are crucial to the construction of identities because of their intense focus on readers and reader communities.</p>
<p>Such journalism, despite its lightweight appearance, tells us complex stories about culture. Magazines also provide a space for creative forms of journalism.</p>
<p>Through their use of storytelling, personal narrative, local lingo and vivid scenes of everyday life, the Drum writers engaged in an ongoing construction of cosmopolitan identity for Johannesburg city dwellers. Literature scholar Michael Titlestad has called this process “improvisation”, comparing the writing in Drum with the improvisation in local jazz that took place in the 1950s.</p>
<h2>The beginning</h2>
<p>While countries throughout Africa were heading to independence in the 1950s, in South Africa the National Party was introducing draconian apartheid laws. There was also increased migration to cities. Africans could not own property, but were able to obtain freehold rights in certain areas, such as <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/place/sophiatown">Sophiatown</a>, on the outskirts of Johannesburg.</p>
<p>Sophiatown was a place where people could mingle across the colour bar. Its shebeens (informal taverns), music, celebrities and gangsters were the source of many Drum stories. </p>
<p>The African Drum was launched in 1951. After a lacklustre three months, the owner, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/2000/mar/03/guardianobituaries">Jim Bailey</a>, brought a friend out from England, Anthony Sampson, to edit the magazine. They did some informal research and were told that black readers wanted sport, jazz, celebrities and “hot dames”.</p>
<p>“Tell us what’s happening right here, man, on the Reef!”</p>
<p><a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/henry-mr-drum-nxumalo">Henry Nxumalo</a>, an ex-serviceman with some experience as a journalist, was highly influential in developing Drum’s style as the magazine sought to attract black readers. Writers came from diverse backgrounds. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/todd-tozama-matshikiza">Todd Matshikiza</a> was a musician (and went on to compose the musical King Kong). Can Themba, a teacher, won a fiction contest held by the magazine in 1952. Arthur Maimane was a schoolboy from St Peter’s Secondary School in Sophiatown with a passion for American crime writing. A young German, <a href="https://www.jurgenschadeberg.com/">Jürgen Schadeberg</a>, took the pictures, later joined by Bob Gosani and Peter Magubane. </p>
<p>As the magazine’s circulation grew, now iconic names in South African literature joined. These included Casey Motsisi, Bloke Modisane, <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/people/eskia-mphahlele">Es’kia Mphahlele</a>, <a href="https://www.timeslive.co.za/sunday-times/lifestyle/2010-09-12-obituary-lewis-nkosi---author-critic/">Lewis Nkosi and Nat Nakasa</a>.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347328/original/file-20200714-18-1ow3w1l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347328/original/file-20200714-18-1ow3w1l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347328/original/file-20200714-18-1ow3w1l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347328/original/file-20200714-18-1ow3w1l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=399&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347328/original/file-20200714-18-1ow3w1l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347328/original/file-20200714-18-1ow3w1l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347328/original/file-20200714-18-1ow3w1l.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Drum journalist and novelist Lewis Nkosi.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Poklekowski/ullstein bild via Getty Imag</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Mostly without journalism training, the Drum writers began experimenting with tales of everyday life in the black townships. Nxumalo and Matshikiza, as the earliest writers on Drum, were influential in creating inventiveness in both reporting and writing.</p>
<p>Matshikiza developed a lively style to write about jazz, which was dubbed “Matshikese”. He was described as hammering on his typewriter like a musician playing a keyboard.</p>
<p>Maimane wrote serialised fiction in the mode of American hard-boiled detective stories. Others recounted first-person adventures in the shebeens and clubs, wrote confessional stories on behalf of characters they interviewed, or offered their own opinions.</p>
<p>In their stories, they used the styles of fiction writing more than news reporting, as many of the Drum writers also wrote short stories and novels. As John Matshikiza, Todd’s son, noted years later in the preface to a collection of Drum articles:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>The startling thing is that there is no real dividing line between the two styles of writing: the journalistic and the fictional.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Investigative journalism</h2>
<p>At first, circulation was slow to pick up. Then Nxumalo pitched a story about the abuse of labourers on the farms of Bethal. Nxumalo and photographer Schadeberg posed as a visiting journalist and his servant to gain access to the farms. The magazine published an eight-page article outlining the abuses, bylined “Mr Drum”. </p>
<p>The edition sold out, and public response reached Parliament.</p>
<p>After this, Drum carried regular investigations, mostly driven by Nxumalo. He got himself arrested so that he could write about prison conditions and took a job at a farm where a worker had been killed. “Mr Drum” became a celebrity, and his feats of investigative journalism have rarely been matched in South Africa.</p>
<p>Drum sales hit 73,657 in 1955, making it the largest circulation magazine in Africa in any language. The devil-may-care spirit of the Drum writers, however, was difficult to sustain as the apartheid structures bore down on them. </p>
<p>By 1956, Sophiatown’s black residents <a href="https://www.sahistory.org.za/place/sophiatown">were being removed</a>, to make way for an exclusively white suburb, in line with the apartheid policies that prohibited the mixing of “races”.</p>
<p>In December 1956, Nxumalo was stabbed to death while out on an investigation. His death deeply affected his fellow writers.</p>
<p>The increasing repression of the 1960s destroyed the journalists of the “Drum school”. Most went into exile. Drum was banned and stopped publishing for some years. The title was eventually revived, and sold in 1984 to Nasionale Pers, an Afrikaans media company with close ties to the apartheid government. </p>
<h2>The 1980s</h2>
<p>In the 1980s, many of the early Drum writers were unbanned, releasing their writing back into South Africa’s public domain. Mike Nicol, who wrote <a href="https://www.fantasticfiction.com/n/mike-nicol/good-looking-corpse.htm">a book</a> on 1950s Drum, describes the impact of this moment as history shifting beneath one’s feet, revealing a “lost country”. There was surge of interest by literature scholars. Michael Chapman, in the 1980s, argued that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the stories in Drum mark the substantial beginning, in South Africa, of the modern black short story.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Lewis Nkosi, on the other hand, regretted the short-lived potential of the Drum generation and the production of what he called “journalism of an insubstantial kind”. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347331/original/file-20200714-139820-kdy4qn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/347331/original/file-20200714-139820-kdy4qn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347331/original/file-20200714-139820-kdy4qn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347331/original/file-20200714-139820-kdy4qn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=796&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347331/original/file-20200714-139820-kdy4qn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347331/original/file-20200714-139820-kdy4qn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/347331/original/file-20200714-139820-kdy4qn.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1000&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">E'skia Mphahlele.</span>
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<p>Mphahlele felt that Drum did not deal seriously with social issues. Others argued that Drum was not explicitly committed to the liberation struggle.</p>
<p>Many scholars argue that the Drum writers, in detailing everyday experience, showed quite powerfully the violent impact of the apartheid system on black South Africans. Nkosi noted:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>No newspaper report … could ever convey significantly the deep sense of entrapment that the black people experience under apartheid rule.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Their inventive style of using fictional tactics to tell non-fiction stories pre-dated the New Journalism of America – touted by Tom Wolfe as a brand new approach to journalism – by a decade.</p>
<p><em>This edited extract is adapted from <a href="https://ialjs.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/05/article1_cowling.pdf">Echoes of an African Drum: The Lost Literary Journalism of 1950s South Africa</a>, in Literary Journalism Studies.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/142668/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lesley Cowling does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The magazine grew to be the largest circulation publication for black readers in South Africa, and expanded to include East and West African editions.Lesley Cowling, Associate Professor in the Department of Journalism, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1392992020-06-02T20:04:23Z2020-06-02T20:04:23ZCrisis, disintegration and hope: only urgent intervention can save New Zealand’s media<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339073/original/file-20200602-95024-11pd13g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=13%2C0%2C2989%2C1999&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>How many media analysts predicted it? In 2018 Australia’s Nine Entertainment absorbed Fairfax Media and its New Zealand subsidiary Stuff. Just under two years later chief executive Sinead Boucher <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/121613758/stuff-ceo-sinead-boucher-buys-the-company-announces-great-new-era">bought</a> Stuff from Nine for a dollar. </p>
<p>The bold move saved New Zealand’s largest newspaper publisher and online news site from uncertainty at best, closure at worst.</p>
<p>“Behold, Saint Sinead of Stuff”, <a href="https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/05/25/1201660/behold-st-sinead-of-stuff">wrote</a> one observer, while pointing out what else would be needed: financial backing, government subsidies, and management of internal costs and debt.</p>
<p>Media commentators, public media lobbyists, journalists, Communications Minister Kris Faafoi and even Nine CEO Hugh Marks also praised Boucher’s proposals for staff shareholdings and an editorial independence charter.</p>
<p>But behind these signs of hope the Stuff initiative was emblematic of a rapidly disintegrating media system. </p>
<h2>Here is the news: layoffs and closures</h2>
<p>COVID-19 only accelerated the collapse. The national lockdown and forecast economic contraction have been commercially disastrous for all private media organisations. Redundancies and closures have gone viral. </p>
<p>In late March New Zealand Media and Entertainment (NZME), owner of the NZ Herald (the country’s largest daily paper) and nearly half the country’s commercial radio stations, <a href="https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/120669523/nz-herald-owner-understood-to-be-discussing-job-losses">closed</a> its sports operation and shed 25 full-time staff. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/another-savage-blow-to-regional-media-spells-disaster-for-the-communities-they-serve-139559">Another savage blow to regional media spells disaster for the communities they serve</a>
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<p>A week later German-owned Bauer Media abruptly closed its New Zealand branch, folding such venerable current affairs and popular titles as the Listener, Woman’s Weekly, North & South and Metro. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1246548112488841216"}"></div></p>
<p>A fortnight later NZME announced 200 more redundancies – 15% of its workforce. As Boucher announced her Stuff buyout, MediaWorks (owner of TV3 and the rest of New Zealand’s commercial radio stations) <a href="https://www.newsroom.co.nz/2020/05/25/1201892/mediaworks-takes-razor-to-radio#:%7E:text=MediaWorks%20takes%20razor%20to%20radio,arm%20%E2%80%93%20at%20least%20for%20now.">shed 130 staff</a>.</p>
<p>Confronted by this unfolding catastrophe, the government finally announced a NZ$50 million <a href="https://www.scoop.co.nz/stories/PA2004/S00136/media-support-package-delivers-industry-request-for-assistance.htm">emergency package</a>. This included $21 million to offset TV and radio transmission fees for six months, $16.5 million to reduce contributions to the NZ On Air content funding agency for the financial year, and $11 million in targeted assistance for specific media companies. </p>
<p>But the response was late, partial and narrowly focused. COVID-19 has exposed a double crisis in New Zealand’s news media that short-term fixes do little to address.</p>
<h2>A crisis over 30 years in the making</h2>
<p>For decades the weakening sustainability of commercial media has damaged the viability of news reporting, journalistic enquiry and national media coverage. Meanwhile, underfunded public broadcasting has long battled to pay staff, create content and transition successfully to digital platforms. </p>
<p>These trends can be traced back to the 1980s. The restructuring of Radio New Zealand (RNZ) and Television New Zealand (TVNZ), the launch and subsequent sale of TV3, the privatisation of Telecom (1990) and the abolition of all restrictions on foreign media ownership (1991) set the scene for today’s crisis.</p>
<p>Transnational media conglomerates were allowed to colonise the national media scene. From 2007, listed and unlisted financial institutions (banks, hedge funds, private equity companies) <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/337744693_NEW_ZEALAND_MEDIA_OWNERSHIP_2019">acquired media holdings</a> as short-term revenue streams. Concentration of ownership intensified.</p>
<p>At the same time, with the rise of Google and Facebook, television’s advertising <a href="https://thepolicyobservatory.aut.ac.nz/publications/mediaworks-television-death-of-a-thousand-cuts">share declined</a> from 34% in 1988 to 21% in 2018. Before COVID-19, digital advertising was worth NZ$1 billion, about 40% of New Zealand’s entire advertising turnover. The pandemic’s economic shock has hit ad revenues even harder.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339070/original/file-20200602-95054-1xa02p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/339070/original/file-20200602-95054-1xa02p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339070/original/file-20200602-95054-1xa02p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339070/original/file-20200602-95054-1xa02p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339070/original/file-20200602-95054-1xa02p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339070/original/file-20200602-95054-1xa02p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/339070/original/file-20200602-95054-1xa02p5.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Underfunded for years, Radio New Zealand could now be part of the solution to a media crisis.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">www.shutterstock.com</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Print media were already haemorrhaging. From 2018 to 2019, every major newspaper lost circulation. NZME and Stuff continued to lay off staff, integrate newsrooms, delete print editions and close regional titles.</p>
<p>Stalling revenues, dashed profit expectations and fragile share prices persuaded major players that amalgamation was the answer. But this strategy failed. The Commerce Commission prevented attempted mergers between Sky TV and Vodafone, and NZME and Stuff, due to monopoly fears and the perceived risk to diversity of information sources.</p>
<h2>There is a better way</h2>
<p>So what is the answer? Nothing short of a full-blown news media reconstruction strategy. </p>
<p>First, the Stuff buyout deserves government support to complement private sector financial backing. A funding mechanism designed to foster public interest journalism at Stuff and other media organisations should be established. </p>
<p>Second, a national interest test for any overseas investment in New Zealand should apply to transnational media acquisitions. As media commentator Gavin Ellis has <a href="https://www.nzherald.co.nz/business/news/article.cfm?c_id=3&objectid=12333664">observed</a>, “journalism [is] a strategic asset over which New Zealanders must have control”.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1253195428176093185"}"></div></p>
<p>Third, existing government proposals for a TVNZ-RNZ merger within a new multi-platform entity need urgent development. The new organisation should insulate some of its operation from commercial pressures. A public service philosophy for the relevant stations, channels and platforms should be clearly stated and enshrined in legislation. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/google-and-facebook-pay-way-less-tax-in-new-zealand-than-in-australia-and-were-paying-the-price-137075">Google and Facebook pay way less tax in New Zealand than in Australia – and we're paying the price</a>
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<p>Here, I would include an online magazine of arts, current affairs and popular culture to succeed the Listener. The organisation’s board must be independent and representative, with informal links to the Māori Television Service. </p>
<p>Finally, as communications expert and public media lobbyist Peter Thompson has <a href="https://www.newsroom.co.nz/ideasroom/2020/04/22/1138299/should-the-public-subsidise-media-companies">proposed</a>, the government should impose a digital services levy on the tech giants that have siphoned off domestic advertising revenue without investing in local content. This would help generate the revenue to fund public interest journalism initiatives.</p>
<p>We know what to do. Now is the time to reconstruct journalism and public media in Aotearoa-New Zealand.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/139299/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Wayne Hope does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>COVID-19 has accelerated the disintegration of New Zealand’s media. A state-led reconstruction strategy is the only answer.Wayne Hope, Professor of Communication Studies, Auckland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1287172019-12-19T14:00:03Z2019-12-19T14:00:03ZSlim and skinny: how access to TV is changing beauty ideals in rural Nicaragua<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307665/original/file-20191218-11900-182hqnl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=22%2C45%2C5015%2C3301&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The more television people watch the more they prefer a thinner female body type.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jean-Luc Jucker</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Think about the last time you watched a film or picked up a magazine. Chances are the majority of models and actresses were young, beautiful and slim – or even underweight. </p>
<p>Research shows that in films and TV programmes heavier characters are more likely to be lower status, the target of jokes and are less likely to be <a href="https://www.karger.com/Article/Abstract/276547">lead or romantic characters</a>. This sends a very clear message: that thinness is normal and desirable.</p>
<p>For many young people, this emphasis on extreme thinness in women seems normal. But it’s actually relatively new and seems to have arisen in parallel with the growing cultural dominance of mass media – films, television and magazines. Models, for instance, became <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.2466/pr0.1980.47.2.483">thinner across the latter half of the 20th century</a>, and are now <a href="https://onlinedoctor.superdrug.com/evolution-miss-universe/">considerably slimmer</a> than depictions of female beauty in preceding eras. Just as in the past when the development of shape-altering garments <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0123284">changed ideas about body shape</a>, the mass media now seems to have changed ideas about body size. </p>
<p>Current body ideals in Western Europe and North America are also significantly slimmer than in other cultural groups, such as <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513899000070">Tanzanian hunter-gatherers</a>, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1090513806000584">black South Africans</a> or <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S1740144507000769">rural Malaysians</a>. And it’s been argued this large gap between the ideal female figure and most women’s own bodies is a key factor in the endemic levels of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders in countries such as <a href="https://guilfordjournals.com/doi/abs/10.1521/jscp.2009.28.1.9">the UK</a>.</p>
<p>Body dissatisfaction and <a href="https://www.ingentaconnect.com/content/wk/yco/2016/00000029/00000006/art00006">rates of disordered eating are increasing globally</a>, and the <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11013-004-1067-5">spread of mass media may be one reason why</a>. But it’s a challenge to link increasing media access with changing body ideals – because as populations gain more access to media, they also change in other ways. They may become more urbanised, wealthier and have better access to nutrition – all of which can lead to <a href="http://www.mysmu.edu/faculty/normanli/Swamietal2010.pdf">differences in body ideals</a>.</p>
