WTF - Women’s Annual Made by Dudes?
I was excited to find a copy of the Snowboard Magazine Women’s Annual in the mail on Monday ... partly because it appeared to be a full magazine, not just a slender insert, and partly because I don’t actually have a subscription to Snowboard Magazine. Not sure where it came from, but yay free stuff.
If you haven’t mysteriously gotten this issue in the mail, I suggest you check it out. It covers a lot of interesting female riders that you may not know much about.
But wait, then why is this a WTF?
Well… For one thing, most of the articles are written by the Snowboard Magazine editorial staff, and props to Tawnya Schultz for being a chick, but the other editors are dudes. Not that we have problem with boys - sometimes we even have articles by them, to add a little male perspective. It’s just that this takes the male perspective a bit farther than you’d expect in a women’s issue. Like to 2/3.
And in case I wasn’t finding all the male bylines mildly irritating, one of them thought it would be hilarious to write a “how to buy a snowboard” guide that informs us that we should pick our snowboards based on what’s pretty and eye-catching. I’m guessing he was joking, since this was followed by some insane drunken self-deprecating rant about penis size and dinosaurs, but still. WTF?
I’m guessing the dudes were also behind some of the photography. You know on America’s Next Top Model, where Tyra demonstrates the difference between a men’s magazine pose and a women’s magazine pose? Well, check out the models in the Base Layers section. It’s got some classic examples of the men’s magazine pose - boobs sticking out and pouty lips and all. I never knew a one-piece long john could be that sexy. Why didn’t they find a couple of pro riders for these shoots instead? If you’re really trying to help female riders, why use random model chicks? They might not be quite as big in the boobal area, but there are some pro girls that are still nice to look at. And don’t make fun of my taste in TV, it’s awesome.
But the biggest WTF is the painfully obvious association between content and ads. I mean, it’s fairly normal these days to offer up some editorial coverage to your advertisers to help sweeten the deal, but your journalistic integrity comes into question when you avoid mentioning any products, pro riders, or gear if they don’t have a direct correlation to your advertisers. If one of their writers came up to them saying, “I have a killer interview with Desiree Melancon!” I’m betting Snowboard Mag would say, “Can’t run it, Holden didn’t fork over any money, so we have nothing to place directly across from the interview.”
Bottom line? This issue is worth a browse at your local bookstore, or wait for them to post it online, if only to check out the pretty pictures and read about some pros. If you want to drop some cash, I’d suggest the Snowboard Canada Womens Annual instead. For one thing, that one’s usually written by women.
UPDATE: Check out the opinion of a few other women on this issue:
http://shonshon8.wordpress.com/2010/01/24/snowboard-magazine-this-is-seriously-disappointing/
http://www.tundrawookie.com/2009/10/snowboard-magazine-womens-annual.html
Posted by Kelly Vance on 09/16
