#seek magazine vol. 7

[dlstmxkakwldrlarchive]

(throwback) SHINee Seek Magazine Vol. 7

[venomousnakes]

Happy Bday Jjong!

[haggishlyhagging]

“Miriam Kramnick (1978) is one of the few commentators on Wollstonecraft who outlines the nature of the ridicule she was subjected to and the significance of this form of sexual harassment. Wollstonecraft was the recipient of 'barely printable insults', states Kramnick. ‘Her own contemporaries called her a shameless wanton, a "hyena in petticoats", a "philosophizing serpent" or wrote jibing epigrams in the Anti-Jacobin Review, like

For Mary verily would wear the breeches

God help poor silly men for such usurping b…..s

Twentieth-century readers have called her an archetypal castrating female, "God's angry woman", a man hater whose feminist crusade was inspired by nothing more than a hopeless, incurable affliction — penis envy’ (ibid., p. 7).

Even feminists have been careful about associating with her and: ‘The name "Wollstonecraft", once considered synonymous with the destruction of all sacred virtues, disowned by the feminist movement as it marched for votes or pressed for admission to universities, became an obscure reference indeed’ (ibid., p. 8). When women sought to convince men that they were honourable, respectable, and deserving of equal representation in the institutions men had created for themselves, there was little room for Wollstonecraft, who had challenged those institutions and who had gained a ‘reputation.’

Like many of the reviews of Aphra Behn, some of the reviews of Wollstonecraft's work and life, on her death, were vicious. Her work should be read, declared the Historical Magazine (1799), ‘with disgust by any female who has any pretensions to delicacy; with detestation by everyone attached to the interests of religion and morality, and with indignation by anyone who might feel any regard for the unhappy woman, whose frailties should have been buried in oblivion’ (vol. I, p. 34). This was about as far as critics could go in the pre-Freudian days, but once he had made his priceless contribution, the attack on women who did not conform to the precepts dictated by men assumed a new and greater ferocity.

‘Mary Wollstonecraft was an extreme neurotic of a compulsive type,' argue Ferdinand Lundberg and Marynia Farnham (1959) in Modern Woman: The Lost Sex. Out of her illness arose the ideology of feminism, which was to express the feelings of so many women in years to come. Unconsciously ... Mary and the feminists wanted ... to turn on men and injure them.... Underneath her aggressive writings, Mary was a masochist like her mother, as indeed all the leading feminist theorists were in fact.... By behaving as she did Mary indicated.... that she was unconsciously seeking to deprive the male of his power, to castrate him. It came out in her round scolding of men. The feminists have ever since symbolically slain their fathers by verbally consigning all men to perdition as monsters' (pp. 159-61). Really?

With the framework formulated by Freud, it again became easy to ridicule and harass women who developed any analysis of patriarchy, to dismiss them without having to refute their ideas. The scientific dogma took over from the religious dogma which had been seriously discredited (by women like Wollstonecraft) and both these male-decreed belief systems have been used ruthlessly against individual women and against women collectively. In her own day Mary Wollstonecraft was maligned for her moral sickness; with the advent of Freud it was her mental sickness. The principle is the same and it was a principle that Wollstonecraft herself identified and discredited - the principle that if women do not cheerfully confine themselves to the place to which men have relegated them, then there is something wrong with the women rather than the place they are expected to occupy. Mary Wollstonecraft understood that women would continue to be perceived as abnormal while the limited experience of men was treated as the sum total of human experience. One of her main protests was that men did not know how the world looked to women and, while they insisted that it looked no different from the way it looked to men, women were without space to discuss, share and confirm their feelings and ideas. And in this, Wollstonecraft is one of a long line of women who have come to understand the significance of male power to name the world and to say what is and what is not important, valuable, and ‘logical’.”