<h2>The Nicaragua project</h2>
<p>This is why we have spent three years running a <a href="http://www.dur.ac.uk/l.g.boothroyd/NEBP/">research project</a> in an area of rural Nicaragua – where access to mass media is often unrelated to urbanisation or nutrition. </p>
<p>The government in Nicaragua has been increasing electrification of the rural Caribbean coast. This has led to a region where very similar neighbouring villages differ in whether or not the residents have access to mains electricity – and whether they can run televisions. There are no magazines in this region. And at the time of our research, very few residents had access to smart phones, making television viewing a good measure of total media access.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307670/original/file-20191218-11896-foh37u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307670/original/file-20191218-11896-foh37u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307670/original/file-20191218-11896-foh37u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307670/original/file-20191218-11896-foh37u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=330&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307670/original/file-20191218-11896-foh37u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307670/original/file-20191218-11896-foh37u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307670/original/file-20191218-11896-foh37u.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=415&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The study shows television is having a significant impact on what people think is the ideal woman’s body.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jean-Luc Jucker.</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We recruited 300 participants from seven villages around the region. Some villages had regular electricity supplies, others did not. Because the region is very ethnically diverse, we also balanced our sample across four main ethnic groups. Generally among our participants, those of Mestizo ethnicity – who have the highest levels of European heritage – tend to prefer slimmer figures than those of more indigenous or Afro-Caribbean heritage, such as the Miskitu, Garifuna and Creoles. </p>
<p><a href="https://doi.org/10.1037/pspi0000224">Our research found</a> that above and beyond ethnicity, those who watched more television preferred slimmer bodies. Specifically, our analysis suggested that people who watched approximately three hours of TV a week preferred a body one full point slimmer on the <a href="https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/healthy-weight/bmi-calculator/">Body Mass Index</a> than someone who didn’t watch TV. On a woman of average height, that’s about a difference of three kilos. We also found the more people watched TV, the slimmer their preferred female body size became. This was true for both men and women.</p>
<h2>Changing ideals</h2>
<p>Over the three years, we also collected data from a small village without electricity. For a short period of time, one house in this village had a small TV powered by a solar panel. Residents were also able to watch TV for short periods of time if they travelled to other communities. We found that over the three years, villagers tended to favour thinner figures when they had been able to watch more TV, suggesting that real-time change may be happening in these communities.</p>
<p>When we showed residents of two villages without TV images of typical or plus size media models, their preferences shifted in the immediate aftermath of viewing these images towards thinner figures. Again this was true for both men and women.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307671/original/file-20191218-11951-wq495t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/307671/original/file-20191218-11951-wq495t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307671/original/file-20191218-11951-wq495t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307671/original/file-20191218-11951-wq495t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=393&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307671/original/file-20191218-11951-wq495t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307671/original/file-20191218-11951-wq495t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/307671/original/file-20191218-11951-wq495t.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=494&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Utility cables crisscross the streets in the city of Bluefields, Nicaragua.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jean-Luc Jucker</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>By studying one population in depth, and by also having previously ruled out evidence for <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-017-08653-z">impacts of nutrition in this population</a>, we have been able to give the strongest evidence to date that visual media really does change people’s perception of the ideal female body.</p>
<p>Our findings also support the argument that increasing global rates of body dissatisfaction and eating disorders are driven at least in part <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11013-004-1067-5">by the expansion of globalised mass media</a>. </p>
<p>Of course, television is in many respects a valuable and important source of information. Our participants considered that besides entertainment, television gave them a vital link to the rest of Nicaragua, to political news, and lifesaving services such as storm warnings. But while it’s important that such benefits be maximised, threats to women’s body image must be minimised. </p>
<p>Body positive education can help here, and this is something <a href="http://community.dur.ac.uk/l.g.boothroyd/NEBP/wellcome_body.html">we are working on with local groups</a>. But ultimately, media producers and commissioners must do a better job of diversifying their content to reflect a range of sizes and body types.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/128717/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lynda Boothroyd receives funding for her research on this topic from the Leverhulme Foundation and the Wellcome Trust.</span></em></p>The more people watch TV the more likely it is that they prefer a slimmer female body size.Lynda Boothroyd, Professor in Psychology, Durham UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1028632018-10-01T12:09:32Z2018-10-01T12:09:32ZFat people do not need your concerns about their health<p>Gravely misinformed ideas about health, beauty and body image still dominate, as derogatory <a href="https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/tess-holliday-piers-morgan-cosmopolitan-cover-plus-size-model-a8516296.html">reactions</a> to plus size model Tess Holliday’s October Cosmopolitan UK magazine cover prove. TV presenter Piers Morgan, for example, posted a <a href="https://www.instagram.com/p/BnGritbDtWo/?hl=en&taken-by=thepiersmorgan">photo of the cover</a> on Instagram with a caption that called out this “step forward for body positivity” as “a load of old baloney”. He went on to add: “This cover is just as dangerous and misguided as celebrating size zero models.” </p>
<p>Debates along the same lines run throughout discussion of the magazine cover on social media, with many people arguing that the image promotes obesity and an unhealthy lifestyle. There are plenty of supportive and celebratory comments too but why do many diverse audiences – from <a href="https://www.thetimes.co.uk/edition/comment/thanks-for-the-fat-shaming-son-youve-helped-your-plus-size-dad-slim-down-ls0dl7rhk?utm_source=newsletter&utm_campaign=newsletter_101&utm_medium=email&utm_content=101_02.09.18%20Best%20of%20ST%20Chequers%20(1)&CMP=TNLEmail_118918_4044430_101">newspaper op-eds</a> to online fitness coaches to social media users – react to this cover with immediate disapproval? </p>
<p><div data-react-class="InstagramEmbed" data-react-props="{"url":"https://www.instagram.com/p/BnGritbDtWo/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link","accessToken":"127105130696839|b4b75090c9688d81dfd245afe6052f20"}"></div></p>
<p>It comes after a glut of “summer shredding” diet plans and health programmes addressing the obesity panic and offering “<a href="https://www.itv.com/presscentre/ep1week24/fast-fix-diabetes">fast fixes</a>” to solve health issues by putting patients under dramatic weight loss regimes. Yes, there are correlations between obesity and other health issues, and it is important for us to think and talk about health. But the ways we have been going about this are often not accurate nor helpful. </p>
<h2>Fat stigma, thin privilege</h2>
<p>Many of the social media comments responding to Holliday’s magazine cover start by exalting the efforts of body positivity and body acceptance movements. But there is always a “but” – “but this isn’t healthy”, “but she’s going to get diabetes”, “but she’s going to die early”.</p>
<p>Why do we feel entitled to comment on anyone’s health when we most likely know nothing about them, their health, nutritional choices or fitness activity? Fat stigma has led us to draw a direct and exclusive connection between fatness and ill health, often disregarding the many other aspects of a person’s life that also bear on their bodies and health. <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Body_Respect.html?id=rmQVBQAAQBAJ&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y">Research</a> has also shown that the stress experienced by fat people in the face of fat phobia, stigma and shaming often make it far harder for them to address the health issues they need to.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/obesity-is-about-much-more-than-an-unhealthy-lifestyle-83687">Obesity is about much more than an unhealthy lifestyle</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There are plenty of thin people suffering from illness and all manner of health complications too. But the privileges Western culture has accorded to thinness mean that these people will never be subject to the same interrogations, or faux concerns, about their health. <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-dietitian-puts-extreme-clean-eating-claims-to-the-test-and-the-results-arent-pretty-63675">Unhealthy diet fads</a> hardly come under the same kind of criticism.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, contemporary Western societies glamorise and laud numerous unhealthy lifestyle practices on a regular basis. People boast about their <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-giants-pour-into-social-medias-digital-drinking-spaces-21633">excessive drinking</a> jaunts, or glorify stress by exalting those who work hard and are constantly under pressure. These practices are not only permissible; they have almost become something to aspire to. But the moment a fat person appears on a public platform, huge concerns about health are suddenly developed.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238342/original/file-20180927-48650-1fmt42c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238342/original/file-20180927-48650-1fmt42c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238342/original/file-20180927-48650-1fmt42c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238342/original/file-20180927-48650-1fmt42c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=419&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238342/original/file-20180927-48650-1fmt42c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238342/original/file-20180927-48650-1fmt42c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/238342/original/file-20180927-48650-1fmt42c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=527&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Perceptions and reality.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">UConn Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Multiple body stories</h2>
<p><a href="https://theconversation.com/discrimination-against-fat-people-is-so-endemic-most-of-us-dont-even-realise-its-happening-94862">Slurs against fat people</a> almost always draw on two main stereotypes: that they eat copious amounts of unhealthy food and that they are too lazy to exercise. Scrolling through the comments about Holliday’s Cosmo cover alone will pull up a few of these. </p>
<p>Such slurs do not only exclude and deny the material experiences of people suffering from such conditions as hormonal imbalances, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-it-is-useful-to-understand-the-role-of-genetics-in-behaviour-67502">genetic issues</a> or other health complications that lead to weight gain. More harmfully, it ignores the many other affective, emotional and mental factors that contribute to an person’s relationship to their body. </p>
<p>Instances of childhood abuse, sexual assault, peer bullying or fractured familial relationships are only a few of many reasons my own interview participants (for my ongoing PhD) have shared of the subsequent damaging practices they took towards their bodies. These include starvation, over-exercising, binge-eating, self-harm or excessive preoccupations with certain beauty practices such as plastic surgery or skin bleaching.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/discrimination-against-fat-people-is-so-endemic-most-of-us-dont-even-realise-its-happening-94862">Discrimination against fat people is so endemic, most of us don’t even realise it’s happening</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Seeing bodies differently</h2>
<p>People never just arrive at looking a certain way overnight. It is harmful and counterproductive to assume that a woman is very fat because she just eats junk food all day and fails to exercise; that a very thin woman is anorexic, or that people with hair on their bodies or acne on their faces are dirty. A complex set of traumas, experiences, relationships and interactions lie beneath the surface and have led them to where they are – and we need to honour these stories too.</p>
<p>Instead of seeing fat bodies simplistically and sanctimoniously as a glorification of bad health, we might instead try to reframe any display of an unconventional body as a means to understand that health can look very different and take varying forms. We should view a publicly visible fat, confident, self-accepting fat body, like Holliday’s, not as a sign that she is promoting unhealthy life choices but as the opposite: that whatever size we are or whatever state of health we are in, we might begin to find some peace with our bodies.</p>
<p>If health is really what we are concerned about, surely this might be a more helpful and kind approach. After all, the current knee-jerk reactions to images like Holliday’s magazine cover (or any number of her social media posts) of horror and disdain, and consequent shaming and bullying, haven’t been working. They only cause more stigma, and the bodies that may need help and healing become more invisible.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/102863/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jamie Khoo does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The continued prevalence of fat stigma and shaming needs to be challenged.Jamie Khoo, PhD Candidate, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/957082018-05-11T10:49:59Z2018-05-11T10:49:59ZMad Magazine is finished, but its ethos matters more than ever before<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218349/original/file-20180509-34006-1lhp104.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The magazine taught its readers to never swallow what they're served.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/search/?license=2%2C3%2C4%2C5%2C6%2C9&text=%22mad%20magazine%22&advanced=1">Nick Lehr/The Conversation via Jasperdo</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Mad Magazine is on life support. In April 2018, <a href="https://www.madmagazine.com/issues/mad-magazine-1">it launched a reboot</a>, jokingly calling it its “first issue.” Now the magazine <a href="https://www.polygon.com/entertainment/2019/7/5/20683063/mad-magazine-shutting-down">announced</a> it will stop publishing new content, aside from year-end special issues.</p>
<p>But in terms of cultural resonance and mass popularity, its clout has been fading for years.</p>
<p>At its apex in the early 1970s, Mad’s circulation surpassed <a href="http://users.ipfw.edu/slaubau/madcirc.htm">2 million</a>. As of 2017, it was 140,000.</p>
<p>As strange as it sounds, I believe the “usual gang of idiots” that produced Mad was performing a vital public service, teaching American adolescents that they shouldn’t believe everything they read in their textbooks or saw on TV.</p>
<p>Mad preached subversion and unadulterated truth-telling when so-called objective journalism remained deferential to authority. While newscasters regularly parroted questionable government claims, <a href="https://www.madmagazine.com/sites/default/files/imce/2014/08-AUG/MAD-Magazine-161-Nixon-Cover_53e2951f9f3773.51827449.jpg">Mad was calling politicians liars when they lied</a>. Long before responsible organs of public opinion like The New York Times and the CBS Evening News discovered it, Mad told its readers all about <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credibility_gap">the credibility gap</a>. The periodical’s skeptical approach to advertisers and authority figures helped raise a less credulous and more critical generation in the 1960s and 1970s.</p>
<p>Today’s media environment differs considerably from the era in which Mad flourished. But it could be argued that consumers are dealing with many of the same issues, from devious advertising to mendacious propaganda. </p>
<p>While Mad’s satiric legacy endures, the question of whether its educational ethos – its implicit media literacy efforts – remains part of our youth culture is less clear. </p>
<h2>A merry-go-round of media panics</h2>
<p><a href="https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=YxTJsxoAAAAJ&hl=en">In my research</a> on media, broadcasting and advertising history, I’ve noted the cyclical nature of media panics and media reform movements throughout American history.</p>
<p>The pattern goes something like this: A new medium gains popularity. Chagrined politicians and outraged citizens demand new restraints, claiming that opportunists are too easily able to exploit its persuasive power and dupe consumers, rendering their critical faculties useless. But the outrage is overblown. Eventually, audience members become more savvy and educated, rendering such criticism quaint and anachronistic. </p>
<p>During the penny press era of the 1830s, periodicals often fabricated sensational stories like the “<a href="https://www.smithsonianmag.com/smithsonian-institution/great-moon-hoax-was-simply-sign-its-time-180955761/">Great Moon Hoax</a>” to sell more copies. For a while, it worked, until accurate reporting became more valuable to readers. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218473/original/file-20180510-34006-mf08ss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218473/original/file-20180510-34006-mf08ss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218473/original/file-20180510-34006-mf08ss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218473/original/file-20180510-34006-mf08ss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=427&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218473/original/file-20180510-34006-mf08ss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218473/original/file-20180510-34006-mf08ss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218473/original/file-20180510-34006-mf08ss.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=537&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">During the ‘Great Moon Hoax,’ the New York Sun claimed to have discovered a colony of creatures on the moon.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/fb/Great-Moon-Hoax-1835-New-York-Sun-lithograph-298px.jpg">Wikimedia Commons</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>When radios became more prevalent in the 1930s, Orson Welles perpetrated a similar extraterrestrial hoax with his infamous “War of the Worlds” program. This broadcast <a href="http://www.slate.com/articles/arts/history/2013/10/orson_welles_war_of_the_worlds_panic_myth_the_infamous_radio_broadcast_did.html">didn’t actually cause widespread fear of an alien invasion</a> among listeners, as some have claimed. But it did spark a national conversation about radio’s power and audience gullibility. </p>
<p>Aside from the penny newspapers and radio, we’ve witnessed moral panics about dime novels, muckraking magazines, telephones, <a href="https://www.vox.com/2014/12/15/7326605/comic-book-censorship">comic books</a>, television, the VCR, and now the internet. Just as Congress <a href="https://www.broadcastlawblog.com/2013/10/articles/orson-welles-war-of-the-worlds-75-years-later-what-would-the-fcc-do-now/">went after Orson Welles</a>, we see Mark Zuckerberg <a href="https://www.vox.com/2018/4/2/17185052/mark-zuckerberg-facebook-interview-fake-news-bots-cambridge">testifying</a> about Facebook’s facilitation of Russian bots. </p>
<h2>Holding up a mirror to our gullibility</h2>
<p>But there’s another theme in the country’s media history that’s often overlooked. In response to each new medium’s persuasive power, a healthy popular response ridiculing the rubes falling for the spectacle has arisen. </p>
<p>For example, in “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn,” Mark Twain gave us the duke and the dauphin, two con artists traveling from town to town exploiting ignorance with ridiculous theatrical performances and fabricated tall tales. </p>
<p>They were proto-purveyors of fake news, and Twain, the former journalist, knew all about selling buncombe. His classic short story “<a href="https://americanliterature.com/author/mark-twain/short-story/journalism-in-tennessee">Journalism in Tennessee</a>” excoriates crackpot editors and the ridiculous fiction often published as fact in American newspapers. </p>
<p>Then there’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-greatest-showman-paved-the-way-for-donald-trump-85212">the great P.T. Barnum</a>, who ripped people off in marvelously inventive ways. </p>
