Dear
Venus:
I take issue with your
Winter 2007 issue, which features
Dita Von Teese on the cover.
I take issue with your choice of a cover model, and your feature story of her, not so much because I have a real problem with Miss Sweet- to be honest, I don't. While I think there are probably thousands of "better choices" out there for Venus to do cover stories on, I also accept the fact that Dita sells magazines, so fine. Go for it.
Here begins my list of real problems with the article.
1. You profile Dita Von Teese as if you are "introducing" her to me-- like I
maybe have
never heard of her. Do you exist in a vacuum? Everyone has heard of Dita Von Teese. Your article, while mentioning her appearance in such publications as "Bizarre" and "Marquis," and the book, "The Art of Japanese Bondage," totally leaves aside the fact that she is frequently profiled in Vogue -- remember that May, 2006 spread, "The Bride Wore Purple,"? More on that in a minute. Suffice to say that your article rather misleadingly lists her "credits" of indie publications, skipping over the fact that she's so high-profile that we'd have to be literally living on another planet in order to have never heard of her. Thanks for not giving me, the reader, any credit, and for leaving out whatever information doesn't fit your (or Dita's) agenda of how she should be portrayed in this particular magazine.
2. Your article reads like a press release. In fact, allow me to quote you for a moment. "...Von Teese appeared on the covers of several magazines, including
Bizarre and
Marquis, and the book
The Seductive Art of Japanese Bondage. She landed on the pages of
Playboy several times, including a cover in December 2002, to which she owes the story of her last name. Originally known simply as "Dita" for silent-film actress Dita Parlo, she adopted "Von Teese" when the magazine asked for a last name. After flipping through a phonebook and selecting "Von Treese," the publication misspelled it. Adoring the typo, Dita Von Teese was born." Okay. When I read this, it sounded extremely familiar to me-- the facts, the order that they were presented and, and the wording. So I went to the first place anyone familiar with the "internet" would go -- Dita Von Teese's Wikipedia entry. Here's what I find. "Von Teese appeared on a number of fetish magazine covers, including
Bizarre and
Marquis. It was around this time when she appeared, bound and partially suspended, on the cover of Midori's book,
The Seductive Art of Japanese Bondage. Von Teese was featured in Playboy magazine in 1999, 2001 and 2002. It was her Playboy cover in December of 2002 that gave her her last name. Originally known simply as "Dita", a tribute to silent film actress Dita Parlo,Playboy insisted she use a last name. She picked "Von Treese" out of the phonebook, but it was misspelled "Von Teese". Dita, preferring the typo, adopted it as her name." (
link) Now, either you, the magazine, have taken Wikipedia's entry for the Gospel and copy and pasted into your terrible article, or, as I assume, both articles are based on the same source, Von Teese's bio information, available on her website or handed out to interviewers before the fact. While all that's fine, and part of journalism as I understand it, I see no need for your publication to waste "valuable" print space re-printing, nearly word-for-word, information that is already common knowledge, and widely available, not to mention almost plagiarism-- even down to misspelling "phone book" as one word! How boring.
3. Why isn't Miranda July, also featured in the magazine, on the cover instead of Dita Von Teese? Answer real quick.
4. I see that your interviewer has no problem swallowing Von Teese's garbage, absolute GARBAGE, about how she is presenting an "alternative" form of beauty to the world. What I want to know is HOW? In what way is she "alternative"? Because she's a brunette? She is a
classic portrayal of American sexual beauty-- Bettie Page and any number of pin-up girls, are all iconic in stature. An alternative form of beauty? Well, a fat girl is an alternative beauty, one with hairy legs, -- that's alternative, one who doesn't wear any makeup at all -- the fucking Dove commercials do a better job of portraying alternative forms of beauty than she does. I think it was your job, as interviewer, as a magazine, to question her statements, even a little bit, for the sake of your readers, and their sense of who they are, and their own self-esteem, rather than just nodding while Heather Sweet lauds herself for being fake-- fake hair, fake tits, fake face, fake decade. While I have NO PROBLEM with her doing what she is doing, or looking the way that she looks, it MUST be pointed out that her aesthetic is a male created image of something that doesn't exist now, and didn't exist in the 40's-- which is where she belongs. Again, she can look however she wants, that's not the point. But to act like her "image" is an achievement in itself, or as if it is something different than fashion models have been shoving down our throats for the last century is a little, well, fake. Why don't you ask her what she eats? What her favorite books are? What she likes to do in her down time? What about asking her if she uses vintage maxipads instead of tampons? Oh, that's right, because your magazine was just interested in helping her push her own agenda further. You assumed that no one is interested in her beyond her sense of "fashion," her interest in vintage nail polish or how to look glamorous. And maybe you were right.
5. Finally, let's just get back to Marilyn Manson for one second, because, if we're laying our cards out on the table, that's how most people know who the fuck Dita Von Teese is. My mom certainly had never read an issue of "Erotica" magazine, but damn if she didn't know that Dita Von Teese had two cats and that her wedding gown was designed by Galliano (from that Vogue profile that never happened). I assume you guys were granted the interview by agreeing not to ask any questions about Marilyn Manson or Sweet's ill-fated marriage to him. Fine. That's how it goes-- you want to interview Whitney Houston, you can't ask about Bobby Brown. I'm realistic. But that doesn't mean that you shouldn't have mentioned him in the prose part of the article. Because you should have. It's a glaring omission and one that makes everything you write after suspect. To pretend that that part of her life just didn't happen is misleading to the extreme given Mr. Manson's fame and their high-profile relationship. While I see no reason for it to be a focus of the piece, to not mention it is just another part of the illusion, another proof that, when talking to Heather Sweet-- I mean, Dita Von Teese, reality just doesn't exist.
I'm sure you won't bother printing this letter, as it's not a "positive" enough vibe for your publication, so I'll go ahead and save you the trouble, and print it on my blog.
Have a lovely day.
Love,
Laura June
Songs That Didn't Used to ExistBrooklyn, New York.
This is merely a shadow of my
current selfLabels: dita von teese, letter to the editor, songs that didn't used to exist, venus magazine
