Well, sort of. In a ‘one magazine at a time’ kind of way. But two fat positive articles in two mainstream Australian magazines in two consecutive months? That’s a major win for us. GO TEAM!
The July 2009 issue of Australia’s Shop ‘Til You Drop magazine (STYD) had an article titled ‘Size Matters’, which highlighted the never-ending battle that is plus-size shopping in Australia. It’s actually quite a good article, though I wonder whether STYD will be able to keep this up: the August issue listed only one plus-sized item in the entire magazine (a bandage dress by Flirt) and had two advertisements for plus-size brands available in Myer, one of Australia’s major department stores. Not a great effort for a 200 page magazine, but I suppose it is a start.
Here is the STYD article in full. Click the images for the high resolution version.
The August 2009 issue of the Australian Cleo magazine provided a general introduction to the fat acceptance movement. Kate Harding of Shapely Prose and our own Bri King of Fat Lot of Good were interviewed. It even got a mention in the editor’s letter!
Both STYD and Cleo are aimed at young women and both are owned by ACP Magazines. ACP has a huge presence in the media and publish a lot of our major magazines, so this is a big deal. These articles and the increasing visibility of fatshion in Australia signals that we are on our way.
Slowly but surely.
I am bloody excited.
EDIT: One day after I write this, and fat acceptance is being featured by Fairax Media on the Sydney Morning Herald website. Geeeez, we’re picking up momentum!
Oh! Good. This is very good.
Exciting! Next step, world domination.
I’m pretty convinced that world domination is imminent. I’ve already got the champs chilling in the fridge for the post-domination celebration.
Awesome, thanks for posting that! I havent been able to get my scanner to work lately so wasn’t able to do it myself. One of my smart aleck friends whipped out the mag the other night and asked for my autograph lol
I used the scanner at work! (Don’t tell my boss)
I agree, slowly but surely. I do worry about certain mags placing the ‘token’ plus size (which are really normal size!) articles and fashion spreads. But regardless there is no denying it’s a step in the right direction.
Great blog by the way!
Elisa
Great post!
Thanks for sharing the Shop article. I hadn’t seen it and appreciate the read.
Thanks, Julie. It means a lot to have someone (let alone the GM!) from The Butterfly Foundation reading my blog. I love the work that you guys do.