Be a Lady, They Said, a video from Girls Girls Girls Magazine shines a light on what it truly means to identify as a woman in this era. Cynthia Nixon, the narrator of the short video, continuously shares the contradictory do’s and don’ts of womanhood. Throughout the clip, Nixon describes what to be and what not to be as a “lady,” while videos flash before the audience’s eyes, encrypting her message. This work of art outwardly shows societal standards of what it means to be a “lady.” As the video progresses she makes it more and more clear that these standards are almost impossible to meet.
To give context as to what it means to be a “lady” in society, Nixon narrates: “Be a lady they said. Don’t be too fat. Don’t be too thin. Eat up. Slim down. Stop eating so much. Order a salad. Don’t eat carbs. Skip desert. Go on a diet. God, you look like a skeleton. Why don’t you just eat? You look emaciated. You look sick. Men like women with some meat on their bones. Be a size zero. Be a double zero. Be nothing.”
The power in the short yet opposing statements, truly shows how hard it is to live up to societal standards if you are a woman. The message is perfectly clear throughout the video, which is why it is successful. Womanhood is not easy, especially while dealing with others’ never-ending opinions. Girls Girls Girls Magazine verbally highlights this wicked cycle all women face no matter what their age, ethnicity, race, or sexuality. Where the video lacks is the neglect of diversity throughout the graphic content.
As Nixon speaks, short clips pop up. Half of the short clips include dramatized shots of models exhibiting what it means to be a “lady.” The other half of the clips display actual events that correlate to what it means to be a “lady.” While the clips fit the script perfectly, there is an absence of diversity that is quite obvious during the whole video. The audience cannot help but notice that the majority of the models are thin white women, which is extremely contradictory to the underlying message that all ladies don’t have to fit a certain mold. If the creators of this project wanted to be more beneficial and transparent, they should have used women of all shapes, sizes, colors, and backgrounds, instead of just the common white woman. On the other hand, maybe they purposely used similar models to prove their point. But this is not essentially obvious.
Another element neglected in Be a Lady, They Said is LGBTQ members. Girls Girls Girls Magazine had to be targeting this video at feminist. What they failed to remember is that the modern-day feminist is also a common ally of the LGBTQ community. Even if they involved a transgender woman or more individuals who are part of the LGBTQ community, it would have made their campaign stronger.
Whether or not they purposely excluded diverse groups of women is difficult to analyze. If they truly wanted to impress most feminists (the target audience) they should have considered diversity, especially since intersectionality is such a critical topic in the modern wave of feminism. But if they purposely kept the models uniform for the sake of proving what societal standards are, that also is a great way to support the idea of societies unrealistic expectations. Overall, this video does an advanced job of pushing introspection on the viewer. Be a Lady, They Said makes women reevaluate their own social experiences and judgments, which ultimately makes it successful.