By Molly Freedenberg
Because all we need is another magazine telling us how thin, young, and Caucasian we’re not, a group of editors and doctors have decided to bring us a new mag, New Beauty. What’s new about New Beauty, you ask? Basically, this is a mag that does for lipo and Botox what InStyle does for lipstick and Lucky Jeans. Including the part where it reminds us we’re not rich enough to actually get what we need to be less flawed than we so clearly are.
Now, to be fair, I have to admit the magazine is well designed, and it’s refreshingly text heavy for a mag targeting women (though the font’s a bit small for my aging eyes). And New Beauty does have a panel of actual doctors, dermatologists, and scientists acting as some kind of official resource, so at least they’re not approaching such serious subjects as surgery and implants in an irresponsibly fluffy way. I also have to concede that this could be a great resource for people already interested in getting these procedures and wanting to know more about them.
But Jesus. Is this what it’s coming to? Facelifts for 20 somethings? Preventative Botox? And treating these kinds of procedures as normally as we’d treat self-tanners or slimming pantyhose? I know it’s just a reflection of our culture and all, so perhaps I should be complaining about that, not the fact that the magazine is (wisely, from a financial standpoint) capitalizing on it.
But I believe the role of the media is to shape culture as much as reflect it. And by its very existence, this magazine is pushing us even more in the direction of age-phobic, superficial self-loathing. Sigh. I guess it’s back to Bitch and Bust and Cunt for me.