-Dale Spender, Women of Ideas and What Men Have Done to Them

[isabellasdigitalcommunities]

#snapchatdysmorphia

Snapchat released Lenses in 2015 which began with goofy filters of dog ears and flower crowns but it has since introduced a way to see a different you with a slimmer nose, larger eyes or lips and a sharper jawline (Barker 2020, p. 207). These beautifying filters have since spread to every other social media platform. They have sparked controversy because the 'pretty' filter doesn't add anything new to your face, it just changes your features to fit the heteronormative standard of 'pretty' which is obviously very damaging to one's self-esteem. These filters produce unrealistic and skewed social expectations of women's bodies, which are impossible to naturally achieve in the first place (Coy-Dibley 2016). This has limited the ways people can authentically show themselves online.  It has also promoted the homogenous standards of feminine beauty that are created for a male and Western-dominated society, rolling back on any diversity that had previously been developed (Coy-Dibley 2016). Crawford (2023) discusses how filters have used people of colour's features as trends. She says that it's frustrating that the "exact features [she] sought to change growing up are features that white women appropriate now". Filters would make her nose and jaw smaller but make her lips bigger which she used to be made of fun for but the rise of lip filler has increasingly grown popular among white women. She worries that these Eurocentric beauty standards are going to make young girls of colour grow up insecure because of these filters as well as the lack of media representation already.

With a simple touch, users can "correct" (Barker 2020, p. 208)their faces and have been taking these new faces to cosmetic surgeons. Once upon a time patients would bring magazine covers to get procedures to look like the hottest celebrity at the time but they are now seeking consultations to "look like the filtered versions of themselves" (Rajanala, Maymone & Vashi 2018). This has been named 'Snapchat Dysmorphia' after multiple plastic surgeons had observed many clients "losing perspectives on what [they] actually look like" due to Snapchat and Instagram filters (Brucculieri 2018)

References-

Barker, J 2020, 'Making-up on mobile: The pretty filters and ugly implications of Snapchat', Fashion Style & Popular Culture,vol. 7, no. 1&2, pp. 207-221

Brucculieri, J 2018, 'Snapchat dysmorphia' points to a troubling new trend in plastic surgery, Huffington Post, viewed 26 April 2023, <https://www.huffpost.com/entry/snapchat-dysmorphia_n_5a8d8168e4b0273053a680f6>

Coy-Dibley, I 2016, '"Digitised dysmorphia" of the female body: the re/disfigurement of the image', Palgrave Communications, pp. 1-9

Crawford, S 2023, Opinion: Snapchat filters are pushing Eurocentric beauty standards for women of colour, Technician Online, viewed 26 April 2023, <https://www.technicianonline.com/opinion/opinion-snapchat-filters-are-pushing-eurocentric-beauty-standards-for-women-of-color/article_a106fdb2-9c5d-11ed-9c19-33b068f66dfe.html>

Rajanala, S, Maymone, MBC & Vashi NA 2018, 'Selfies - Living in the era of filtered photographs',  JAMA facial plastic surgery, vol. 20, no. 6, American Medical Association, United States, pp. 443-444

[saksthriftavenue]

Check out this listing I just added to my Poshmark closet: Guitar World July 1998 Vol 18 Billy Corgan Smashing Pumpkins Vintage Mag.

[asfaltics]

dommage

  a greater amount than the enough [     ] depth of the Moss where       1 here and there thrown high [     ] the water was thirty-nine months [     ] a footbold to the scant and hardy In       2   searching it out from the confused mass we found enough       3 ( Though sometimes there is a small fire from the carriages, the place being so... )       4   quite enough damage done. The Storm-Birds or Channelbill Cuckoos were feeding in the big fig-trees for hours       5 out in the grounds; lead stripped from the roof; enough       6   I have seen enough damage done by curl-leaf this morning to pay for spraying all the orchards within five miles.       7 freezing weather has passed and left its scars upon these exposed places. At any rate there was enough       8   sho’ been enough damage done at thata heap of it. Some o’ the houses all caved in. The Benedittis los’ everythin’ they owned. Dommage! With all them kids!       9 square enough / damage done       10   enough damage done by one flood       11 enough damage done to make doors       12   In his opinion, a distinctive enough damage       13 There’s been enough damage done already by me meddling.       14   and that it has given very and enough damage done in one hour’s the question-asking habit.       15 enough damage done now. All the same, I wonder why she doesn’t get rid of the horse.       16   and if this were not enough damage done, my eyeglass was       17  

sources (not chronological; all within the near orbit, at least, of enough damage done)

