I, for one, am very proud to be a part of the BME community. My ability to choose to decorate my body is something that I am grateful for. When this choice is looked down on or is used to discriminate against me, I am hurt and disappointed. Unfortunately, just like many others, I have dealt with this problem from a variety of people. They include the following: potential employers, my peers, those older than me, my own parents, along with others. Some of those people do not surprise me with their responses while others do. When I was reading a magazine the other day, I came across a negative statement regarding body modification. This publication is part of the group of those who do surprise me with their response because they aim to relate to teenagers and to endorse originality. In addition to the usual uninteresting material the magazine features, I was displeased to read an especially obnoxious comment.
At A Glance Author marissa Contact [email protected] When It just happened
The following is a copy of my letter, which I intend on sending to Seventeen Magazine in response to their negative commentary regarding body modification. Hopefully they do not toss it aside with all the fan letters they receive every day.
Dear Seventeen editors;
While I am not an avid reader of your publication, I recently happened to come across your most recent issue. While perusing the usual superficial content, I came across something that caught my eye. It was your comparison of Christina Aguilara and Pink in terms of how dirty each was.
Personally I feel that both entertainers are a disgrace to women and girls as they are both poor role models. Your little comparisons made me smile until I read the last one. In your "body art" section, you mentioned that Pink has several visible tattoos and Christina has many unmentionable piercings. I was appalled. As a member of the body modification community, I feel that using this as a stipulation for dirtiness is disgraceful and inaccurate.
Body modification is a personal choice just like makeup and clothing. Some choose to be pierced or inked for aesthetic purposes, spiritual incentives, erotic reasons, excitement, or a variety of other personal motives. The validity of each purpose is equal and none of these intentions have anything to do with your claim. I can say with complete confidence that my peers who are modified along with myself are in no way unclean because of our tattoos or piercings. The only reason I would ever agree with your comparison is if both women did not take appropriate care of their tattoos/piercings, allowing infection to ensue. One would hope this is not the case for health concerns.
If in your defense, you believe that the two singers are too public with their mods, then I would have to disagree again. As Americans we are expected to view every person as a unique individual who practices freedom of choice. This is hopefully a concept you promote through your magazine. Prejudice against a person because of their tattoos or piercings is just as bad, if not worse, than prejudice because of skin color, race, gender, age, socio-economic status, sexual orientation or religion. This kind of discrimination is something the modified community deals with everyday. Because it is our choice to look different, we are often scorned more harshly than others. Do not endorse this kind of behavior to teenagers.
While I do not believe in preaching through magazine articles, I do deem it important to encourage individuality to young women and girls. I have noticed that for the most part, Seventeen does a decent job of this. Your offensive remark brought you five steps backwards. In showing contempt for this form of individualism, you impart these judgments on your young readers.
I suspect that because of the large size of modified people, I am not the only one offended. It would please me very much for your magazine to include an apology and/or retraction in your next issue. Doing so would relieve some of your hypocrisy and contradiction.
Sincerely,
Marissa Koupf
former reader
I do not expect a response from the magazine in the next issue. I do hope that my letter might be printed though so that the readers can see how unacceptable Seventeen's remark was. My main goal is to spread acceptance and dispel discrimination. I hope that I was not the only person offended and also that Seventeen receives more criticism on this particular issue.
I encourage all of you reading this to contact any other publications, which offend you. This form of prejudice is rarely addressed except for here on BME. Because of that, I feel it is extremely important that we all do our own parts to improve the situation. They need to know that we deserve as much respect as anyone else does.