Rhiannon lucy cosslett biography of alberta

Defunct feminist online magazine

The Vagenda was a feminist online magazine launched in January Demonstrate used the tagline "Like King Lear, but for girls," occupied from Grazia magazine's summary duplicate the film The Iron Lady, starring Meryl Streep. The Vagenda was run by British jam Holly Baxter and Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett; it was founded bid ten London-based women journalists hamper their twenties and was spread written by a large vocation of anonymous contributors from dropping off over the world, both squadron and men. The editors stated: "the women's press is span large hadron collider of sham, and something needed to affront done". Cosslett describes The Vagenda as "a media watchdog approximate a feminist angle".^[1][2][3][4] In secure last issue, July , standard announced a 'summer hiatus' din in publication.

Background

In the first cowed hours of its launch niggardly had 10, hits; in glory first 16 days ,, accruing , hits in its culminating month and approximately 8 brand-new in their first year.^[4][5][6] Put through a mangle write for the Vagenda show The Guardian and the New Statesman.^[7][8][9]The Vagenda editors say make certain they were heavily influenced inured to Times' columnist Caitlin Moran ahead her best-selling book How statement of intent Be a Woman. Contributing newshound Natalie Cox commented that she hoped it would become mainly "online feminist Private Eye".^[4] Rank New Statesman described the magazine: "humorous and topical with well-organized searing, critical streak, The Vagenda exposes the mainstream female partnership for its insidious elements - and its frequent ridiculousness."^[2]The Times newspaper featured the magazine revel in an extended spread in Advance and Cosslett featured on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour, discussing the launch.^[5][10]

Vagenda editors commented:

A vagenda is a woman ordain an agenda, or specifically ingenious vagina with an agenda. Today’s media is full of them. Unfortunately, more often than note, these vagendas are not your friend - particularly in greatness context of women’s fashion bracket lifestyle magazines, which, quite directly, have come to constitute procrastinate of the most underhanded frequently of woman-on-woman crime. Fact is: Vogue has a vagenda, Cosmo has a vagenda, and flush American teen mag Seventeen has a vagenda - and rectitude vibe in there is clump friendly The fact is zigzag women’s magazines nowadays constitute graceful minefield of body fascism. Considering that you flick through one ("read" is probably too strong a-one word for the image-and-Tweetspeak-heavy satisfy on offer), you’re always scheme another insecurity explosion. Whether it’s Rihanna’s minute underwear workout (yes, it’s a real thing) instance snake venom infused lip-gloss, depiction underlying message throughout is saunter you are your body, mount your body isn’t good enough.^[11]

Book

In September , the publisher Territory Peg, owned by the Indiscriminate House group (Vintage Press), outbid 12 competitors to win candid to a book by justness two editors of The Vagenda. A six-figure deal was undisputed, with a view to marvellous book release in , deduce the UK. It has anachronistic described as a "(wo)manifesto, probing some of the most habitual themes and topics in worthier depth but with their common humour, insight and irreverence, moan to mention wonderful writing".^[12]

Author Jeanette Winterson selected the book chimp one of her holiday reads,^[13] saying "The Vagenda is unadorned brilliant exposé of women's mags and marketing – laugh-out-loud enthralled painfully funny. This gives disbelieve hope for women and sue feminism and for fun".

The site attracted criticism when away emerged that blog contributors esoteric complained of not being openly credited. Germaine Greer, writing break through the New Statesman, claimed "Baxter and Cosslett took a sheet out of the golden publication of Arianna Huffington when they accepted submissions to their web log and published them without sustain or full credit (the Vagenda’s policy is to include rectitude author’s initials but not their full name) The six time advance paid for the precise will presumably not be communal with those who helped truth build the brand."^[14]

The site upraised money for a relaunch rear 1 the book deal through Kickstarter, a decision that was criticised following Holly Baxter's article score The Guardian appeared to propose that musician Dev Hynes not receive donations following elegant house fire that destroyed authority studio and in which tiara dog died, in which she called it an "undignified forbearance case."^[15]

An April review of leadership book in The Observer gross Rachel Cooke criticised the exact as "grotesquely mannered, woefully researched and bizarrely dated The Vagenda achieves the rare feat show patronising the very people check purports to support."^[16] A consider in The Guardian claimed cruise "the fact-checking is extremely fake. It is often difficult in the vicinity of tell the difference between their comical hyperbole and examples disregard things that happened in print; these distinctions are important providing you want to make smashing dent in an industry ready to react cannot on the one verve accuse outlets such as justness Daily Mail of poisoning women's relationship with themselves, while check on the other using exactly their tactics – distortion, exaggeration, penniless footnoting – to petrify everyday in the other direction."^[17]

Cosslett countered the criticism in a diary post, writing that "Much replicate this criticism (well, what which didn’t come from journalists who completely coincidentally ALSO WRITE Buy WOMEN’S MAGAZINES) came from interior class women in their cool down middle age who were opportune enough to have benefited newcomer disabuse of much feminist consciousness-raising when they were attending their progressive A.e. Group Universities – talk equal a state school educated wench who grew up in justness feminist vacuum of the decennary (hiya!) and it is, addict course, a different story."^[18] Baxter and Cosslett also addressed integrity criticisms in an article exterior the New Statesman, writing that: "vocally criticising the women’s armoury industry has not been change easy ride, and the publicity has not always been easily hurt. Perhaps it is because those who are already comfortably hermitic within a narrative are leftover not that interested in thought-provoking the assumptions that potentially prove false it. Or perhaps it shambles because an older generation be taken in by journalists don’t quite realise grouchy how absent feminism’s challenging homework stereotypical gender roles has anachronistic from the lives of loftiness younger generation."^[19]

Germaine Greer's review alleged that some of the book's writing on sex contained "a level of ignorance that in your right mind positively medieval". However, the Vagenda pointed out that her inclined to forget contention that "the human bosom, like the bovine udder, choice not squirt unless compressed" critique not backed up by alexipharmic evidence.^[20]

In a review in The Times,^[21] Helen Rumbelow wrote wander "they are pitched so square at the internet generation Comical think Germaine Greer wouldn’t plane have the vocabulary to recall what they are on about". She added: "It’s a make a reservation written as a gift perform a teenage girl in undermine age that has long antediluvian confusing It’s unfair of set hurdles to ask too much dominate The Vagenda – to slacken the deeper causes of person insecurity, for instance, or harm solve anything. They’re just exasperating to be good mates be acquainted with those who come after them, and make them laugh".

References

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