1 preview snippet only, at Great Britain. Parliament. House of Commons. Committee on the Liverpool and Manchester Railroad Bill (1825) : 282 of 772 2 OCR cross-column misread, at “Drainage Operations in Holland,” in The Friend, a religious and literary journal 49:42 (Philadelphia; Seventh-Day, Sixth Month 3, 1876) : 329-330 note : OCR reads “foothold” as “footbold.” 3 ex Lewis Hopkins, “A Pearl River Camp. II.” in Forest and Stream, “A weekly journal of the rod and gun” 59:18 (November 1, 1902) : 350 4 ex Charles S. Pelham-Clinton, “The Royal Arsenal at Woolwich,” The Cosmopolitan 11:2 (June 1891) : 142-149 (146) 5 ex Sidney Wm. Jackson, “In the Barron River Valley, North Queensland. Field observations in the Tinaroo and Atherton scrubs, with photographs by the author.” The Emu : Official Organ of the Australasian Ornithologists’ Union, Vol. 8, Part 5 (extra), (1st June, 1909) : 233-283 (259) 6 ex J. S. Fletcher, The Cistercians in Yorkshire (London: Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1919) : 318 Joseph Smith Fletcher (1863-1935) : wikipedia 7 ex L. R. Taft, “The diseases of Fruits” Report of the Michigan State Pomological Society (Proceedings of the Summer Meeting) 23 (1893) : 63-69 (at “The whole matter discussed,” 68) 8 ex North Adams (Massachusetts), Department of Public Works, Annual Report (1915) : 87 (snippet only) 9 ex Stella G. S. Perry, Palmetto : The Romance of a Louisiana Girl (1920) : 351 Stella George Stern Perry (1877-1956), Barnard College alum; her Online Books Page at same page (351), discussion of “concrete and steel safety stations,” raised above floodwater level; levees. 10 OCR cross-column misread at F. W. W., “Circumstantial Evidence,” The Mentor 21:11 (September 1921) : 1-5 (4) “The Mentor, A monthly magazine contributed to, edited and printed by inmates of the Massachusetts State Prison at Charlestown in the shadow of historic Bunker Hill. ¶ The Mentor is devoted to the interest of that great body of men and women who while in prison are earnestly seeking for a way out into the light of Reason, up the Path of Courage, to Success” 11 U.S. Congress. Senate. Committee on Appropriations, Hearings on “War Department Appropriation Bill, 1923,” Friday, April 21, 1922 (on rivers and harbors appropriations, here relating to the Ohio and Mississippi rivers) : 838 12 ex “Less Work for Mowing Away Hay... by an Iowa cattle feeder who feeds 200 tons of hay each year,” System on the Farm 6:3 (March 1920) : 192 13 snippet only, at The Northwestern Miller 118 (1919?) : 1038 14 ex George Bronson-Howard, God’s Man : A Novel (1915) : 430 George Bronson-Howard (1884-1922) : wikipedia; many items at archive.org “The author held a commission as captain of cavalry in the Chinese army...” (see his “The Door of the Double-Dragon,” The Popular Magazine 9:3 (September 1907) : 1-55 15 ex “Getting Ahead of Jack” [frost], The Fruit-Grower and Farmer 26:5 (March 1, 1915) : 162 16 ex Sumner Locke, Samaritan Mary (1916) : 120 (three copies at hathitrust, including U Alberta microform and two others) Helena Sumner Locke (1881-1917) : wikipedia; Australian Dictionary of Biography 17 “...shattered by the spring weather,” ex Maurice Baring (1874-1945, wikipedia), R. F. C.   H. Q., 1914-1918 (1920) : 284 (snippet only; entire at hathitrust)

—

“Quite enough damage done for one day.”

ex Lady Diana Shedden (1898-1935? *) and Lady Aspley (1895-1966, wikipedia), ”To Whom the Goddess... — Hunting and Riding for Women (London, 1932) : 185  

[simonefmp]

1. Your Final Major Project

What is the title of  your Project? What do you aim to produce? How does this relate to your work  and ideas from your programme so far and how does it extend your knowledge,  understanding and creative ability?