<p>“This way to the egress,” <a href="http://www.ptbarnum.org/egress.html">read a series of signs</a> inside his famous museum. Ignorant customers, assuming the egress was some sort of exotic animal, soon found themselves passing through the exit door and locked out.</p>
<p>They might have felt ripped off, but, in fact, Barnum had done them a great – and intended – service. His museum made its customers more wary of hyperbole. It employed humor and irony to teach skepticism. Like Twain, Barnum held up a funhouse mirror to America’s emerging mass culture in order to make people reflect on the excesses of commercial communication.</p>
<h2>‘Think for yourself. Question authority’</h2>
<p>Mad Magazine embodies this same spirit. Begun originally as a horror comic, the periodical evolved into a satirical humor outlet that skewered Madison Avenue, hypocritical politicians and mindless consumption. </p>
<p>Teaching its adolescent readers that governments lie – and only suckers fall for hucksters – Mad implicitly and explicitly subverted the sunny optimism of the Eisenhower and Kennedy years. Its writers and artists poked fun at everyone and everything that claimed a monopoly on truth and virtue. </p>
<p>“The editorial mission statement has always been the same: ‘Everyone is lying to you, including magazines. Think for yourself. Question authority,’” according to <a href="https://www.fastcompany.com/1681754/the-ascent-of-mad-see-60-years-of-comic-subversion">longtime editor John Ficarra</a>.</p>
<p>That was a subversive message, especially in an era when the profusion of advertising and Cold War propaganda infected everything in American culture. At a time when American television only relayed three networks and consolidation limited alternative media options, Mad’s message stood out. </p>
<p>Just as intellectuals <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Daniel-J-Boorstin">Daniel Boorstin</a>, <a href="http://www.marshallmcluhanspeaks.com/">Marshall McLuhan</a> and <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/nov/14/guy-debord-society-spectacle-will-self">Guy Debord</a> were starting to level critiques against this media environment, Mad was doing the same – but in a way that was widely accessible, proudly idiotic and surprisingly sophisticated.</p>
<p>For example, the implicit existentialism hidden beneath the chaos in every “Spy v. Spy” panel spoke directly to the insanity of Cold War brinksmanship. Conceived and drawn by Cuban exile Antonio Prohías, “Spy v. Spy” featured two spies who, like the United States and the Soviet Union, both observed the doctrine of <a href="http://www.dictionary.com/browse/mutual-assured-destruction">Mutually Assured Destruction</a>. Each spy was pledged to no one ideology, but rather the complete obliteration of the other – and every plan ultimately backfired in their arms race to nowhere.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218351/original/file-20180509-5968-1nmks7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218351/original/file-20180509-5968-1nmks7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218351/original/file-20180509-5968-1nmks7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218351/original/file-20180509-5968-1nmks7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=792&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218351/original/file-20180509-5968-1nmks7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=995&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218351/original/file-20180509-5968-1nmks7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=995&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/218351/original/file-20180509-5968-1nmks7w.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=995&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Mad skewered those who mindlessly supported the people who controlled the levers of power.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/mytravelphotos/2036803920/in/photolist-46Z9QY-46cFgG-46V4TK-468w3F-46cHiu-5C1evd-3LM7dN-3V1EMn-Snab6T-5C1eam-46Z8Hb-4QHS8e-3V1CMP-3LMa6j-468vaT-5BVVqH-3LGMZc-468yXR-3LGQw2-3LM6rf-5C1enC-9A6vV4-e5rCoT-5BVVF8-3ZWcGP-3LGUnr-4GZyHp-5C1eAC-e5rCdR-3LGR2k-3LMcq7-5BVVDD-5C1ee3-3ZWdST-3ZWaVZ-5BVVm4-468ytK-9A9tc1-fF7xR-nFC23V-5goL7o-irEtwL-3LGS2c-c3cbbC-daixuH-93tmpK-6q2N1D-3V1Exe-nxvPrK-46V59e">Jasperdo</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/4.0/">CC BY-NC-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The cartoon highlighted the irrationality of mindless hatred and senseless violence. <a href="https://books.google.com/books/about/The_Norton_Book_of_Modern_War.html?id=lT9uYX9etdoC&printsec=frontcover&source=kp_read_button#v=onepage&q=%22condemned%20to%20sadistic%20lunacy%22&f=false">In an essay on the plight of the Vietnam War soldier</a>, literary critic Paul Fussell once wrote that U.S. soldiers were “condemned to sadistic lunacy” by the monotony of violence without end. So too the “Spy v. Spy” guys.</p>
<p>As the credibility gap widened from the Johnson to Nixon administrations, the logic of Mad‘s Cold War critique became more relevant. Circulation soared. Sociologist Todd Gitlin – who had been a leader of the Students for a Democratic Society in the 1960s – credited Mad with serving an important educational function for his generation. </p>
<p>“In junior high and high school,” <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=t35GpamCHbMC&pg=PA36&dq=Todd+Gitlin+%22In+junior+high+and+high+school%22&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwi597Lk8fjaAhUBtlkKHQGoCLkQ6AEIJzAA#v=onepage&q=Todd%20Gitlin%20%22In%20junior%20high%20and%20high%20school%22&f=false">he wrote</a>, “I devoured it.” </p>
<h2>A step backward?</h2>
<p>And yet that healthy skepticism seems to have evaporated in the ensuing decades. Both <a href="https://www.salon.com/2007/04/10/media_failure/">the run-up to the Iraq War</a> and the acquiescence to the <a href="https://shorensteincenter.org/news-coverage-2016-general-election/">carnival-like coverage</a> of our first reality TV star president seem to be evidence of a widespread failure of media literacy.</p>
<p>We’re still grappling with how to deal with the internet and the way it facilitates information overload, filter bubbles, propaganda and, yes, fake news. </p>
<p>But history has shown that while we can be stupid and credulous, we can also learn to identify irony, recognize hypocrisy and laugh at ourselves. And we’ll learn far more about employing our critical faculties when we’re disarmed by humor than when we’re lectured at by pedants. A direct thread skewering the gullibility of media consumers can be traced from Barnum to Twain to Mad to “South Park” to The Onion.</p>
<p>While Mad’s legacy lives on, today’s media environment is more polarized and diffuse. It also tends to be far more cynical and nihilistic. Mad humorously taught kids that adults hid truths from them, not that in a world of fake news, the very notion of truth was meaningless. Paradox informed the Mad ethos; at its best, Mad could be biting and gentle, humorous and tragic, and ruthless and endearing – all at the same time. </p>
<p>That’s the sensibility we’ve lost. And it’s why we need outlets like Mad more than ever.</p>
<p><em>This is an updated version of an article originally published on May 11, 2018.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95708/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michael J. Socolow does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Today’s media consumers are being bombarded with bias and sensationalism – and could use a dose of Mad’s media literacy.Michael J. Socolow, Associate Professor, Communication and Journalism, University of MaineLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/897842018-01-29T12:21:38Z2018-01-29T12:21:38ZPoetry is more popular than ever – but not all poets are happy about it<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203770/original/file-20180129-100926-1jucuab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/artbystevejohnson/4654874634/in/photolist-86ks4d-uM1Du-7Fe5dT-9rVG4q-TovAHH-uLUuY-qfDSWE-5uJvk9-df6weV-9VUKp2-uLWep-bQQHZD-uM4X6-cZ3vc-7yQYWX-bbwvJ8-uM29N-7eQ769-93nUUo-6bf91a-uLZdm-a1zngo-e2v96Y-uLYSC-6TFKRs-4yAizC-WwHfoF-WgJvMm-bQQH8D-51CokA-G3HPw-bGcZsn-uM14Q-CR1SkL-uLVmW-uM5dR-aEftuM-6tGz5J-ARSxzm-bQQSfM-6djApq-eg1eEG-LqagK-npKFPg-5diL4o-d1HQD9-d1HQNW-d1HQFQ-2SNqCW-9WSRBy">artbystevejohnson/flickr</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The joke among poets is that it’s never a good thing when poetry makes the news. From <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yy2rG_m3sHk">plagiarism scandals</a> to <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/books/news/poet-reaches-end-of-line-with-ts-eliot-prize-in-row-over-hedge-fund-sponsor-6273175.html">prize controversies</a>, casual readers would be forgiven for thinking the so-called “poetry world” exists in a state of perpetual outrage. In a recent article, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2018/jan/23/poetry-world-split-over-polemic-attacking-amateur-work-by-young-female-poets">The Guardian</a> reported that an essay published in the magazine PN Review “has split the poetry establishment”. </p>
<p>Rebecca Watts’ <a href="http://www.pnreview.co.uk/cgi-bin/scribe?item_id=10090">contentious essay</a>, The Cult of the Noble Amateur, first appeared in the magazine’s print edition in December. In it, she laments social media’s “dumbing effect” on recent poetry, and a “rejection of craft” that is fuelling the success of what she calls “personality poets”. In particular, Watts criticises Rupi Kaur, whose bestselling verse initially found an audience on Instagram, and Hollie McNish and Kate Tempest, whose performances have garnered millions of YouTube views. </p>
<p>To some extent, the only surprise in this latest debate is the wider media interest. Within days, what might have passed like so many online squabbles had prompted further coverage in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jan/26/verses-spoken-word-row-poetry-young-female-poets">The Guardian</a> and <a href="https://www.thebookseller.com/news/watts-questions-poetry-kaur-mcnish-and-tempest-712346">Bookseller</a>, a segment on Radio 4’s <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09nrsbg">World at One</a>, and an interview with Watts herself on BBC’s <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b09nrsg1">Front Row</a>. It’s with no small irony, of course, that the essay’s viral spread came only after it was posted on PN Review’s <a href="http://www.pnreview.co.uk/cgi-bin/scribe?item_id=10090">website</a>, then shared on Facebook and Twitter.</p>
<p>But by focusing on the false opposition of quality and popularity, both sides have been reluctant to see the debate itself as a symptom of the media’s growing interest in the art form. As Watts’ essay admits, poetry is more popular than ever. And over the past few years, news of scandals has increasingly been replaced by celebrations of its renewed relevance. </p>
<p>Within days of the 2016 US presidential election, for instance, the <a href="http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/movies/la-ca-trump-poetry-20161116-story.html">LA Times</a>, <a href="http://edition.cnn.com/2016/11/10/opinions/kaine-revives-hughes-dreams-rampersad-opinion/index.html">CNN</a>, <a href="https://www.buzzfeed.com/danezsmith/poem-youre-dead-america-by-danez-smith?utm_term=.jwl4yMAgEd#.clD41O9d0r">Buzzfeed</a>, <a href="https://www.vox.com/culture/2016/11/9/13575130/poetry-langston-hughes-wh-auden-john-holmes-robert-frost">Vox</a> and dozens of other outlets were offering what The Guardian <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2016/nov/10/poetry-trump-presidency-gwendolyn-brooks-margaret-atwood?CMP=twt_books_b-gdnbooks">called</a> “poems to counter the election fallout”. <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/entertainment/archive/2016/11/still-poetry-will-rise/507266/">The Atlantic</a> declared “Still, Poetry Will Rise”, and <a href="https://www.wired.com/2016/11/poetry-popularity-on-twitter/">Wired warned</a>: “Don’t Look Now, But 2016 is Resurrecting Poetry.” </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203771/original/file-20180129-100899-1jpr2vn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/203771/original/file-20180129-100899-1jpr2vn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203771/original/file-20180129-100899-1jpr2vn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203771/original/file-20180129-100899-1jpr2vn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203771/original/file-20180129-100899-1jpr2vn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203771/original/file-20180129-100899-1jpr2vn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/203771/original/file-20180129-100899-1jpr2vn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Is Trump unwittingly behind some of the surge in poetry’s popularity?</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/new-york-jul-16-2016-donald-512914012?src=-vB0eLZKjIpIcfZ18DxaAg-1-17">JStone / Shutterstock.com</a></span>
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<p>The political impetus for poetry’s media “resurrection” has also fed into a more general sense of its coolness. In the same week that inspired so many election poems, “London’s new generation of poets” were seen “<a href="https://www.standard.co.uk/lifestyle/esmagazine/meet-londons-new-generation-of-poets-from-caleb-femi-to-greta-bellamacina-a3390961.html">storming the catwalks</a> of Fashion Week”. Meanwhile, <a href="https://www.teenvogue.com/gallery/9-young-poets-making-genre-cool">Teen Vogue</a> offered a slideshow of young poets who “are actually making the genre cool again” and a Guardian columnist who has written in the past about <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/profile/rob-walker">coconut water trends</a> assured us that poetry is now “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2017/oct/07/now-its-the-coolest-thing-rise-of-rupi-kaur-helps-boost-poetry-sales">the coolest thing</a>”. </p>
<p>For some, this visibility might seem to justify Watts’ worry that poetry like Kaur’s (which featured among The Guardian’s “coolest things”) has become a form of “consumer driven content”. Like some jazz or comic book devotees, certain poetry lovers remain uncomfortable with its widening fanbase. Indeed, in his mapping of the cultural field, the French sociologist Pierre Bourdieu <a href="https://www.sfu.ca/cmns/courses/2011/488/1-Readings/Craig%20Dubois%20Poetry%20Readings.pdf">suggested</a> that poetry’s economic priorities are “reversed”, and that relative obscurity has long been part of its caché. </p>
<p>Desperate to preserve that, perhaps, Watts begins her attack by suggesting that poetry’s “highest ever” sales over the past two years are to blame for declining standards. But she’s not the only one to bristle at poetry’s growing currency, or to assume it proves that “artless poetry sells”.</p>
<p>After Patricia Lockwood’s <a href="https://www.theawl.com/2013/07/patricia-lockwood-rape-joke/">Rape Joke</a> went viral in 2013, Adam Plunkett, writing for the New Yorker, <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/books/page-turner/patricia-lockwoods-crowd-pleasing-poetry">sneered</a> at her “crowd-pleasing poetry” for its appeal to the “lowest common denominator” online. A similar cycle of praise and censure was repeated last month, when Kristen Roupenian’s short story <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/12/11/cat-person">Cat Person</a> earned a <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/12/20/books/cat-person-book-deal.html">seven-figure book-deal</a> after going viral in the New Yorker itself.</p>
<p>Celebrities trying their hand at verse have been another easy target for the preservationists. <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/news/kristen-stewart-writes-worst-poem-of-all-time-9121635.html">The Independent</a> declared that Kristen Stewart had written the “worst poem of all time”, after her piece appeared in <a href="http://www.marieclaire.com/celebrity/a8964/kristen-stewart-march-cover-feature/">Marie Claire</a> in 2014. And in November 2016, <a href="http://www.cosmopolitan.com/entertainment/celebs/a13528212/taylor-swift-poetry-harvard-professor-review/">Cosmopolitan</a> called on Harvard professor Stephanie Burt to explain why the poems included in Taylor Swift’s new album didn’t really work for her as poems. </p>
<p>Yet, beyond poetry’s appearances at Fashion Week or in <a href="https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLP8zX0EDIZJvHIkahbhp_ELYbBjyqw5F1">financial adverts</a>, there are signs that hang ups over its popular appeal are losing their grip. Beyoncé’s use of <a href="https://www.vogue.com/article/warsan-shire-lemonade-poet">Warsan Shire</a>’s work in 2016’s <a href="https://www.beyonce.com/album/">Lemonade</a>, for example, was met with few claims that it was dumbing anything down. Just as tellingly, the week that saw such heated battles over the PN Review essay also saw the singer Halsey’s moving Women’s March poem go viral to unanimous <a href="https://edition.cnn.com/2018/01/22/us/halsey-womens-march-poem-speech-trnd/index.html">praise</a>. And there was hardly a peep from the “poetry world”.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/89784/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>JT Welsch does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Rebecca Watts, Rupi Kaur, Kate Tempest – the world of poetry is up in arms again. Here’s why.JT Welsch, Lecturer in English and Creative Industries, University of YorkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/869102017-11-08T11:19:07Z2017-11-08T11:19:07ZThe magazine that inspired Rolling Stone<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193610/original/file-20171107-1055-1k844nb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">'When you look back on it, where else would those articles appear? The Saturday Evening Post?'</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nick Lehr/The Conversation via flickr</span>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The 50th anniversary of Rolling Stone magazine has arrived, and not without fanfare. Joe Hagan’s <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=m4EkDwAAQBAJ&lpg=PP1&dq=sticky%20fingers%20joe%20hagan&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false">biography</a> of co-founder Jann Wenner appeared in October to stellar reviews, and earlier this month, HBO aired <a href="http://variety.com/2017/music/reviews/tv-review-rolling-stone-stories-from-the-edge-1202607495/">Alex Gibney’s documentary film</a> about the magazine’s history. Wenner’s <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/17/business/rolling-stone-magazine-sale.html">announcement</a> that he was planning to sell his company’s stake in Rolling Stone also prompted a flurry of retrospective tributes.</p>
<p>Conceived during the Summer of Love in 1967, Rolling Stone was always a creature of the San Francisco counterculture. From the outset, the magazine touted Jefferson Airplane, the Grateful Dead and other San Francisco bands. Well before that, co-founder Ralph J. Gleason was featuring the Haight-Ashbury’s vibrant music scene in his San Francisco Chronicle column. </p>
<p>But Rolling Stone’s identity can also be traced to two other sources: Berkeley’s culture of dissent and Ramparts magazine, the legendary San Francisco muckraker. </p>
<p>The Berkeley influence was strong and direct. The magazine’s early staff writers were steeped in Berkeley’s ardent campus activism, and their views on politics, drugs and music informed the magazine’s coverage. Wenner wrote a music column for the student newspaper and covered the free speech movement for a local radio station. Even more significant for Wenner, perhaps, was the example of Gleason, who combined an impressive body of music criticism with public support for student activists. Wenner spent hours at Gleason’s Berkeley home, soaking up his insights on music and journalism.</p>
<p>Rolling Stone’s Berkeley roots were important, <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=5jf6K9MMcSUC&lpg=PP1&dq=a%20bomb%20in%20every%20issue&pg=PP1#v=onepage&q&f=false">but the Ramparts influence ran even deeper</a>. Ramparts was by no means a hippie magazine, but its rebellious spirit, flair for publicity and professional design would all leave their mark on Wenner and Gleason’s fledgling magazine. </p>
<h2>A bomb in every issue</h2>
<p>Founded in 1962 as a Catholic literary quarterly, Ramparts initially ran articles by <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Merton">Thomas Merton</a>, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Howard_Griffin">John Howard Griffin</a> and other Catholic intellectuals. But when a young Warren Hinckle became editor in 1964, he converted Ramparts into a monthly, shifted its focus to politics and hired Dugald Stermer as art director. </p>
<p>Hinckle also recruited Robert Scheer, a former graduate student at UC Berkeley’s Center for Chinese Studies, to write about the U.S. involvement in Vietnam. Scheer and his colleagues challenged U.S. government pronouncements about the war and routinely lampooned the mainstream media’s Vietnam coverage. </p>
<p>Once Hinckle, Stermer and Scheer joined forces, Ramparts achieved liftoff. It adopted a cutting-edge design, forged links to the Black Panther Party, exposed CIA activities and published the diaries of Che Guevara and staff writer <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eldridge_Cleaver">Eldridge Cleaver</a>.</p>
