On Lacking A Sense Of Decency
7/12/2012
DR Williams
I think what Julia did -- namely, stand up and talk about something that was important to her -- is a really cool thing. I do feel a little like Seventeen turned the whole situation to their own PR advantage; very visibly listen to the criticism, announce to the media that you''re Taking It Seriously, and finally make a big hullaballoo out of how you''re... going to keep doing the same thing you were already doing? But if nothing else, it opened a dialogue up about this, as the ongoing protest to Teen Vogue shows. (Teen Vogue, incidentally, haven't nearly parleyed the press attention into positive media spin in the way that Seventeen did.) It brought up kind of an important point: while teenage girls are being increasingly treated like adults, on a very fundamental maturity level, they just aren''t the same. More to the point, adolescence is a point at which you''re probably the most insecure about the way you look. Not only are you constantly being compared to and judged by your peers, but you''re also at that stage of development where you can literally wake up the next day to find that some part of you has changed dramatically. It''s tough to be an out-of-shape adult looking blearily into the mirror every morning, but at least you''re assured that you''re not waking up with a different chin than the one you had the day before, or three cup sizes bigger, or four inches taller.
Of course, as great as I think Julia''s efforts have been, if I''ve got the opportunity to make Joe McCarthy jokes about someone then I''m going to take it.