(guide: 150 words)

‘Exploring the self  through history of arts iconography’. I aim to produce work that explores  ‘the self’. Specifically, the attributes one wishes to project, as well as  those that one would like to conceal. I plan on achieving this through a visual  conversation, using iconography in art ranging from ancient to modern. I am  intrigued by and intend to use and play with the symbolism of these objects,  poses, and backgrounds; in order to gather a greater understanding of ‘the  self’. I will be continuing to world build which I plan to execute through  various forms of portraiture. Recommencing my exploration of narratives  through surreal and playful imagery to embody a reality. I expect this to  extend my knowledge of symbolism in the visual world, my understanding of  myself and others, and to push my creative ability by using traditional  imagery in a current, relevant, and honest way for myself and subject matter.

2. Influences, Research, Sources and Ideas

What are your  influences, starting points and contextual references and how are they  relevant to your ideas? What subject areas do you intend to research and what  are the likely sources of information (media sources, museums, specific  locations, performances, etc.) you plan to use? You do not need an extensive  list in this section, but include your bibliography in the Appendix, clearly  identifying all references including texts, periodicals, websites, etc.  

(guide: 150 words)

My initial artistic  influences are Tim Walker because of his exuberant world building using  sculpture and set, Cindy Sherman due to her creation of narratives and  character through costume and prosthetics, and William Blake owing to his  narrative work in which his own iconography was created, as I intend to also  do.

Potent symbolic imagery  such as in Hieronymus Bosch’s Garden of Earthly delights, and folkloric work  of the medieval period for example ‘the unicorn tapestries’.  Are relevant to my exploration of ‘the  self’ through symbolism and dream like world building. Through Academic  references, books, documentaries, exhibitions, films, and gallery spaces I intend  to research into visual iconography, religion, and gender. To enrich my  knowledge and in doing so be able to create works not only symbolising ‘the  self’ but having a conversation of what the subject’s self represents currently  and historically. Hopefully exploring, gender, ‘morality’, religion, myth,  and lore.

3. Techniques, Processes and Timescale

What techniques and  processes do you intend to use? Describe the range of media and materials  relevant to your project and how you may use them to explore and develop your  ideas. Include aspects of studio practice, workshop procedures, or the use of  particular equipment and software. Give an indicative timescale for your  project and how you intend to plan your time in order to investigate,  develop, produce and evaluate your project fully. This could be a daily or  weekly schedule.  (Please attach at the  end of this form.)

(guide: 150 words)

I intend to use the  studio photography room when creating film and photographic portraiture, so I  can utilise the set lighting and take clear pictures to enhance the scene created.  This will give me the freedom to explore different compositions and see how  that effects the portrayal of ‘the self’. The objects I plan on creating to build  these iconography based narratives will vary in material. I will make ceramic  glazed sculpture to enhance the attributes of the certain objects, for  example a pearl. I will use screen-printing to experiment with the images I  have created, this medium will allow for a discussion with colour and sizing.  Painting set backgrounds will allow for explorations into landscape  iconography. The use of film with allow me to create a narrative not only  through sculpture but a moving story with them. Using mud rock will enable me  to play with size and create wearable work. Perfect for my dream-like world building.

 4.  Method of Evaluation

How will you critically  review and analyse your work and determine if it is successful? How will you  identify directions for ongoing development? Do you have a method to record  the critical response to your ideas? How do you propose to assess the success  of your Final Major Project and what will be your methods of evaluation?

