Self Magazine includes a regular column called “The BS meter”, where columnists determine what is “legit” and what is “lame”. This month, Self’s exercise fashion police and health trend authorities officially labeled running in tutus, a popular trend in races like marathons and 5Ks, “lame”. This declaration included a photo of two women in superhero themed attire and matching tutus running in a marathon with the caption, “A racing tutu epidemic has struck NYC’s Central Park, and it’s all because people think these froufrou skirts make you run faster. Now, if you told us they made people run from you faster, maybe we would believe it.” Burn.
Unfortunately for Self Magazine, the cute and clever columnist who obviously worked hard on the sassy little caption wasn’t observant enough to notice the words “Die Tumor Die!!” on the marathoner’s bib. Turns out, one of the “lame” runners in the photo is Monika Allen, a woman who was diagnosed with brain cancer last year. Allen was undergoing chemo at the time of the marathon and her Wonder Woman costume was an empowering symbol of her determination to beat cancer.
When Self approached Allen and requested to use her marathon photo for this month’s issue, Allen had no clue that they intended to publicly and permanently ridicule her. She consented to the inclusion of her photo, assuming that it would benefit her company, Glam Runner, which sells tutus to raise money for a charity that empowers young girls. Instead of informing Allen of their intentions, Self columnists inadvertently humiliated a charitable tutu company and its cancer-fighting founder. Self Magazine’s editor-in-chief Lucy Zandiger responded, “I had no idea that Monika had been through cancer.”
Yes, the fact that Allen was diagnosed with cancer made Self’s mistake wrong on so many levels. As journalists, they could have even asked a question as simple as “Why are you wearing a tutu?” and avoided the mess altogether. Better yet, they could have asked for her permission to mock her tutu. However, Self’s biggest mistake is choosing to label anything as “lame.”
What Self did is a worst-case scenario of what can happen when a magazine chooses to publicly shame another person’s tastes, interests or appearance. Whether a person is undergoing cancer or not, no one wants to flip through a magazine and see their personal style insulted and ridiculed, especially through such a permanent medium. I am not quite sure who died and crowned magazines the absolute authorities over what is in style and what isn’t. Maybe Regina George or the entire cast of “What Not to Wear”. Regardless, magazines need to outgrow their high school desire to ridicule all tastes that are different from their own and acknowledge that we do not live in a uniform society.
The fact that everyone has different fashion tastes and interests makes our society beautiful. Personal style is meant to be personal and should not be what a magazine considers trendy, in style or in season. So what someone wants to wear denim on denim or wear leggings as pants? So what if Jessica Simpson doesn’t look like a Victoria’s Secret model? So what if someone really likes running in tutus? Magazines should empower, encourage and promote beautiful diversity, instead of shutting down everything and everyone that deviates from the closed-minded status quo.
