Vogue magazine is very good at certain things (like photo shoots in bucolic landscapes), but it can still get things very wrong when it comes to culture pieces.
Sometimes they might as well be your totally out-of-touch parents who just found out what a selfie is and got overly excited about it.
Why do we say this? Well…
A recent article in the mag’s September issue called The Dawn of the Butt: Big Booty in Pop Culture Over the Years by Patricia Garcia is a prime example of how behind-the-times the fashion bible can often be, especially for younger readers.
The piece, which heralds Jennifer Lopez as having lit the match that started today’s booty craze fire, has been criticized for failing to mention and give proper credit to the countless black women who have historically been judged, objectified, and ridiculed for their naturally large butts and voluptuous bodies, while using mostly white or non-black women, such as J.Lo, Kim Kardashian, and Instagram belfie queen Jen Selter, as examples of the big booty ideal.
Criticism on Twitter has also noted how the article is guilty of white-washing black culture by claiming that big butts are only popular NOW that white or non-black celebrities have essentially appropriated them and made them suitable for consumption for the masses.
Below are some examples of the criticism:
Others noted how the article claims that big butts have only recently become popular without noting the many examples of body oppression that black women have had to deal with.
Vogue may be read by all types of people, but its main target audience still seems to be very rich and privileged white women.
The editorials in the magazine rarely contain women of color. Though it is important to note that Puerto Rican supermodel Joan Smalls was one of the three women featured on this year’s holy grail — the September issue — black women usually only get the cover during the annual Shape Issue.
Therefore, it isn’t surprising that Vogue would publish a piece like Garcia’s and fail to recognize its problematic nature, but we can only hope that the magazine’s editors take note of this and work to be more knowledgeable and inclusive in the future.
Hey, we can dream!
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