<p>A Ramparts photo-essay, “<a href="http://www.unz.org/Pub/Ramparts-1967jan-00045">The Children of Vietnam</a>,” persuaded Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. to speak out against the war, and the title of a Time magazine article about Ramparts, “<a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,843165,00.html">A Bomb in Every Issue</a>,” described the muckraker’s explosive impact. In 1966, Ramparts earned the George Polk Award for excellence in magazine journalism, and its circulation climbed to almost 250,000. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193600/original/file-20171107-1061-bz4mys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193600/original/file-20171107-1061-bz4mys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193600/original/file-20171107-1061-bz4mys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193600/original/file-20171107-1061-bz4mys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193600/original/file-20171107-1061-bz4mys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=488&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193600/original/file-20171107-1061-bz4mys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193600/original/file-20171107-1061-bz4mys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193600/original/file-20171107-1061-bz4mys.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=613&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">From left to right: Ramparts magazine editor Warren Hinckle, assistant managing editor Sol Stern and writer Robert Scheer.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-AP-A-CA-USA-APHS285245-Editor-Warren-Hin-/a7947b66921a41fcad87291acf32b233/1/0">AP Photo</a></span>
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<p>Ramparts also became a seedbed for Rolling Stone. Gleason, who was a contributing editor at Ramparts, secured a job for Wenner at the magazine’s spinoff newspaper, the Sunday Ramparts. While there, Wenner picked up layout ideas from Stermer and encountered the work of Hunter S. Thompson, whose bestselling book about the Hells Angels appeared in 1967. Wenner also learned the value of showmanship from the free-spending Hinckle, who frequently echoed playwright George M. Cohan’s <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=ur3pu3KGNK0C&pg=PA621&lpg=PA621&dq=%22Whatever+you+do,+kid,+always+serve+it+with+a+little+dressing.%22&source=bl&ots=WYuz43fVCl&sig=0UQq8hB9eEwCmBKapqVzzfELtkY&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwj64eyF4qzXAhVI6CYKHVsNCNIQ6AEINzAD#v=onepage&q=%22Whatever%20you%20do%2C%20kid%2C%20always%20serve%20it%20with%20a%20little%20dressing.%22&f=false">motto</a> “Whatever you do, kid, always serve it with a little dressing.”</p>
<p>Ironically, Hinckle played an indirect role in the creation of Rolling Stone. Gleason had planned to write about the Summer of Love at Ramparts, but Hinckle ran his own cover article, “<a href="http://www.unz.org/Pub/Ramparts-1967mar-00005?View=PDF">A Social History of the Hippies</a>,” in the March 1967 issue without informing him. A furious Gleason resigned from the magazine, and Wenner lost his job when Hinckle shut down the Sunday Ramparts. That summer, the two men began working on their own publication. By alienating Gleason, laying off Wenner and demonstrating that a “<a href="https://alumni.berkeley.edu/california-magazine/fall-2009-constant-change/radical-slick">radical slick</a>” had broad appeal, Hinckle cleared the way for Rolling Stone.</p>
<p>Despite reaching a broad audience, Ramparts never stabilized its finances. After running through two private fortunes, it filed for bankruptcy in 1969. Hinckle left to start Scanlan’s Monthly, where he paired Thompson with illustrator <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ralph_Steadman">Ralph Steadman</a> to cover the Kentucky Derby; <a href="http://www.gonzogallery.com/books/scanlans-monthly-issue-no-4-the-kentucky-derby">that article</a> is now considered the first example of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gonzo_journalism">gonzo journalism</a>.</p>
<h2>The voice of its generation</h2>
<p>Rolling Stone’s first issue appeared in November 1967, but the magazine didn’t come into its own until 1969. </p>
<p>In December of that year, the notorious Altamont free concert <a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/the-altamont-festival-brings-the-1960s-to-a-violent-end">devolved into lethal chaos</a>. Several Rolling Stone staff writers witnessed the mayhem, much of which was attributed to Hells Angels, but other media outlets missed the story. Gleason insisted that the magazine cover Altamont as if it were World War II, and its “<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/the-rolling-stones-disaster-at-altamont-let-it-bleed-19700121">Let It Bleed</a>” issue landed Rolling Stone a National Magazine Award for Specialized Journalism. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193602/original/file-20171107-1032-1wqxxm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193602/original/file-20171107-1032-1wqxxm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/193602/original/file-20171107-1032-1wqxxm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193602/original/file-20171107-1032-1wqxxm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193602/original/file-20171107-1032-1wqxxm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=751&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193602/original/file-20171107-1032-1wqxxm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193602/original/file-20171107-1032-1wqxxm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/193602/original/file-20171107-1032-1wqxxm8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=944&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Rolling Stone writer Hunter S. Thompson takes notes while listening to testimony at a trial in West Palm Beach, Flaorida in 1982.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://www.apimages.com/metadata/Index/Watchf-AP-A-FL-USA-APHS903-Hunter-S-Thompson/2cee9cc0e04f42819ddc50ef8dbd47c6/2/0">Ray Fairall/AP Photo</a></span>
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<p>Having established itself as “<a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/music/features/how-rolling-stone-shaped-narratives-of-woodstock-altamont-w464690">the voice of its generation</a>,” Rolling Stone continued its ascent. After Scanlan’s tanked in 1971, Wenner recruited Thompson and Steadman, published their most notable work, and turned Thompson into a cultural celebrity. Wenner also hired Annie Liebovitz as the magazine’s chief photographer in 1973. </p>
<p>Gleason <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/1975/06/04/archives/ralph-j-gleason-jazz-critic-dead-coast-writer-and-editor-58-was.html?_r=0">died of a heart attack in 1975</a>, the same year Ramparts closed its doors for good. Two years later, Rolling Stone decamped for New York City. Although Rolling Stone’s reputation waxed and waned for decades, it retained its ability to break big stories. In 2008, staff writer Matt Taibbi’s political commentary earned Rolling Stone a National Magazine Award, and his <a href="http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/the-great-american-bubble-machine-20100405">2010 takedown of Goldman Sachs</a> rattled Wall Street. Since then, the magazine has collected two Polk Awards for stories on the U.S. occupation of Afghanistan. </p>
<p>Rolling Stone’s overall record is decidedly mixed. (Consider, for example, <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/business/media/rape-uva-rolling-stone-frat.html">its misbegotten account</a> of rape culture at the University of Virginia, which appeared in 2014.) But as <a href="https://books.google.com/books?id=5jf6K9MMcSUC&pg=PT6&lpg=PT6&dq=%22When+you+look+back+on+it,+where+else+would+those+articles+appear?+The+Saturday+Evening+Post?%22&source=bl&ots=JX0pQSl92o&sig=45AKsuRsKZvXbwogpVQci9iLIsA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwil27GJ7qzXAhVC7CYKHWx7BkcQ6AEIJjAA#v=onepage&q=%22When%20you%20look%20back%20on%20it%2C%20where%20else%20would%20those%20articles%20appear%3F%20The%20Saturday%20Evening%20Post%3F%22&f=false">one Ramparts staff writer observed</a> after that magazine perished, “When you look back on it, where else would those articles appear? The Saturday Evening Post?” </p>
<p>So it is with Rolling Stone: No other rock magazine could have matched its coverage of the Manson family or the Patty Hearst saga. For all its flaws, Rolling Stone accomplished a rare feat. Like Ramparts, it created a distinctive niche in the national media ecology; unlike its precursor, it maintained that niche for five decades.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86910/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Richardson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ramparts started as a Catholic literary magazine. But when Warren Hinckle took the helm, he developed a layout, voice and rebellious spirit that Rolling Stone would go on to mimic.Peter Richardson, Coordinator, American Studies, San Francisco State UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/848532017-09-29T14:26:10Z2017-09-29T14:26:10ZHow Hugh Hefner’s world helped Donald Trump get into the White House<p>Hugh Hefner, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/sep/28/hugh-hefner-founder-of-playboy-magazine-dies-aged-91">who has died</a> at the age of 91, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/sep/28/hugh-hefner-obituary">considered himself</a> the luckiest man on the planet. And with his silk pyjamas, bunny girls and private jets, he managed to have quite an impact on the modern world. </p>
<p>As the founder of Playboy magazine, he revolutionised the imagery of heterosexuality in popular culture, changing people’s bedroom and courtship habits in the process. He may even have influenced the path of modern American politics.</p>
<p>Hefner launched Playboy in the early 1950s, when the norm of American popular culture was depicted by images of wholesome families in the home by the likes of <a href="https://www.nrm.org/collections-2/art-norman-rockwell/">illustrator Norman Rockwell</a>. It was a period when American society was experiencing <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/23/books/review/Powers-t.html?mcubz=0">waves of moral panic</a> over the corrupting influence of comic books on youth. </p>
<p>But while Disney was producing <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0047757/">The Mickey Mouse Club</a> on television, Hefner was taking young women barely a few years older than its star <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0002088/bio?ref_=nm_ov_bio_sm">Annette Funicello</a>, and publishing pictures of them, scantily-clad, in his magazine. </p>
<p>With Playboy, Hefner legitimised the kind of photographic depiction of female nudity that had previously been the remit of privately viewed postcards or pinups in men’s locker rooms. All of a sudden, however much social conservatives and cultural critics frowned, nude women were on display in a mainstream magazine. </p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188161/original/file-20170929-19823-1sqf8qg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/188161/original/file-20170929-19823-1sqf8qg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188161/original/file-20170929-19823-1sqf8qg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188161/original/file-20170929-19823-1sqf8qg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=397&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188161/original/file-20170929-19823-1sqf8qg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188161/original/file-20170929-19823-1sqf8qg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/188161/original/file-20170929-19823-1sqf8qg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=499&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Hanging out with Hugh.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/hollywood-august-18-holly-madison-hugh-130539233?src=K_cZLUyipfoEX8slpEOkdQ-1-20">Shutterstock</a></span>
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<p>The 1950s was a decade of resurgent social conservatism in the US. The government partnered up with the business world to shepherd the population back into the home from World War II and industrial assembly lines. Returning soldiers were supposed to marry their sweethearts, go to college, move with their families to the newly built suburbs and commute to work by train or in the new family car. </p>
<p>Yet even at the height of this new “normalcy”, voices in the mainstream were expressing doubts about the impact of conformity on the soul of the population. Novels like <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/books/2004/sep/18/featuresreviews.guardianreview26">Revolutionary Road</a> depicted couples trapped in the new middle-class existence. Books including <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/tech/elements/yelp-and-the-wisdom-of-the-lonely-crowd">The Lonely Crowd</a> and <a href="https://www.newyorker.com/business/currency/what-the-organization-man-can-tell-us-about-inequality-today">The Organization Man</a> were critical of a uniformity that threatened to make people automatons and emasculate men. </p>
<p>On screen, films such as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0048545/">Rebel Without a Cause</a> grappled with the panic over juvenile delinquency – suburban teenagers full of drive (sexual and otherwise), but no direction, rebelling against any and all social authority.</p>
<p>It was from this mainstream conformity that Playboy promised to help men break away. As scholars such as <a href="http://barbaraehrenreich.com/barbara-ehrenreich-bio/">Barbara Ehrenreich</a> have pointed out, Hefner sold social rebellion packaged in business culture – the life of an eternal bachelor, who can wine and dine women and take them to bed, but drop them like a hot potato if the word “marriage” is even mentioned. </p>
<p>Hefner empowered men to cast aside the millstones of being a grown-up, and behave like boys in adult bodies – with adult sex drives. </p>
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<p>Hefner and his magazine created aspirations for American men which involved a radical switch from the earlier social customs of committed courtship or “going steady”. They embraced a culture of men dating freely – and not even exclusively. Playboy was selling the James Bond lifestyle to middle-class men. </p>
<p>Emboldened by the increasing availability of female contraception, men bought not only Playboy, but also the products advertised in it. They spent their money on bachelor pads, stereo systems, high-end kitchen equipment – all in a bid to practice what Hefner preached. </p>
<h2>Naked ambition</h2>
<p>But aside from the material side of things, the millionaire publisher saw himself as a social activist. It is true that he championed freedom from censorship. Hefner also hired African-American comedian and activist Dick Gregory <a href="http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/hugh-hefner-gave-dick-gregory-his-big-break-1043953">to work at his club</a> in 1961, in the midst of civil rights tensions across America. </p>
<p>Earlier, in 1955, his magazine included a satirical science fiction story, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/morning-mix/wp/2017/09/28/for-hugh-hefner-gay-rights-were-part-of-the-sexual-revolution/?utm_term=.85a5843322cf">The Crooked Man, by Charles Beaumont</a> about heterosexual men being persecuted in a homosexual society. Justifying its controversial publication Hefner wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>If it was wrong to persecute heterosexuals in a homosexual society, then the reverse was wrong too.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet Playboy also depicted women only as sexual toys for men or as “gold diggers” – busy laying the marital trap that should be avoided by single men at all costs. </p>
<p>Hefner may have also promoted the kind of persona that helped carry Donald Trump to the White House. In 1983, the owner of Playboy’s magazine rival Hustler, Larry Flynt, <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_uk/article/qkbzjx/larry-flynt-profile-2016">ran for president</a> as a libertarian candidate. He was not a major contender, but the straight-talking alpha male has become a familiar feature of political office – think California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, or <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001818/">Jesse Ventura</a> in Minnesota. </p>
<p>Donald Trump socialised with Hefner, appeared on a front cover of Playboy magazine, and was the subject of interviews in its pages. </p>
<p>With his regular and showy involvement in the beauty pageant industry, Trump was clearly a “Hefnerite” entrepreneur. The 45th president’s <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/trump-recorded-having-extremely-lewd-conversation-about-women-in-2005/2016/10/07/3b9ce776-8cb4-11e6-bf8a-3d26847eeed4_story.html?utm_term=.d17714b670d4">words about women</a>, privately and publicly, may have actually endeared him to some male voters as someone who “tells it like it is”. He is presented as someone who speaks his mind like a “real man” – not caring a whit about offending progressive sensibilities. </p>
<p>These male voters may have felt “oppressed” by political correctness as much as Hefner’s followers felt trampled by the imperative to marry. The Trump brand may be even more brash than Playboy – but there is much of Hefner in it. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/playboy-magazines-return-to-nudity-is-a-naked-bid-to-cover-up-its-irrelevance-73179">Playboy magazine's return to nudity is a naked bid to cover up its irrelevance</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84853/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Gyorgy Toth does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>He changed how we see women, sex, and politicians.Gyorgy Toth, Lecturer, Post-1945 US History and Transatlantic Relations, University of StirlingLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/773602017-08-01T13:02:06Z2017-08-01T13:02:06ZVogue magazine’s complicated relationship with diversity<p>Edward Enninful is finally taking up the helm at British Vogue after months of anticipation. The new editor-in-chief has a proven track-record of foregrounding diversity that many hope will be the start of an overhaul of the global Vogue brand.</p>
<p>The initial news <a href="http://www.vogue.co.uk/article/edward-enninful-vogue-announces-alexandra-shulman-successor-new-editor">of Enninful’s appointment</a> came with a flurry of approval from the fashion industry, media and readers alike. The current editor-in-chief of Vogue Australia, Edwina McCann, <a href="http://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/media/print/diversity-as-new-british-vogue-editor-breaks-fashion-rules/news-story/b70bd8190557c0255524e9362b18e14f">opined</a> that appointing Enninful is a bold move that will be very well received by the industry, and “hopefully” by readers too. </p>
<p>Enninful has a talent for blending high fashion with thought-provoking social issues, earning an OBE and the <a href="https://i-d.vice.com/en_gb/article/edward-enninful-to-be-honoured-with-isabella-blow-award-for-fashion-creator">Isabella Blow award</a> – given to an inspiring member of the fashion industry – for his efforts. </p>
<p>Enninful is not afraid of making a statement. In March, he responded sublimely when US President Donald Trump nominated Supreme Court judge Neil Gorsuch, who allegedly <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/feb/15/civil-rights-groups-blast-neil-gorsuch-supreme-cou/">does not care much</a> about civil rights; Enninful <a href="http://www.wmagazine.com/gallery/models-new-faces-diversity-edward-enninful-ethan-james-green/all">styled</a> a shoot for his then employer, the New York-based W magazine, in which a range of ethnically diverse models climb the stairs of an imaginary “Supreme Court”. In February, after Trump initiated a <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/timeline-president-trumps-immigration-executive-order-legal-challenges/story?id=45332741">much-debated immigration ban</a>, Enninful put together a video showcasing the various fashion celebrities who have immigrated into the US. </p>
<p>Even before his first official day in Vogue’s Mayfield offices, Enniful <a href="http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/after-vrexit-new-british-vogue-editor-edward-enninful-announces-overhaul-of-editorial-team/">had hired</a> two English superstars of Jamaican descent in an attempt to diversify the team. Model Naomi Campbell and make-up artist Pat McGrath both share Enninful’s aim of championing fashion as a force for social change. </p>
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<h2>Fashion statements</h2>
<p>Born in London, Enninful started his career as style director of i-D magazine. Founders Terry and Tricia Jones, who hired him at the tender age of 18, <a href="http://www.hungertv.com/feature/edward-enninful-honoured-isabella-blow-award/">told</a> how he contributed to supermodel diversity from the very beginning, and say that his office was “always a mecca for ideas”. </p>
<p>Not stopping there, Enninful later took his powerful ideas to the self-proclaimed “fashion bible” Vogue. In 2008, as a contributing editor of Vogue Italia, Enninful put together an issue which <a href="https://theundefeated.com/features/vogue-italia-july-2008-black-issue/">featured solely black models</a>. This was a statement so powerful that Enninful is <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2017/07/20/fashion/pirelli-2018-calendar-black-alice-in-wonderland.html">repeating the move</a> for the 2018 Pirelli calendar – a publication more often thought of <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/people/pirelli-calendar-girls-years/">for its scantily-clad models</a> than blazing the trail for ethnic diversity, thought it has in recent years been moving <a href="https://www.vanityfair.com/culture/2015/12/2016-pirelli-calendar-amy-schumer-annie-leibovitz">in a new “artistic” direction</a>.</p>
<p>It was while working with Vogue Italia that Enninful developed a mentor relationship with Franca Sozzani, the late editor-in-chief. The Vogue brand <a href="http://www.condenast.com/brands/vogue/">claims to</a> “define the culture of fashion for a global audience”, and Sozzani <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/dec/28/franca-sozzani-obituary">did a stellar job</a> from the time she became editor in 1988.</p>
<p>Sozzani understood that as editor-in-chief of one of the world’s most influential fashion magazines she could help change the conversation, and nurtured this passion in Enninful too. Until her death in December 2016, Sozzani pushed for a more representative publication: black models Alicia Burke and Hussein Abdulrahman electrified the cover of her penultimate issue. The <a href="http://www.vogue.it">online hubs</a> Vblack, Vcurvy and LGBT+ are also part of her legacy.</p>
