What an empowering, inspiring and thought-provoking read! To sum up, i’ll begin with a quote from Gabrielle Korn’s memoir which resonated highly with me and encapsulates the theme of her book,
‘We could all benefit from seeing ourselves the way the people who love us do!’
Now, I’m not the one to adore such cringey, life-changing quotes (we’re all too familiar with the infamous ‘live, laugh, love’). Nonetheless, using her media lens, Gabrielle addresses the intensive pressures for women to always be ‘their best selves’. Her quote highlights how often women are more likely to compliment their friends and others despite lacking the self-love based on ever-changing representations in the media and a dire history of oppression. Her personal, intimate essays address poignant themes and guides her readers to reflect on their own experiences to find their own inner strength.
Gabrielle as the first lesbian, Jewish editor in Chief of fashion, Nylon Magazine, shares her personal life experiences from childhood to adulthood. This was inherently abundant in ubiquitous incidences of everyday sexism, sexual harassment, homophobia, managing anorexia and ultimately how the fashion industry she was actively involved with reinforced such pressing issues. She elaborated on her success in diversifying aspects of her magazine by improving representations of women from all backgrounds and body shapes and ensuring she promoted more of a ‘woke’ audience with articles on ‘beauty secrets for self-love ‘ rather than ‘beauty secrets to attract your man’ prominent during the early 2000s. Published this year, the recent shift in ideologies toward feminism is documented by Gabrielle who highlighted the impact of the ‘Me too Movement’ regarding sexual harassment, particularly how America was influenced with Trump as president. Each chapter flicks and flips between various stages of her life, therefore drawing upon experiences relevant to a subject matter of the time.
The most important message I learnt fro her memoir was to prioritise self-care as a young, working woman. This of course applies to anyone! Based on her experiences, over-working and draining herself for a job which paid her unequally compared to a male, deeply influenced her mental health. She eloquently described how her romantic relationships were affected by her work and how important such aspects of life intertwine with one another. By reminding her readers that women seem ‘perfect’, with a flawless appearance, successful job and dream partner then they would be complete, however everything is not what it seems.
The conversational tone married with such heavy subjects made this an easy read, but with lots of food for thought. I found myself talking about it with every friend that I had seen, regardless of gender! It’s an empowering read to hear about such topics expressed in such a clear way. However, as she addresses herself, based on her white, privileged background some points were difficult to empathise or relate to. Although, as to be expected with memoirs, it’s opinion based and personal so I took these with a pinch of salt and admired her passion for feminism and openness to create a positive representation for women.
4/5!
Amber Reads something 