I have a complaint. How unusual, I know! My complaint is when regular old fashion magazines want to pretend to look inclusive, so instead of, you know, actually putting the effort into being inclusive about race, LGBTQ+ issues, size and age, they just toss together a “special edition” of their magazine and then continue to put the same slender young white women in all of their other editions. So it is with British Vogue. The May issue of British Vogue features Kate Moss’s millionth appearance, and they didn’t even get a new interview with her or anything. The Moss cover is the main cover. But British Vogue also did a “special edition” called The Non-Age Issue, which has Jane Fonda on the cover. Why did she need a special cover? Why couldn’t British Vogue forgo the traditional biannual Kate Moss cover and simply put Fonda on the main cover? Lord knows. And what kills me is that Jane Fonda actually had some interesting things to say! Some highlights:
Identifying with men: “My mother killed herself, so I saw women as kind of being on the losing side. I was so conditioned to identify with men in every possible way. When I was married to Roger Vadim, one day one of his friends said, ‘God, Jane, you’re just like us’ – and I took it as a compliment!”
Living life as a double image: “For the bulk of my life, I would say up until my seventies, I spent my life like a double image, like a double exposure. As an adolescent, in order to fit in, I made sure no one – especially boys or men – could see who I really was; that I could get really angry, that I could not be pretty, that I could be tough. I went through life not whole. And when I left Ted [Fonda’s second husband], I could feel myself moving back into myself. That is the main thing about the third act as I’m living it. I am no longer a double image.”
She understands how she is in relationships: “I had several serious relationships after [Ted], but I can’t… That is my failing. I realise I can never overcome it. That when I’m with a man, I give up myself.”
Osteoporosis: “The fact that I hurt a lot – my body hurts – is a surprise to me, and it’s not because of all that working out. It’s genetic. My father [Henry] had it, my brother [Peter] had it. Your cartilage disappears and then it’s bone on bone, and then ‘ow’. But we live in a time where you can just get a new one.”
On loving having her knee replaced: “I was just starting a new relationship and I had to be able to kneel.”
[From British Vogue]
Sometimes when I read Jane’s interviews, I feel like she’s actually quite a superficial person masquerading as a serious person, but this one was different. It’s like at long last, she’s finally developed some real-like lessons and self-awareness. This one really struck me: “My mother killed herself, so I saw women as kind of being on the losing side. I was so conditioned to identify with men in every possible way.” Yes. That happens to so many girls and women. We live in the patriarchy, we are warped by the patriarchy and we grow to identify with patriarchal systems. This was self-aware too: “That when I’m with a man, I give up myself.” That’s the story of her life – she tailors herself and her interests to whichever man she’s with at the moment.
Covers courtesy of British Vogue.
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