<h2>Passing the buck</h2>
<p>Unlike Enninful and Sozzani, the previous editor-in-chief of British Vogue, Alexandra Shulman, notoriously tried to dodge responsibility for ethnic diversity in 2012, <a href="http://www.vogue.co.uk/article/alexandra-shulman-joins-the-race-debate">writing</a> that: “In a society where the mass of the consumers are white and where, on the whole, mainstream ideas sell, it’s unlikely there will be a huge rise in the number of leading black models.”</p>
<p>Consumers and readers can’t be the only ones to blame for the lack of diversity in the magazine: a brand and its audience are developed through cross-pollination. The responsibilities of any editor-in-chief – and the fashion industry at large – exist independently from, and without prejudice to, those of consumers.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"888082348679606272"}"></div></p>
<p>The global Vogue brand’s relationship with diversity remains, however, complicated. While it <a href="http://www.gorkanajobs.co.uk/job/67512/vogue-editor-in-chief/?deviceType=Desktop&TrackID=6#sc=jobfeed&me=feed&cm=Job%20Extract%20-%20Consumer%20Publication">claims</a> to be curious about the new and different, unworldly attitudes among Vogue editors seem to be not yet “out of Vogue”. </p>
<p>Speaking after Enninful’s appointment, Vogue Nederland editor-in-chief Karin Swerink naively passed the <a href="http://www.marketingtribune.nl/media/nieuws/2017/03/hoofdredacteur-vogue-onder-vuur-om-uitspraak-over-donkere-modellen/index.xml">lack of ethnic diversity buck</a> to models of colour and their agencies. She said:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>There is currently only one dark skinned top model in the Netherlands, a favourite of Vogue. It concerns Imaan Hamman … There is absolutely not a lack of goodwill. I consider mainly if [the model] is contemporary and fits in the story that we want to tell. I don’t consider if someone is white or black. That is so unimportant when making a magazine. We keep an eye on some dark girls, such as Nirvana Naves. But, I think that she just has not the potential yet.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>A sobering message indeed. Swerink received a major backlash, and appears to be experimenting with more diverse editorial policies now. Naomi Campbell <a href="https://www.vogue.nl/shop/specials/vogue-the-book-the-beach-issue-2017">graced the cover</a> of Vogue Nederland’s 2017 special edition “The Book”, for example. Putting Vogue friend Campbell on the cover will hopefully keep the conversation going – especially now Swerink can turn to her colleague Enninful <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fashion/people/edward-enninful-on-working-with-kate-moss-and-race-in-the-fashio/">for advice</a>.</p>
<p>One can only hope that Enninful’s appointment is not a mere blip, but a move in the right direction on a long road to diversity for the global brand. Such a responsible and inclusive attitude should be a necessary characteristic for any Vogue editor-in-chief worth the title. It could very well be that Enninful is the first in a new generation of editors who understand the power they have to change the whole fashion industry.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/77360/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Aleydis Nissen is supported by a PhD grant from Cardiff University. </span></em></p>Could Edward Enninful’s new role at Vogue UK be the first sign of a changing fashion industry?Aleydis Nissen, PhD researcher, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/742602017-03-19T19:26:32Z2017-03-19T19:26:32ZFrom pig hunting to quilting – why magazines still matter<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161063/original/image-20170316-20802-1h0intf.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Print magazines are as popular as ever – but why?</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Look around in any newsagent or supermarket and you will be right in thinking that Australians love magazines. Four copies are sold nationally every second, and we spend over $603 million each year on our magazines, says <a href="http://www.magazines.org.au">Magazine Networks</a>, an Australian publishers’ industry body.</p>
<p>Even though sales of some magazines have declined, we still have plenty to choose from. There are a few of the mass market titles left on the shelves, such as <a href="http://www.nowtolove.com.au/aww">Australian Women’s Weekly</a>, with a <a href="http://www.bauer-media.com.au/brands/the-australian-women-s-weekly">readership of over 1.6 million</a>.</p>
<p>But the growth is not in the mass market. It is in specialised titles such as those published by <a href="http://www.universalmagazines.com.au/magazines/">Universal Magazines</a>, whose readerships are in the tens of thousands for niche-interest publications that range from trail bikes to organic gardening.</p>
<p>And it may come as a surprise that the print magazines with the biggest readership figures are actually custom magazines produced by supermarket giants <a href="https://www.coles.com.au/magazine#2017">Coles</a> and <a href="https://www.woolworths.com.au/Shop/Discover/fresh/fresh-magazine#2017">Woolworths</a>. Each title has almost <a href="http://www.roymorgan.com/industries/media/readership/magazine-readership">double the readership figures</a> of the Australian Women’s Weekly or <a href="http://www.bhg.com/better-homes-and-garden-magazine/">Better Homes and Gardens</a>.</p>
<h2>Why is there so much choice?</h2>
<p>To answer this, we need to go back to the 1980s, when the advent of desktop publishing meant that anybody with a computer and a concept could produce a magazine. New titles for niche readerships appeared; some didn’t survive, but many did and showed that there was a market for special interest.</p>
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<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160827/original/image-20170314-14776-1iqqbyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160827/original/image-20170314-14776-1iqqbyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160827/original/image-20170314-14776-1iqqbyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160827/original/image-20170314-14776-1iqqbyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160827/original/image-20170314-14776-1iqqbyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160827/original/image-20170314-14776-1iqqbyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160827/original/image-20170314-14776-1iqqbyj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Inside an edition of Australian Patchwork and Quilting.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/quiltingmick/16587286005/in/photolist-rgLbeK-7KSSJa-a5vctG-GXqC7-4xs7C7-bkQkjX-4SSKyu-6Eoha2-mNFQvg-uq9n-9uBAhL-7GG4Pa-6EogVK-mNFFZF-6Essp9-mNHtHm-b9SAxx-6Ess5q-ry6ZFL-mNFRjk-rAhPk6-wQAwM-avMwJ4-5wu61r-mNFQXt-vn5q9-mNHvq9-4ocoQ2-5nB5w5-dysfks-4jCpba-4CjP7p-4CjNYX-qKEsBp-syJNpK-wrNKxU-gRQeQS-eyMp3U-EK4o9-5Zr1Um-riQg13-2Vg2Rt-7GG4Mn-4BjgZa-dTZQb-84wf4H-7RMvBi-e9hDhL-5D1j3h-5D1j67">Buttontree Lane</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One example is <a href="http://www.practicalpublishing.com.au/down-under-quilts/">Down Under Quilts</a>, published from 1988 by two quilt-makers for the local market. Over time it became only one of many craft titles for Australians. It is now produced by Practical Publishing Australia, which specialises in craft magazines for scrapbookers and textile enthusiasts.</p>
<p>Special interest magazines still come and go. Independent burlesque magazine <a href="http://www.adorepinup.com/">Adore Pinup</a> survived from 2014-2016 before telling readers it had published its last issue. Last year, Bauer Media’s <a href="http://www.magazines.org.au/news/belle-launches-smart-spaces-as-apartment-living-booms/">Belle magazine launched Smart Spaces</a>, a spin-off magazine for the growing number of apartment dwellers in Australia. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160835/original/image-20170315-10203-1ax3yq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160835/original/image-20170315-10203-1ax3yq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160835/original/image-20170315-10203-1ax3yq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160835/original/image-20170315-10203-1ax3yq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160835/original/image-20170315-10203-1ax3yq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160835/original/image-20170315-10203-1ax3yq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160835/original/image-20170315-10203-1ax3yq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bacon Busters has a growing readership.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Yaffa Media</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And the infamous <a href="https://www.yaffa.com.au/consumer/bacon-busters">Bacon Busters</a>, a magazine for pig hunters, continues to find a growing national readership. Why? That’s always a hard question to answer with magazines - even the editors can never be sure. The obvious answer is that people still like hunting pigs and there is no other magazine in the market that caters to them.</p>
<p>For each niche interest there are also advertisers. And advertising to a niche rather than a mass audience still makes financial sense and allows these specialised magazines to survive.</p>
<h2>Paper versus print</h2>
<p>The way we read magazines has changed. Many now have cross-platform audiences – that is, readers can access both print copies and digital (web or app) versions. But different titles have different reasons to go digital. </p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161009/original/image-20170315-976-1d28p4f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161009/original/image-20170315-976-1d28p4f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161009/original/image-20170315-976-1d28p4f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161009/original/image-20170315-976-1d28p4f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=755&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161009/original/image-20170315-976-1d28p4f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=948&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161009/original/image-20170315-976-1d28p4f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=948&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161009/original/image-20170315-976-1d28p4f.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=948&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The now defunct print version of DOLLY magazine.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Bauer Media Group</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Teen publication <a href="http://www.dolly.com.au">Dolly</a> is a case in point. Dolly moved from paper to digital last year to better suit their millennial readership, who routinely access content digitally. </p>
<p>Some digital-only titles venture online to explore more creative terrain. Women’s beauty magazine <a href="http://grittypretty.com/magazine/">Gritty Pretty</a>
offer a sensuous reading experience with beautiful moving images and sounds – a bottle of perfume might tip or entice readers with the sound of waves lapping on a beach. The consumption experience is increasingly multi-dimensional.</p>
<p>Others use digital technology to make consumption quicker and easier. The market leader in the digital fashion shopping arena is the powerhouse that is Natalie Massenet’s <a href="https://www.net-a-porter.com/">Net-a-porter</a>, which revolutionised the way high-end fashion is purchased online. Net-a-porter offer a free weekly digital magazine, <a href="https://www.net-a-porter.com/magazine/391/contents">The Edit</a>, on their website. It recognised the power of the magazine as a tool to curate, promote, and sell fashion. This reflects in the website’s design, which resembles a page from <a href="http://www.vogue.com.au/">Vogue</a> or <a href="http://www.harpersbazaar.com.au/">Harpers Bazaar</a>. </p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160832/original/image-20170314-10190-1732g18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160832/original/image-20170314-10190-1732g18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160832/original/image-20170314-10190-1732g18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160832/original/image-20170314-10190-1732g18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160832/original/image-20170314-10190-1732g18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160832/original/image-20170314-10190-1732g18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160832/original/image-20170314-10190-1732g18.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The Net-a-porter adapted print magazine, ‘Porter’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/carolyncoles/12820501503">Carolyn Coles</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>But then Net-a-porter surprised everyone in 2014 by introducing a printed magazine called <a href="https://www.portersubscription.com/">Porter</a>. Massenet, who has a background in fashion magazine journalism, has said that instead of revolutionising retail, she wanted to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/theobserver/2013/sep/22/observer-profile-natalie-massenet">revolutionise fashion magazines</a>. The fully shoppable Porter does just that. It already has a global circulation of 170,000 and sales on Net-a-porter <a href="http://digiday.com/marketing/net-porter-built-digital-shopping-experience-print-magazine/">continue to soar</a>. Massenet believes that she runs a multimedia company (not just an online retail one), and a <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/22/fashion/Net-a-Porter-Natalie-Massenet-Fashion.html">print magazine is a key part</a> of her long-term media strategy.</p>
<p>As this demonstrates, plenty of readers still like paper. Data published by <a href="http://www.roymorgan.com/industries/media/readership/cross-platform-audiences-magazines">Roy Morgan Research</a> shows that in 2016, many more readers preferred print copies of Better Homes & Gardens, <a href="https://www.streetmachine.com.au/">Street Machine</a>, <a href="http://www.nowtolove.com.au/womansday">Woman’s Day</a> and several others. The numbers of readers who preferred either print or digital versions were sometimes closer, as with <a href="http://www.cosmopolitan.com.au/">Cosmopolitan</a>, <a href="https://www.4x4australia.com.au/">4X4 Australia</a> and <a href="http://www.healthyfoodguide.com.au/">Healthy Food Guide</a>. Readers of <a href="https://www.themonthly.com.au/">The Monthly</a> preferred the digital version.</p>
<figure class="align-left ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160839/original/image-20170315-10175-471286.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/160839/original/image-20170315-10175-471286.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160839/original/image-20170315-10175-471286.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160839/original/image-20170315-10175-471286.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=600&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160839/original/image-20170315-10175-471286.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160839/original/image-20170315-10175-471286.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/160839/original/image-20170315-10175-471286.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=754&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Frankie’s cover designs are highly aesthetic objects.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Morrison Media</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Personal preference, and maybe habit, will influence readers’ decisions to opt for either print or digital versions. It’s tempting to say that we’re in a time of transition from old (print) to new (digital) technology, and that paper will eventually disappear. </p>
<p>The reality is the opposite. Newer magazines like <a href="http://www.frankie.com.au/">Frankie</a>, an Australian title popular among young women, and <a href="http://collectivehub.com/">Collective</a>, which tackles anything from business to lifestyle and culture, are thriving and selling in print in numbers that rival mainstream women’s magazines.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161012/original/image-20170315-974-1l3j7ad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/161012/original/image-20170315-974-1l3j7ad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161012/original/image-20170315-974-1l3j7ad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161012/original/image-20170315-974-1l3j7ad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=786&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161012/original/image-20170315-974-1l3j7ad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161012/original/image-20170315-974-1l3j7ad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/161012/original/image-20170315-974-1l3j7ad.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=988&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Womankind is a no-fluff magazine for the modern woman.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">The Bull Publishing</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>And small-scale printed indie magazines have proliferated, offering alternatives to mainstream categories. New titles like contemporary women’s magazine <a href="http://www.womankindmag.com">Womankind</a>, literary journal <a href="http://theliftedbrow.com/">The Lifted Brow</a> and <a href="http://archermagazine.com.au">Archer</a>, which explores sexuality, gender and identity, are emerging every month – not just in Australia but globally. It is a response to digital overload and distraction – a way to slow down and focus on a beautifully designed, collectible object.</p>
<h2>The future of Australian magazines</h2>
<p>The future is hard to predict, and views differ. The magazine industry continues to evolve, and that evolution is tied to technological change, as it always has been. </p>
<p>But it is also tied to the desire for what political scientist Benedict Anderson famously called the “imagined community”. While social media meets the need to feel part of a group, magazines offer something else: an immersion in a carefully curated space made by experts who share your interests … even if that might be babes and boars!</p>
<p><em>Editor’s note: The publishers of Womankind have since contacted us to object to being characterised as small scale. They’re unable to provide their circulation numbers but point out that they have three international editions printed in Australia and overseas, and the magazine is distributed into over 15,000 stores in 26 countries.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/74260/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Newspapers may be in crisis but magazines are thriving. The growth is in specialist titles - indeed the glossy offerings of Coles and Woolworths now have almost double the readership of the Australian Women’s Weekly,Rosemary Williamson, Senior Lecturer, School of Arts, University of New EnglandMegan Le Masurier, Lecturer, University of SydneyRebecca Johinke, Senior Lecturer, University of SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/731792017-02-21T12:59:41Z2017-02-21T12:59:41ZPlayboy magazine’s return to nudity is a naked bid to cover up its irrelevance<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/157692/original/image-20170221-18646-cn4axr.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The bunny brand.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Playboy magazine’s <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-38963007">announcement</a> that it will be bringing naked pictorials back to its pages after a year’s absence was strangely timed to coincide with Valentine’s Day. But it was not a declaration that pulled at my heartstrings.</p>
<p>Cooper Hefner, the 25-year-old son of Playboy founder Hugh, and now the magazine’s chief creative officer, said removing nude images had been a mistake. Under the hashtag #NakedIsNormal, he wrote on Twitter: “Today we’re taking our identity back and reclaiming who we are.”</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"831169811723939842"}"></div></p>
<p>The “we” in that statement has been drooping steadily for years. After <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3063538/First-copy-Playboy-magazine-featuring-Marilyn-Monroe-naked-set-fetch-2-700-auction.html">Playboy launched in 1953</a> with Marilyn Monroe as its centrefold, sales peaked in 1972 when the November issue featuring Lenna Sjööblom sold 7.16m copies.</p>
<p>In the decades that followed, the publication spawned an entire global empire synonymous with a certain kind of louche bachelorhood. There were clubs in big cities, a private jet bearing the bunny head logo chartered by icons like Elvis, and the famous Hollywood passion palace sex parties, presided over by Hef in his cult-leader robes. </p>
<p>The fact that his Bunny Girls were belittlingly trussed up like rabbits was a supposedly humorous nod to their penchant for frequent mating.</p>
<p>While never quite as gynaecological as its rivals during what were dubbed “The Pubic Wars” with more explicit magazines like Penthouse and Hustler, all roads to today’s on-demand hetero-normative online porn lead back to Playboy’s original efforts to naturalise it.</p>
<p>But by 2015, Playboy‘s <a href="http://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/11/phttp://www.cnbc.com/2015/12/11/playboy-magazine-by-the-numbers.htmllayboy-magazine-by-the-numbers.html">annual circulation was just 800,000</a>. Then, in late 2014, the editors relaunched the website as one that would be considered “suitable for work”. This was not to appease feminists, but to update its geriatric business model. And it worked. Viewings shot up 400%, from 4m unique views in July to 16m in December that year. The average age of site visitors dropped from 47 to just over 30.</p>
<p>The no-nude policy was extended to the magazine a year later. But Hef’s son, also no stranger to sporting silk pyjamas, reversed the move the moment he stepped up in the midst of his father’s failing health.</p>
<p>But given what’s on the web, it is not so much the parade of airbrushed flesh arranged carefully in stately homes that disturbs me. It’s the editorial ideology that surrounds these images of upscale masculine identity based on individualism, consumption and sexual pleasure without responsibility or commitment. If men are financially successful, the message appears to be, then they are entitled to consume luxury, whether that’s a Bugatti or a beautiful teenager.</p>
<p>Playboy defenders – and <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/2009/01/pandagon-playboy_defenders_youre_embarrassing_yourselves/">there are many</a> – cite wearisome claptrap about how the magazine empowers women. Apparently many women work in Playboy’s editorial towers and the shoots are deemed a creative collaboration between the magazine and the model. With megastars like <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/kate-moss-playboy-cover-revealed-8978435.html#gallery">Kate Moss</a> and Scarlett Johansson gracing the pages it’s got to be alright, girls, hasn’t it? Lighten up! It’s no different to when pop singers and film stars objectify themselves via social media. </p>
<p>But again, it’s about the patriarchal packaging. Successful female icons “doing Playboy” – a quintessentially male product – symbolically disarms the threat of women being successful on their own terms without the help of men. </p>
<p>Worryingly, the 2017 rebrand under more youthful leadership is peddled to younger men by featuring, somewhat creepily, a Harry Potter child actor in next month’s issue. It can be no coincidence that Scarlett Byrne, who played Patsy Parkinson in the trilogy, <a href="http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-4225982/Harry-Potter-actress-Scarlett-Bryne-poses-Playboy.html">is to pose alongside an editorial</a> entitled “The Feminist Mystique”, extolling the virtues of female nakedness for the male gaze. This also overtly sticks a finger up to <a href="https://www.britannica.com/biography/Betty-Friedan">Betty Friedan</a>’s powerful 1963 work <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Feminine-Mystique">The Feminine Mystique</a>, embraced by second wave feminists.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"831155991064506368"}"></div></p>
<p>With a virginal-looking ingenue gracing the first nude issue in over a year, Playboy’s latest iteration of its elderly editorial imperative eases any tensions around gender blurring in the age of transsexuality, gay marriage and co-parenting. Men, you can feel appeased that your masculinity isn’t in crisis. The Hefner brand proffers a space where men and women have naturally different roles and functions and should adhere to ensure the smooth running of the social order.</p>
<p>Women, amid the barrage of conflicting signals about who we should be, can find our natural uncomplicated home in lingerie, with men who won’t try to demean us by putting a ring on our finger. Because, it seems that for some, although women can be more than wives and mothers, their primary purpose is still to be of service to men’s pleasure. It’s just another form of female domesticity outlined by Friedan, with the Hefner mansion the ultimate temple, peeling and moth-eaten but with a strong padlock on the front door.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73179/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sarah Niblock does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The pornographic publication is getting back to basics in a battle for survival.Sarah Niblock, Associate Dean, University of WestminsterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/727032017-02-15T15:00:07Z2017-02-15T15:00:07ZThe new editor of British Vogue must make diversity fashionable<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156916/original/image-20170215-19598-1js20wh.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/london-august-8-2014-vogue-magazine-435760864?src=fhkrUPscCclB-JB6OO-qaA-1-0">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>After 25 years at the helm, <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/fashion/alexandra-shulman-british-vogue-editor-leaves-fashion-magazine-25-years-resigns-a7545116.html">Alexandra Shulman announced</a> in January 2017 that she will be stepping down as editor of fashion bible British Vogue. Her decision prompted mixed reflections on the achievements of the magazine’s longest serving editor. For some, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/jan/25/alexandra-shulman-british-vogue-uk-fashions-chief-advocate-and-its-vocal-critic">Shulman represented</a> a “real leader” in the fashion industry. Others claimed her tenure will be remembered for its <a href="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2017/02/alexandra-shulmans-reign-vogue-will-defined-mediocrity-idiocy-flip-flops/">mediocrity</a>. </p>
<p>In Vogue’s <a href="http://www.vogue.co.uk/article/alexandra-shulman-editor-in-chief-leaving-vogue">official statement</a>, the boss of its publisher, Condé Nast Britain, hailed Shulman as the most successful editor in the magazine’s 100-year history. He added that it was “impossible to sufficiently express the contribution she has made to Vogue, to Condé Nast and to the British fashion industry”.</p>
<p>Fashion and cultural commentators will probably agree that it is impossible to express, or rather measure, her specific contribution. A wide range of external factors – social, economic, political – have transformed the industry in the last two-and-a-half decades. Yet most would agree that both Vogue and Shulman have played an important role in shaping our understanding of fashion, and by extension, our culture and identity. </p>
<p>Shulman began her career in journalism writing for Over-21 magazine, before moving on to Tatler in 1982 and from there to The Sunday Telegraph. Her CV also boasts a two-year stint as editor of GQ magazine before assuming the role of editor-in-chief of British Vogue in 1992. In her autobiographical account of Vogue’s 100th year, Shulman positioned herself as a custodian of the magazine, refusing to claim an authorial role. She wrote: “It’s Vogue’s voice, not mine.” </p>
<p>In contrast to her late father, the journalist Milton Shulman, who <a href="https://www.shrimptoncouture.com/blogs/curated/vintage-news-alexandra-shulman-on-100-years-of-vogue">reportedly</a> loved having a “soapbox”, Alexandra Shulman never wished for Vogue to serve as a vehicle for her own personality. Such a position perhaps conveniently absolves Shulman of any responsibility for the controversies that have surrounded the publication during her time as editor. That said, she <a href="http://s.telegraph.co.uk/graphics/projects/Vogue-Alexandra-Shulman-100-years/index.html">did acknowledge</a> that she gets “a choice in what that voice says”. For some, that voice could have been used more effectively to challenge the institutional racism of the fashion world. </p>
<p>Vogue has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/sustainable-business/black-model-british-vogue-naomi-campbell-racism">long been criticised</a> for failing to represent a diverse population, but in 2013 it was under particular scrutiny. When well-known models Naomi Campbell, Iman and Bethann Hardison wrote an <a href="http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/lifestyle/2013/09/fashion-icons-naomi-campbell-iman-demand-diversity-on-racist-runway/">open letter</a> asking for designers to diversify their catwalks. Since August 2002, Vogue had featured only three black models on its 146 covers. </p>
<p>Shulman attempted to explain this using market logic. She <a href="http://www.vogue.co.uk/article/alexandra-shulman-joins-the-race-debate">claimed</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>In a society where the mass of the consumers are white and where, on the whole, mainstream ideas sell, it’s unlikely there will be a huge rise in the number of leading black models.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Such a response reduces Vogue and Shulman’s culpability. Here, the media is a simple reflection of society. Vogue is not racist, it is the product of a racist society. </p>
<h2>A model publication?</h2>
<p>But this position denies the media’s powerful role in constructing and perpetuating societal norms. Plus, it is a position that Shulman feels able to “opt out” of when it comes to the media representation of fuller figured and ageing women. In the January 2017 issue, Vogue featured model Ashley Graham (British size 16) on the cover. In her editor’s letter, Shulman openly criticised designers who refused to lend clothes for the photo shoot. <a href="http://www.vogue.co.uk/article/vogue-editors-letter-january-2017-issue">She wrote</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>It seems strange to me that while the rest of the world is desperate for fashion to embrace broader definitions of physical beauty, some of our most famous fashion brands appear to be travelling in the opposite – and in my opinion, unwise – direction.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Similarly, she credits herself for introducing the “Ageless Style” issue (typically the bestselling issue of the year) which provides a platform for women of all ages, representing those frequently ignored by the fashion and media industries. And while such an endeavour is admirable, it is difficult to understand how someone who claims impotency when it comes to addressing the racial inequalities in the fashion industry, can simultaneously function as a public champion of ageing and fuller figured women. </p>
<p>When reflecting on Shulman’s legacy and celebrating her achievements, one must also reflect on the work still to be done. Vogue remains a powerhouse in print journalism and has at least an opportunity, if not a responsibility, to represent all communities in society. Shulman’s successor may do well to look to its sister publication, Teen Vogue, whose recent coverage of <a href="http://www.teenvogue.com/story/support-the-black-lives-matter-movement">Black Lives Matter</a>, <a href="http://www.teenvogue.com/story/half-of-people-killed-by-police-have-disabilities">disability</a> and <a href="http://www.teenvogue.com/story/forced-sterilization-transgender-people-europe-france">LGBTQ rights</a> reminds us that fashion is not the exclusive practice of the privileged few.</p>
<p><em>This article originally said: “Shulman was forced to respond to the fact that, since August 2002, Vogue had featured only white models on its 146 covers.” This has been corrected.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72703/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Helen Warner does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Glossy magazines have a serious role to play.Helen Warner, Lecturer in Cultural Politics, Communication and Media Studies, University of East AngliaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/729822017-02-14T11:24:05Z2017-02-14T11:24:05ZPrivate Eye circulation soars as readers turn to satire – funny that<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156744/original/image-20170214-26007-1blj3g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Fifty years of poking fun and holding power to account.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Private Eye</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s a fair bet that champagne corks have been popping at Gnome House, the abode of Lord Gnome, the (fictional) proprietor of the satirical magazine, <a href="http://www.private-eye.co.uk/">Private Eye</a> since the latest circulation figures were released. This is because, running contrary to the <a href="https://theconversation.com/stop-press-last-words-on-the-future-of-newspapers-72027">usual news</a> about the moribund printed press, the Eye recently recorded its largest-ever circulation figures. </p>
<p>And, according to reports in the <a href="http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/private-eye-hits-highest-circulation-in-55-year-history-which-is-quite-something-given-that-print-is-meant-to-be-dead/">Press Gazette</a> the 2016 Christmas issue was a real blockbuster selling some 287,334 copies and weighing in as the biggest single sale in the 55-year-old magazine’s existence.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"829661975173013504"}"></div></p>
<p>Understandably, Ian Hislop, editor of Private Eye since 1986, did little to contain his delight. He told the Press Gazette that there had been no additional marketing, such as bulk giveaways involved in the achievement – people really were just buying the magazine. He added:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I know we are niche and we are fortnightly but it is about having confidence in the reading public. I do think if people will pay £2.50 for a cup of coffee then they will pay [£1.80] for a copy of the Eye.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Private Eye is not alone. <a href="http://press.economist.com/stories/10352-the-economist-reveals-continued-climb-in-digital-sales-in-latest-abc-january-june-2016-circulation-report">The Economist</a>, in a generally glowing six-monthly report, revealed in June 2016 that print sales were up 2.1% year-on-year while <a href="http://blogs.spectator.co.uk/2017/02/spectator-spectacular-overall-sales-189-year-high-print-growing-fastest-rate-since-1989/">The Spectator</a> reports that its UK print sales are up by 10% in a year – which builds upon the success of 2016 when the political magazine broke circulation records and sold more copies than at any time in its 189-year history. Also doing well are The Week, the New Statesman and Prospect.</p>
<p>And in France, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2016/dec/10/le-canard-enchaine-celebrates-100-years-mischief-making-france">Le Canard enchaîné</a>, which recently celebrated its 100th birthday, is also in rude health despite carrying no advertising and a relatively low cover price of €1.20 (£1) per copy.</p>
<h2>Bonding with readers</h2>
<p>So what is it about these current affairs magazines that sees them buck the trend? First of all, the relationship between the reader and their periodical has always been unique. The connection is ritualistic and forged on a bond of trust. The reader knows exactly what they will get from one week to the next. This is why advertisers have traditionally been attracted to advertising in magazines. A close and tangible bond between reader and text renders, in theory anyway, the customer to the advertiser in a receptive frame of mind.</p>
<p>Private Eye’s online presence is minimal, just a taster – to get the full experience you simply have to buy a copy of the printed magazine. And many people do – the subscription model is key to the Eye’s success – as <a href="http://www.campaignlive.co.uk/article/private-eye-overtakes-economist-uks-top-current-affairs-magazine/1423821">Campaign magazine</a> reported recently, 57.1% of Private Eye’s worldwide sales come from subscriptions.</p>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156746/original/image-20170214-25995-p3ecjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156746/original/image-20170214-25995-p3ecjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/156746/original/image-20170214-25995-p3ecjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=858&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156746/original/image-20170214-25995-p3ecjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=858&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156746/original/image-20170214-25995-p3ecjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=858&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156746/original/image-20170214-25995-p3ecjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1079&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156746/original/image-20170214-25995-p3ecjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1079&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/156746/original/image-20170214-25995-p3ecjw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1079&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Bond with readers: Private Eye editor Ian Hislop.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Featureflash Photo Agency</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Hislop is right to say that the Eye is niche. But the magazine enjoys an especially close bond with its readership, defined by a series of codes and in-jokes. Whichever party is in power – and however vicious or ridiculous the political landscape – the Eye is there with its regular features and, to the casual reader, impenetrable series of cryptic references and stock phrases. </p>
<p>Herein lies one of the secrets of its success. For Private Eye to be fully understood, readers need to persevere. There’s a certain (some might say smug?) satisfaction at getting jokes that others may not. It creates a shared intimacy between the Eye’s editorial team and its readers. As media academics <a href="https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Popular_Film_and_Television_Comedy.html?id=qXsOAAAAQAAJ">Steve Neale and Frank Krutnik</a> assert in their book about comedy, such jokes “create a communal bonding between the participants which establishes a relationship of power, of inclusion and exclusion”. </p>
<p>But Private Eye is not just about jokes, cartoons and newspaper misprints. A fundamental part of the magazine’s appeal lies in its commitment to investigative journalism. Over the years it has built its reputation by challenging the rich and powerful – frequently <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/news/media/ian-hislop-my-20-years-at-the-eye-421312.html">exposing itself to expensive libel cases</a>. Quite often Private Eye has led where the conventional press has feared to tread. </p>
<p>Beginning with the <a href="http://news.bbc.co.uk/onthisday/hi/dates/stories/june/5/newsid_2660000/2660375.stm">Profumo case in 1963</a> and through the work of the late Paul Foot, the magazine has never been afraid to tackle public figures (James Goldsmith, Robert Maxwell) and address issues (the <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-35458611">deaths at Deepcut barracks</a>) that would have in all likelihood remained uninvestigated. In this sense the Eye remains, to the majority of its readers, a trustworthy source of information.</p>
<h2>Truth to power</h2>
<p>We may also be living through a golden age of satire and Hislop partially attributes the recent success of Private Eye to the “extraordinary” 2016 and the rise of Trump and the Brexit vote. Just about everything, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/media/2017/feb/11/private-eye-flourishes-satires-new-golden-age-ridicule?CMP=share_btn_tw">he told the Guardian</a>, makes good satire. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/QAQTJdxOPv8?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
</figure>
<p>As Guardian columnist and sociologist <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2016/dec/26/satire-donald-trump-bigotry-prejudice-humour-escapism">Anne Karpf</a> recently put it, laughing at powerful elites makes them seem less omnipotent. While the long-term effectiveness of satire to contribute to political change is open to question, some of the most powerful critiques are coming from the scathingly brilliant <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/profile/frankie-boyle">Frankie Boyle</a> in the UK and the relentlessly dedicated <a href="http://www.independent.co.uk/topic/saturday-night-live%20.">Saturday Night Live</a> team on NBC television in the US. </p>
<p>Melissa McCarthy’s superbly realised impersonation of Sean Spicer, Trump’s press secretary and communications director at the White House, has to date been viewed nearly <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWuc18xISwI">23m times on YouTube</a>. You could argue that Spicer has been architect of his own misery but SNL’s habitual takedowns of Trump and his allies have certainly added to a prevailing attitude of outright ridicule and disdain which now seems to be directed at the White House from cultural quarters.</p>
<p>But back to Private Eye. As media academic <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/713658434">Steven Wagg</a> noted, though the Eye has always been at the heart of British satire it has been steadfastly conservative on cultural questions. But it is also responsible for, as part of a wider satirical tradition, creating an environment where those in power can be both lampooned for their idiocies and held to account for their excesses. </p>
<p>Perhaps it is this dual purpose, in this post-truth era, which is at the root of Private Eye’s continuing success.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/72982/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Jewell does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As newspaper circulation continues to founder, sales of satire and weekly news magazines have never looked healthier.John Jewell, Director of Undergraduate Studies, School of Journalism, Media and Cultural Studies, Cardiff UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/697232016-12-05T01:25:05Z2016-12-05T01:25:05ZGoodbye, Dolly, the magazine that helped so many young women grow up<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148383/original/image-20161202-25689-13kw2uy.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Dolly's last print edition will be published on December 5.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dolly Magazine/Fair Use</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many Australian women will be feeling a little melancholy about the news that, after 46 years, Dolly magazine <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-11-30/teen-magazine-dolly's-print-version-to-be-axed/8080974http://example.com/">won’t be printing</a> any more physical copies. </p>
<p>Publisher Bauer Media says the iconic magazine will still have a <a href="http://www.dolly.com.au/">digital presence</a> and will be active across their social media channels. </p>
<p>The decision to stop printing the magazine makes sense given that young people are increasingly not engaging with the written word <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/education-22540408">unless it’s on a screen</a>. Most teenagers have their own smart phones and go online <a href="http://www.acma.gov.au/theACMA/engage-blogs/engage-blogs/Research-snapshots/Aussie-teens-and-kids-online">three or more times a day</a>. </p>
<p>These statistics are rapidly shifting, given that internet connectivity is becoming more prevalent with better services (but ridiculously still no workable NBN for everyone). Of increasing interest is the way in which young people are engaging with <a href="https://theconversation.com/so-long-social-media-the-kids-are-opting-out-of-the-online-public-square-53274">social media channels and increasingly using narrowcast tools</a> such as Snapchat. This has a direct impact on how they engage with magazines like Dolly.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148537/original/image-20161205-25674-tcgy10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/148537/original/image-20161205-25674-tcgy10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148537/original/image-20161205-25674-tcgy10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148537/original/image-20161205-25674-tcgy10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=438&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148537/original/image-20161205-25674-tcgy10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148537/original/image-20161205-25674-tcgy10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/148537/original/image-20161205-25674-tcgy10.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=551&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Teenage girls are now much more likely to seek out the news Dolly provided through social media.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock"</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The news of Dolly’s shift to digital comes not long after Bauer Media made the choice to axe <a href="http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-01-20/cleo-magazine-to-close-bauer-media-group-confirms/7100808">revolutionary magazine Cleo</a> earlier this year. For many young women, including those I spoke to for my research, reading Cleo was a natural progression after they had grown out of Dolly. </p>
<p>There’s always been a wealth of content found within Dolly, such as celebrity “news” – who is Taylor Swift dating now? Which one of the Hemsworth brothers is the hottest? Does anyone like Justin Bieber any more? – alongside fashion, beauty and lifestyle stories. These have been helping young women with identity formation and figuring out how to navigate the often difficult life of a teenage girl.</p>
<p>But most women would agree that the most memorable – and useful – section of Dolly has always been <a href="http://www.dolly.com.au/dolly-doctor">Dolly Doctor</a>. Mention Dolly to any Australian woman, and she will inevitably say “I used to love Dolly Doctor!” </p>
<p>For many young women, the doctor whose advice they will have pored over has been that of <a href="https://www.uts.edu.au/staff/melissa.kang">Melissa Kang</a>, a clinician and academic who has been in the role since 1993. In that time, Kang has consistently dispensed advice on the <a href="http://www.vice.com/read/dear-dolly-doctor">same themes</a>. </p>
<p>The good news is that generations of young women will still be able to consult Dolly Doctor to find out: if they are “normal”, what that smelly discharge could be, what the proper names for their genitals are, what happens <a href="http://www.dolly.com.au/dolly-doctor/what-happens-when-you-leave-tampon-in-too-long-14145">if you leave a tampon in for too long</a>, or for reassurance that the “funny” feelings they are having about that boy or girl at school are normal.</p>
<p>Research has demonstrated that Doctor Dolly’s quality of health advice has always been of an <a href="https://theconversation.com/looking-for-health-advice-dont-consult-health-magazines-try-dolly-63823">exceptional standard</a>. </p>
<p>Between 2012 and 2014 I conducted <a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/78635/">research with 14-to-16-year-olds</a> to find out what they knew about sex and sexuality, and where they were getting that information from. It was not surprising (and inspired some nostalgia in me) to find that magazines like Dolly, Girlfriend, Cleo and Cosmopolitan were still a vital source of information about sex and sexuality for young women.</p>
<p>My research further showed that, for many young women, magazines like these, and television shows and movies, were some of their only sources of this information. This includes vital information about puberty and menstruation, which they were not receiving at school or at home.</p>
<p>This might seem frivolous until you consider that for the young women I spoke to who didn’t get that information, the onset of their first period left them fearing they were dying or that there was something very wrong with them. </p>
<p>The other kinds of key information that the young women I spoke to garnered from these magazines – which they aren’t getting anywhere else – included how to navigate relationships and consent. </p>
<p>With the sexuality education curriculum still focusing primarily on the scientific or biological aspects of sex (which my research and others have shown that young people do not engage with because they <a href="http://eprints.qut.edu.au/75944/">don’t see it as relevant to their own lives</a>), and largely ignoring everything else, the information these magazines provide is vital.</p>
<p>For those among us who grew up with the excitement of waiting for a new issue to arrive on the newsstand – or in the mail if you were lucky enough to have a subscription (like I did for one joyous year when I saved my birthday and Christmas money) – this is a time to reflect on what young people will be missing out on.</p>
<p>For me, the biggest losses from the closure of this magazine will be that young women no longer will be able to experience the furtive excitement of tearing open a Dolly “Sealed Section” to see what kinds of scandalous (it was never scandalous – only highly informative and fascinating) information it contained. </p>
<p>The last print issue of Dolly will hit newsstands this week. Let’s hope there’s one last sealed section within.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/69723/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anne-Frances Watson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With its irresistible mixture of celebrity ‘news’, fashion, beauty and health, Dolly magazine gave girls high-quality, accurate information they were not getting anywhere else.Anne-Frances Watson, Lecturer, Creative Industries Faculty, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/552872016-03-31T10:25:10Z2016-03-31T10:25:10ZWhy so many baseball experts whiffed with last year’s predictions<p>For Major League Baseball teams, spring brings the promise of a better year. For the baseball media, it means putting their expertise to the test and forecasting player and team performances. Most of these forays into the future will be quickly forgotten, and for baseball’s prognosticators, the public’s amnesia is fortunate: they’re prone to swing and miss with great frequency.</p>
<p>In fact, last season featured some of the most surprising final regular season standings in the last 60 years – at least, when compared to how the media experts envisioned things panning out. </p>
<p>A close look at the final <a href="http://www.cbssports.com/mlb/standings/regular">2015 MLB standings</a> finds American League West teams finishing in almost inverse order of some <a href="http://www.sportingnews.com/list/4640745-mlb-predictions-2015-playoffs-division-winners-wild-card-teams/slide/3">preseason forecasts</a>. The previous season’s bottom dwellers – the Texas Rangers and Houston Astros – captured first and second, respectively. </p>
<p>In the American League Central division, the story was much the same. The favored Detroit Tigers, division winners the four previous years, collapsed, finishing last. The White Sox, <a href="http://espn.go.com/mlb/story/_/id/12006380/chicago-white-sox-bold-offseason-moves-attracting-attention">seen by many</a> as the “winner of the off-season” player acquisitions, were only a game and half better than the Tigers. The Cleveland Indians, picked by <a href="http://www.si.com/mlb/2015/03/27/si-mlb-preview-playoff-bracket-indians-world-series"><em>Sports Illustrated</em> to win the World Series</a>, finished third in their division. </p>
<p>And in the National League East, the Washington Nationals were nearly everyone’s pick to claim the division flag, but finished seven games behind the Mets, who surged after their trade deadline acquisition of Yoenis Cespedes from the underachieving Tigers. </p>
<p>Isn’t that what we expect and love about baseball: its unpredictability?</p>
<p>Yes. But the division races in 2015 were unpredictably unpredictable. After breaking down the numbers, we pose a couple of reasons why this may have happened. </p>
<h2>From mediocre to abysmal predictions</h2>
<p>Last spring, <a href="https://theconversation.com/can-experts-predict-final-mlb-standings-better-than-the-average-fan-38883">we examined the accuracy</a> of nine media sources that predicted MLB’s division races between 2009 and 2014. </p>
<p>For the nine sources, we found that the average correlation between the predicted finish and the final standings was .49. Perfect predictions would yield a correlation of 1.0, while perfectly awful predictions would produce a -1.0.</p>
<p>A .49 correlation isn’t anything special. A budding MLB Nostradamus could produce exactly the same correlation over the six years by simply taking the previous year’s final standings for each division and using it as the next year’s prediction. </p>
<p>But compared to 2015, the mediocre 2009 to 2014 media forecasts were positively clairvoyant. </p>
<p>This spring, we analyzed the 2015 preseason predictions from <em>Sports Illustrated, Sporting News</em> and a panel of baseball experts who attended the <a href="https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/nine/">NINE</a> Spring Training conference in Tempe, Arizona in March 2015. All of them fell well below the .49 average achieved by the media prognosticators in our previous study. </p>
<p>The strongest correlation between preseason rankings and the final standings was <em><a href="http://www.si.com/mlb/2015/03/23/2015-season-previews-all-30-teams">Sports Illustrated</a></em>’s forecast that produced a .23 correlation. The NINE experts were next with at .12, while <em><a href="http://www.sportingnews.com/list/4640745-mlb-predictions-2015-playoffs-division-winners-wild-card-teams">Sporting News</a></em> finished in the cellar with a .08 correlation. For perspective, <em>Sporting News’</em> average correlation for all years from 1955 to 2015 was a solid .60.</p>
<p>Yes, 2015 was a very tough year indeed.</p>
<p>We also wanted to see exactly how these poor predictions stacked up, historically. </p>
<p>So in the second part of our study, we examined the preseason/final standing correlations for three publications over several decades: <em>Sporting News</em> and <em>Sports Illustrated</em> from 1955-2015 and Street and Smith’s <em>Baseball Yearbook</em> from 1962-2007. Combined, the publications produced an average yearly correlation of .58, vastly better than our 2015 sample. When individual years were examined, only the years 1984, 1990 and 1991 produced a poorer correlation than 2015. </p>
<h2>Splashy free agent signings build hype</h2>
<p>So why was 2015 such a bad year for MLB predictions? </p>
<p>Here we leave the data behind and move to slippery slope of speculation. </p>
<p>The 2015 season saw the blossoming of young teams like the Houston Astros and Chicago Cubs, the rebound of steadily solid teams with injury-riddled 2014 campaigns like the Texas Rangers, and unrealistic expectations for teams active in off-season player shuffling like the Boston Red Sox, San Diego Padres and Chicago White Sox. </p>
<p>There is also the element of luck. Balls batted into play fall for hits in greater numbers one year than other. High flies drift over the outfield wall with more regularity some seasons. Injuries can destroy one team’s chances and hardly influence another’s. The baseball gods smile and frown at whim.</p>
<p>Deities aside, media prognosticators could have been overreacting to the impact of high-profile free agent signings – a tendency pundits have shown in the past.</p>
<p>When we broke up our data sets, we found that predictions were weakest from 1977 to 1992 – the era when free agency emerged and took effect. </p>
<p>The average correlation for this era was .40, compared to a .58 average for all other eras. The shuffling of marquee players from team to team certainly produces big headlines. But it also may cause media observers to overestimate the difference a handful of players can make. </p>
<p>When we examined the 30-team era – from 1998 to 2015 – the average yearly correlation moved up to .56. This coincided with the rise of <a href="http://sabr.org/sabermetrics">sabermetrics</a>, which allowed journalists and front offices to begin using advanced statistics to precisely evaluate the contributions of individual players. This may have helped media prognosticators do a better job of evaluating the true impact of off-season transactions. For example, the <a href="http://www.baseballprospectus.com/glossary/index.php?ltr=W&context=alpha">Wins Above Replacement Player</a> (WARP) statistic shows how, most of the time, the addition of a couple of new players is unlikely to significantly move the win needle.</p>
<p>We also found that some teams are more predictable over time than others. </p>
<p>Over our decades-long study, the easiest teams to predict were the Astros (.79), Athletics (.78), Mets (.77), Blue Jays (.76) and Mariners (.71). Dramatically more difficult to forecast were the Diamondbacks (.10), Dodgers (.20), Cardinals (.20), Giants (.30) and Reds (.30). </p>
<p>The pattern is fairly clear: four of the most predicable were expansion teams that went through a long period of predictably poor play before finally finding some success. When we examined what place in the standings was easiest for media sources to predict, it was last place by a clear margin. In other words, very bad teams are the easiest to spot. On the other hand, four of the hardest to predict were National League stalwarts (Dodgers, Cardinals, Giants, Reds) that weren’t likely to finish last very often.</p>
<p>What stands out from our study of division standings predictions over the past 60 years is just how bad a year 2015 was for MLB division diviners. The year <a href="http://www.si.com/mlb/2016/03/22/astros-mets-giants-cubs-sports-illustrated-cover">2016</a> will have to be better – at least, that’s what we’re predicting. </p>
<p>And for the record, our money’s on the Cubs or the Pirates to win it all.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/55287/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>As the talking heads line up to predict this season’s division winners, many are hoping fans will forget their abysmal forecasts for the 2015 season.James Walker, Executive Director, International Association for Communication and Sport, Emeritus Professor of Communication, Saint Xavier UniversityRobert Bellamy, Professor; Department of Journalism and Multimedia Arts [JMA], Duquesne University Licensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/537362016-01-27T19:10:23Z2016-01-27T19:10:23ZCleo’s closure and the future of feminism<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109301/original/image-20160127-19651-1yhjox7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Cleo, brainchild of Ita Buttrose, has closed after more than 40 years in print.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Lukas Coch</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last Wednesday, German publishing group Bauer Media confirmed speculation that it would <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2016/jan/20/cleo-magazine-to-close-and-dolly-to-become-bi-monthly-bauer-media-says">close production</a> of the iconic Australian women’s magazine Cleo, after almost 44 years, with the final edition to be released <a href="http://www.theage.com.au/lifestyle/fashion/cleo-magazine-to-close-after-44-years-20160120-gm9qeh.html">next month</a>.</p>
<p>Although perhaps best known (<a href="http://www.sbs.com.au/comedy/article/2016/01/21/closure-cleo-magazine-leave-ways-pleasure-your-man-forever-mystery">and satirised</a>) these days for its “7 ways to blow his mind in bed” attitude, Cleo exploded onto the scene in November 1972 with a provocative nude centrefold of actor Jack Thompson. </p>
<p>A product of the sexual revolution and born into second wave feminism, from its inception Cleo placed a strong emphasis on sexual content. Indeed, founding editor Ita Buttrose recalled in 2011 that she and her editorial team “<a href="http://www.smh.com.au/lifestyle/celebrity/ita-buttrose-on-kickstarting-a-sexual-revolution-20110411-1d9zg.html">wrote about sex as if we had discovered it</a>”.</p>
<p>While such racy content led to Cleo’s first edition being a <a href="http://www.crikey.com.au/2016/01/21/how-to-keep-a-sexy-house-and-other-gems-from-cleos-first-issue/?wpmp_tp=0">sell-out success</a>, the magazine carefully straddled the divide between female empowerment and traditional femininity. In the editorial of the first edition in November 1972, Buttrose wrote:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Like us, certain aspects of Women’s Lib appeal to you, but you’re not aggressive about it. And, again like us, you’re all for men – as long as they know their place!</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This combination of empowerment rhetoric – within certain limits – and a firm commitment to heterosexuality would come to define Cleo throughout its lifetime. Having spent the last few years poring over nearly 3,000 pages of Cleo, from its inception to the present, I have drawn two overarching conclusions.</p>
<p>First, despite the linguistic, behavioural and societal transformations identifiable within the content of Cleo since the 1970s, its commitment to heterosexual monogamy as women’s ultimate goal endured well into the 21st century.</p>
<p>The content might have shifted from advice on “How to catch a bachelor” in the early 70s, to debates surrounding the relative merits of dating app Tinder in recent years. But despite such social and discursive evolutions, the underlying premise that young, female readers were heterosexual and looking for a long-term relationship with a male partner remained consistent throughout the magazine’s lifetime.</p>
<p>This presumption that its readers were heterosexual endured despite Cleo’s self-conception as a progressive, tolerant publication. The provision of content in recent years, which made nods towards marriage equality and the struggles of LGBTQI people, failed to destabilise the dominance of the heterosexual paradigm within the magazines, and lesbianism was never truly established as a <a href="https://theconversation.com/girl-crush-anyone-the-evolution-of-lesbian-chic-28451">viable alternative</a> for young readers.</p>
<p>The second key finding that emerges from an analysis of Cleo’s lifespan is that changes to its content appear inextricably intertwined with the currents of the feminist movement.</p>
<p>In the 1970s milieu of radical social change and the height of <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-third-wave-of-feminism-is-rising-and-heres-why-we-need-to-surf-it-now-50432">second wave feminism</a>, Cleo’s content was quite distinct from its contemporary format. Social commentary pieces such as “Rape - and how women can stop it”, “Lesbian mothers” and “Jewish women in the 70s” were commonplace, delivering well-researched and in-depth discussions of important social questions of the time. </p>
<p>Sexuality was often broached as a social phenomenon and frequently focused on women’s power in relationships.</p>
<p>Yet, moving through the decades towards the 21st-Century, the feminist standpoint of the magazine melted away and its sexual content changed notably.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109302/original/image-20160127-19637-17ynrer.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109302/original/image-20160127-19637-17ynrer.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/109302/original/image-20160127-19637-17ynrer.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109302/original/image-20160127-19637-17ynrer.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109302/original/image-20160127-19637-17ynrer.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109302/original/image-20160127-19637-17ynrer.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109302/original/image-20160127-19637-17ynrer.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/109302/original/image-20160127-19637-17ynrer.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The penultimate edition of Cleo hit newsstands earlier this month.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">AAP Image/Paul Miller</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Between the <a href="http://susanfaludi.com/backlash.html">1980s</a> and the early <a href="http://uk.sagepub.com/sites/default/files/upm-binaries/23586_02_McRobbie_Ch_01.pdf">2000s</a>, many feminist theorists documented the disappearance of the feminist movement. Over the same time period, feminism all but vanished from the pages of Cleo and social commentary articles evaporated.</p>
<p>At the same time, the sexual content of the magazines underwent an anti-feminist shift. Content became more centred on male satisfaction and sex began to cohere around technical tips and tricks, rather than the mutually respectful, explorative pursuit of sexual pleasure. </p>
<p>At the same time, women were increasingly encouraged to individually regulate their minds, bodies and sexual encounters to manufacture their own and other’s happiness, and the notion of a collective women’s experience dissolved.</p>
<p>Yet in the second decade of the 21st-Century, these anti-feminist trends began to reverse. With the pop feminist renaissance led by celebrity figureheads such as <a href="http://time.com/3181644/beyonce-reclaim-feminism-pop-star/">Beyoncé</a> and <a href="http://www.unwomen.org/en/news/stories/2014/9/emma-watson-gender-equality-is-your-issue-too">Emma Watson</a>, Cleo began to re-embrace feminism. </p>
<p>Social commentary and feminist concerns returned to its pages, albeit in smaller numbers, including an exposé on the gender pay gap and a federal parliament “fantasy cabinet” composed entirely of female leaders in their fields. A concomitant improvement in the tone and content of sex and relationship advice saw a reduction in the emphasis on male needs and the glimmer of a return to a social understanding of sexuality.</p>
<p>That the magazine should fold at this interesting juncture in its history is ultimately unsurprising. It is no secret that print media are <a href="http://www.journalism.org/2015/04/29/state-of-the-news-media-2015/">struggling to compete</a> in the digital age, and Cleo’s circulation had been dwindling for years. </p>
<p>From a feminist perspective, the loss of Cleo may not be much of a loss at all: as recently as 2013, the magazine explained that feminism hadn’t “been cool since the 70s” due to its:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>ugly connotations of man-hating women with icky underarm hair – when we love make-up, romance, high heels and men, of course.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>But <a href="http://qz.com/574992/the-future-of-feminism-is-offline/">feminists suggest</a> that the cries of a utopian, democratising future heralded by some proponents of the primary alternative – digital media – should be met with caution. The <a href="https://theconversation.com/vitriolic-abuse-of-anita-sarkeesian-why-the-games-industry-needs-her-31826">venomous abuse</a> of women online and the opportunities for <a href="http://www.feministcurrent.com/2015/04/20/freethenipple-or-freemaledesire-has-social-media-really-been-good-for-feminism/">trolling and surveillance</a> make the digital future of women’s activism uncertain.</p>
<p>With the death of Cleo, we lose a fascinating pop culture litmus test and witness the end of an era in Australian publishing. What the future of the print media landscape looks like and what such changes mean for the burgeoning feminist revival remains to be seen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/53736/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kate Farhall does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Cleo has been part of Australia’s media landscape for more than 40 years. We look back on the magazine that “wrote about sex as if we invented it” and its unique brand of pop culture commentary.Kate Farhall, PhD Candidate in the School of Social & Political Sciences, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/509912015-11-19T12:14:14Z2015-11-19T12:14:14ZLads are alive and well, they’re just not buying lads’ mags anymore<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102485/original/image-20151119-18413-1ls9p1x.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Top shelf.</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/weatherill-hunt/7604633896/in/photolist-czZJHw-fNBGR7-cAqcWY-cApzt3-cAptS9-cApCff-cAqdAb-cApyKj-cApB5d-aqezD9-aqc5bD-aqbNAM-aoCPv6-aqeKS3-aqesVb-aqewWQ-aqeyV7-cApvuA-cApsqS-aqbKP6-cAqf5A-cApsLo-cApt3m-cAprvw-cApDYE-cApDvA-cApBUd-cApxFE-cApDJU-cApyYy-cApBjC-cApwgY-aqer65-aqbUA6-aqeygA-8stnkS-cAqdRq-cApytu-cApzcs-cApudC-cApurJ-cApCLE-cApAQC-cApAoh-cAqe2s-76NyMv-hs3PaM-8XTpc-cAqePC-cAqeyQ">Jonathan Weatherill-Hunt</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/">CC BY</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>The death knell of the lads’ mag has sounded again strongly, with the announced closure of both FHM and Zoo magazine. The decision by publisher Bauer media follows the closure of Nuts in April 2014 and Loaded’s switch to an online-only format earlier this year. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.bauermedia.co.uk/newsroom/press/an-announcement-regarding-fhm-and-zoo-magazines">press release</a> implies that this is a result of the inevitable switch in media habits to mobile and social. Certainly, there remains an online appetite for the type of “laddish” content the titles used to offer, as the success of websites such as <a href="http://www.theladbible.com">The LAD bible</a> reveal. The problem for FHM and Nuts is that these readers no longer want their content from the magazines that first popularised it.</p>
<p>Both titles have seen <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/17/fhm-zoo-magazines-suspend-publication">steep declines</a> from their heyday of selling 700,000 copies of FHM a week and 260,000 copies of Zoo a week in 2004. FHM’s circulation fell to less than 67,000 for the first six months of 2015, 20% fewer than in 2014, while Zoo saw a drop of more than 12%. </p>
<iframe src="https://charts.datawrapper.de/W71Dj/index.html" frameborder="0" allowtransparency="true" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen" webkitallowfullscreen="webkitallowfullscreen" mozallowfullscreen="mozallowfullscreen" oallowfullscreen="oallowfullscreen" msallowfullscreen="msallowfullscreen" width="100%" height="400"></iframe>
<p>FHM was first published in 1985 and went on to have a number of international editions. It described itself as a men’s lifestyle magazine aimed at the young working man and its decidedly male content included a regular round-up of the hundred sexiest women in the world. Launched in 2004, Zoo was aimed at a similar audience. </p>
<p>Although these magazines were known primarily for their raunchy pictures, they also included articles on fashion, health, cars, gadgets and sport. So at least their readers were offered more than just scantily-clad models.</p>
<p>The declining appetite for nudity in magazines was signalled last month when Playboy <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-34511999">announced</a> that it was dropping nudity from its magazine and website. This too might be seen as a symptom of the cleaning-up of the newsagent’s shelves – or maybe not. </p>
<p>There are two interlinking factors at play in this change and few encouraging signs that lads are becoming men. First, if men want to look at naked women they just have to type a few words into Google. As <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/women/sex/12000809/FHM-and-Zoo-closure-Feminists-should-mourn-the-death-of-lads-mags.html">journalist Rebecca Reid suggested</a>, to a 19-year-old given the choice between all that’s available online and a few titillating photos in print, the former will always win out. Plus you don’t have to go into a shop to buy it and you don’t have to bother with all the articles. </p>
<p>Linked to this fall in demand is the effect it will have had on the crux of the media business – advertising. As James Brown, the so-called father of lads’ mags who launched Loaded, <a href="http://www.thedrum.com/news/2015/11/17/have-mens-magazines-had-their-day-original-lads-mag-editor-james-brown-state">noted</a>: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The requirements of the Playboy audience have changed. And more pertinently to this, the requirements of the Playboy advertisers have changed.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>It may well be that the twenty-something lads of the 1990s have matured while the twenty-somethings of today are looking for something different in the magazines they buy, even if they haven’t moved away from the overtly lad culture epitomised by these titles. Advertisers will always follow what the readership wants. </p>
<p>The internet has, after all, spawned some equivalent offerings. The publisher 65twenty has been extremely successful with websites such as The LAD bible and The SPORT bible. Here, lad culture appears to be alive and thriving. It claims <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/17/the-lad-bibles-devoted-followers-testament-success">to reach 159m people</a> and is said to be read by half of all British men between 18 and 24 – and 20% of women – of that age group. </p>
<p>Similarly, Playboy has <a href="http://spinlab.net/news/playboy-com-has-grown-258-in-a-year-thanks-to-its-safe-for-work-strategy-and-new-advertisers-are-lining-up/">reported</a> a 258% jump in unique visitors to its website since its nudity-free relaunch. The focus is on men’s lifestyle coverage and material that is safe to read at work (SFW), which is where much of their audience is consuming content.</p>
<figure class="align-right ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102486/original/image-20151119-1601-19kuzev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/102486/original/image-20151119-1601-19kuzev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102486/original/image-20151119-1601-19kuzev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102486/original/image-20151119-1601-19kuzev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=798&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102486/original/image-20151119-1601-19kuzev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102486/original/image-20151119-1601-19kuzev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/102486/original/image-20151119-1601-19kuzev.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=1003&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Vintage.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.flickr.com/photos/rchappo2002/3304685083/in/photolist-632nK2-p48MFW-7No1cs-ogAv9n-jxWndj-oA8qX5-gCyamk-p8tMuK-7Nj634-ybTpvm-xdLLdG-ijZF1m-oUzXgQ-bhHGu-dq84H1-fZJE-5bawij-zRy4dw-jVuKe-5baJN3-HbqmA-4tdks1-5ba8Uo-2HVQ-5b66hH-cyxMjd-8BmTc2-7NnZKL-5bab7u-51dtNE-7No4aW-qb5bAa-fRTnxA-AfkjYe-xVgMug-gmjMFD-y5Ed9y-uLC2H8-p3rNJS-yuprEX-8wnwh6-ouGfgE-gtExGp-5badad-iHro5c-krdFn5-7iace5-nJhmjw-j3MKnj-iHrnNv">rchappo2002</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/">CC BY-NC-ND</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Other changes have worked against the traditional lads’ mag, too. Wannabe models, for example, can now build and control their fan base through social media, without the intermediary of a magazine. There have also been campaigns over the years accusing such magazines of <a href="http://www.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/article/34844771/end-of-the-lads-mags-fhm-and-zoo-suspend-publication">dehumanising women</a>.</p>
<p>So was there an alternative to closing down for these magazines? The option of going free to increase circulation, as the Evening Standard and NME have done, was hardly available to what are essentially top shelf magazines. Then there was the Playboy option of innovating – <a href="http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11927896/Playboy-magazine-abandons-nudity.html">removing nudity altogether</a>, which it has already done online and will do in its print offering from March 2016, and focusing on quality content instead.</p>
<p>But FHM and Zoo do not seem to have been able to transfer their readership to the internet. Although not mentioned on the Bauer press release, it is believed that the social media sites of the two magazines <a href="http://www.theguardian.com/media/2015/nov/17/fhm-zoo-magazines-suspend-publication">will also close in 2016</a>. </p>
<p>So the demise of FHM and Zoo only means that silly humour and scantily clad models have gone elsewhere online. Lads of all ages will continue to ogle over naked women. And the lifestyle side of lad culture is alive and well under different brands. Still the good news is that Private Eye’s circulation is its <a href="http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/current-affairs-magazine-abcs-first-half-2015-private-eye-46-cent-economist-digital-edition-226-cent">highest since 1986</a>, with not a naked body to be seen.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/50991/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
A change in media habits is not the only reason why FHM and Zoo magazine are having to cease publication.Isabelle Szmigin, Professor of Marketing, University of BirminghamLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/493352015-10-26T10:10:54Z2015-10-26T10:10:54ZHow Playboy skirted the anti-porn crusade of the 1950s<p>Playboy’s decision earlier this month to <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2015/10/13/business/media/nudes-are-old-news-at-playboy.html">jettison the nude images</a> in its print edition lays bare the magazine’s own naked truth: it was always really a lifestyle magazine, with nudes simply acting as window dressing. </p>
<p>If it seems counterintuitive for a quasi-smut mag to renounce its own seeming <em>raison d'etre</em>, it’s important to remember that the magazine, since its inception, always held itself at a distance from the world of pornography. </p>
<p>The aspiration of Hugh Hefner’s project was cultural legitimacy – not a globally recognized logo (<a href="http://www.wired.com/2015/10/playboys-logo-is-what-mattersit-earns-more-than-nudes-do/">today, more profitable than the magazine itself</a>), nor the cultivation of a “girl next door” image. </p>
<p>The magazine – at least, how it presented itself – was simply too classy to be confused for porn. </p>
<p>For the most part, it worked. </p>
<p>As a historian, I’ve written about the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Perversion-Profit-Politics-Pornography-Right/dp/0231148879">postwar court battles over pornography and obscenity</a>. And what’s most striking about Playboy’s story is how absent the magazine was from these legal wranglings. </p>
<h2>An appeal to masculine taste</h2>
<p>Look no further than Playboy’s debut issue, which featured Marilyn Monroe on the cover.</p>
<p>Its famous opening manifesto announced: “If you’re a man between the ages of 18 and 80, Playboy is meant for you.” Their “articles, fiction, picture stories, cartoons, humor” would all be culled to “form a pleasure-primer styled to the masculine taste.” </p>
<p>Before Playboy, other magazines did feature nude photos, but they were seen as culturally lowbrow: tawdry publications for unsophisticated readers. Other magazines, most notably Esquire, would position scantily clad women next to articles on food, style and other central features of the developing consumer culture, but not quite as boldly as Hefner’s iconic centerfolds. </p>
<p>Still, Playboy treated its own nudity as playful and passé. While it did occupy the “centerfold,” it was packaged as simply another accoutrement of the modern man’s cultural repertoire, which included knowledge of proper cocktail proportions and the finer points of the Miles Davis discography.</p>
<h2>The crusade against smut</h2>
<p>Playboy’s debut came just one year before America’s moral panic over smut came to a head. </p>
<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_Select_Committee_on_Current_Pornographic_Materials">The House Select Committee on Current Pornographic Materials</a> led the charge with a December 1952 report that highlighted “cheesecake” and “girlie” magazines, crime comics for children and, particularly, the burgeoning genre of lesbian pulp fiction novels, which – as the committee wrote in prose befitting its own targets – were “filled with sordid, filthy statements based upon sexual deviations and perversions.” </p>
<p>Yet even in the midst of this frenzied postwar moral righteousness, Playboy eased comfortably into the mainstream. </p>
<figure class="align-right zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99538/original/image-20151023-27601-2vqwfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99538/original/image-20151023-27601-2vqwfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/99538/original/image-20151023-27601-2vqwfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=791&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99538/original/image-20151023-27601-2vqwfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=791&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99538/original/image-20151023-27601-2vqwfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=791&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99538/original/image-20151023-27601-2vqwfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=993&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99538/original/image-20151023-27601-2vqwfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=993&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/99538/original/image-20151023-27601-2vqwfn.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=993&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Senator Estes Kefauver appeared on the cover of Time magazine in 1951 with the caption ‘Crime Hunter Kefauver.’</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="http://img.timeinc.net/time/magazine/archive/covers/1951/1101510312_400.jpg">Time</a></span>
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<p>A few years later, when Democratic Senator Estes Kefauver launched his own anti-porn crusade, Playboy remained conspicuously absent from <a href="http://www.archive.org/stream/juveniledelinque559unit/juveniledelinque559unit_djvu.txt">the hearings</a>, which drew headlines like The New York Times’ “Smut Held Cause of Delinquency.”</p>
<p>Possessing presidential aspirations (and finely attuned to the optics of media spectacle, having <a href="http://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-senator-and-the-gangsters-69770823/?no-ist">pioneered televised hearings</a> in his earlier investigations of organized crime), Kefauver decided against subpoenaing Hefner. </p>
<p>Instead, he tacitly pandered to anti-Semitic sentiment by forcefully grilling a predominantly Jewish group of erotic distributors. The white-bread Hefner remained above the fray while smut peddlers like Abraham Rubin, Edward Mishkin and Samuel Roth reluctantly testified before Congress. (<a href="https://theconversation.com/an-american-charlie-hebdo-36528">Roth would suffer the most</a>, spending five years in federal prison for distributing material not substantially different from Hefner’s. His case also led to the <a href="https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/354/476">1957 Supreme Court precedent</a> that still undergirds modern obscenity law.)</p>
<h2>‘Skirting’ trouble</h2>
<p>If Playboy emerged remarkably unscathed from these sexual-political skirmishes, Hefner nonetheless stayed perpetually cautious, calibrating the magazine to fit shifting contexts. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pubic_Wars">pubic hair battles with Penthouse</a> in the early 1970s – when Playboy started publishing more graphic images to compete in the expanding adult market – are most famous. But less remembered are earlier adjustments Hefner made to dissociate Playboy from cultural riffraff. </p>
<p>When <a href="http://content.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,821127,00.html">Time covered</a> the “horde of [Playboy] imitators yipping after pay dirt” in April 1957, it noted that new nude magazines like Caper, Nugget and Rogue were outpacing Playboy in “the smirk, the leer, and the female torso.” </p>
<p>Yet rather going skin-for-skin with its competitors, Playboy tried to distinguish itself through topnotch fiction and journalism (as well as science fiction, as PhD candidate <a href="http://americanliterature.dukejournals.org/content/87/2/331.abstract">Jordan Carroll notes</a> in his recent study of the magazine). </p>
<p>According to Time, Playboy ultimately found that the most “effective censor was success”; in response to growing readership and ad revenue, the magazine “toned down its gags and dressed up its girls.”</p>
<p>Indeed, in one striking 1962 letter sent to Hefner by a suburban Chicago chapter of the conservative Citizens for Decent Literature, the group happily informed him that that it had decided not to include Playboy among its list of 37 magazines that should be removed from local newsstands.</p>
<p>Later, in the 1970s, Playboy would attempt to compete with the more graphic pornography unleashed by the sexual revolution and the weakening of obscenity laws. More recently, it has reshaped its content to adhere to the strict regulations of social media sites like Facebook and Instagram, which forbid users from posting female (but not male) nipples.</p>
<p>Clearly, 2015 is not the first time Playboy has switched up its strategy to respond to market forces. </p>
<h2>The bunny supplants the girl next door</h2>
<p>If Hefner’s erotic vision was quaint enough to pass muster even with some conservatives in the early 1960s, today it’s as retrograde as <a href="http://www.imdb.com/character/ch0031457/">Don Draper</a>. As Washington Post columnist Mireille Miller-Young <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/posteverything/wp/2015/10/14/why-playboy-wants-you-to-read-it-for-the-articles-now/">observes</a>, today’s girl next door isn’t uniformly white, thin, heterosexual and presented with a smarmy editorial voice. Instead, she could be a queer woman of color. She might even be <a href="http://www.math-mag.com/">publishing her own porn</a>. </p>
<p>While the magazine once walked a tightrope between smut and sophistication, branding always remained Playboy’s real strength. </p>
<p>Today, <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2015/10/13/did-online-porn-kill-the-playboy-nude/">40% of its revenue</a> comes from China – where the magazine itself isn’t even sold. Instead, a recognizable bunny logo that appears on products ranging from cigarette lighters to coffee mugs is what persists. </p>
<p>With limitless free online nudity a click away, the cash flow resides in a licensed logo that represents an upwardly mobile, urban lifestyle – much like it always did. </p>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/49335/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Whitney Strub does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>According to a pornography historian, Playboy was always able to stay above the fray because nudity was never central to its brand.Whitney Strub, Associate Professor and Director of Women's and Gender Studies, Rutgers University - NewarkLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.