(guide: 100 words)

I will critically review  my work by continuously evaluating it, seeing if I have pushed it and myself  to its fullest potential, visually and conceptually. Analysing it through its  relevance, contextual, and visual strengths, realises successes and flaws and  building upon them. The direction for my ongoing development will be  identified by my interests in research and what media I find works well with  my concepts. Continually evaluating the relevance of concept, context and  material. Responses to my work and ideas will be found in tutorials and peer  evaluations, which I will seek out weekly. This important information will be  kept in my sketchbooks and blog. I plan to assess the success of my final  major project by reflecting on all my work and writing an evaluation.

5. Appendix

Include an appendix for  the bibliography and any other relevant material for your Final Major  Project.

Compile an accurate bibliography before starting your  project, that correctly acknowledges all references including texts, books,  websites, magazines, films, documentaries, museums that you will study for  initial research on your project.

 1. Gibson, W. S. (1973). Hieronymus Bosch and the Mirror of  Man: The Authorship and Iconography of the" Tabletop of the Seven Deadly  Sins". Oud Holland, 205-226.

2. Gibson, W. S. (1973). The Garden of Earthly Delights by  Hieronymus Bosch: The Iconography of the Central Panel. Netherlands  Yearbook for History of Art/Nederlands Kunsthistorisch Jaarboek Online, 24(1),  1-26.

3. Marrow, J. H. (1986). Symbol and meaning in northern European  art of the late middle ages and the early Renaissance. Simiolus:  Netherlands Quarterly for the History of Art, 16(2/3),  150-169.

5. Bragg, B. (2019). Advertising Antiquity: The Cultural  Utility Images Of Antiquity Enjoy In The Commercial Lexicon. Plan II  Honors Theses-Openly Available.

6. Wardle, J. (1978). Blake and iconography: analogues of  Urizen and Vala. Colby Quarterly, 14(3), 4.

7. Cosgrove, D., & Daniels, S. (Eds.). (1988). The  iconography of landscape: essays on the symbolic representation, design and  use of past environments (Vol. 9). Cambridge University Press.

8. " Holland, N. N. (1959). " The Seventh  Seal": The Film as Iconography. The Hudson Review, 12(2),  266-270.

9. Straten, R. V. (1994). An Introduction to Iconography:  Symbols, Allusions and Meaning in the Visual Arts.

10. Kosmopoulou, A., & Templer, W. (2002). The  iconography of sculptured statue bases in the Archaic and Classical periods.  Univ of Wisconsin Press.

11. Easton, M. (2012). FEMINISM. Studies in  Iconography, 33, 99-112.

12 Cohen, S. (2014). Review Essay: Animal Imagery in  Renaissance Art. Renaissance Quarterly, 67(1),  164-180.

13. Cavallo, A. S. (1998). The unicorn tapestries  at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Metropolitan museum of art.

14. Janick, J. (2010). Plant Iconography and Art: Source of  Information on Horticultural Technology. Bulletin of the University  of Agricultural Sciences & Veterinary Medicine Cluj-Napoca. Horticulture, 67(1).

  Week 1  Lots of research  in order to build a foundation of knowledge. Experimental work in reaction to  research. Using sketchbook as well as blog to record every thought, experiment,  relevant conisation and piece of research.

Week 2  Continuing  research; I plan to have completed reading most of my academic references by  the end of the week. Documenting and experimenting in sketchbook and blog. I  will start to build large scale sculptures in accordance with iconography of  objects I connect to.

Week 3  Documenting and  experimenting in sketchbook and blog. I will have researched into the  iconography of poses, the body, and landscape and will make costumes and set  backgrounds in accordance with my research and experimentations.

Week 4  Documenting and  experimenting in sketchbook and blog. I will go do a workshop on ceramics and  go into the ceramic studio and experiment and create objects relevant to the  media.

Week 5  Documenting and  experimenting in sketchbook and blog.  I will use the photography studio to  experiment in creating portraits using people and my props. I will go into the  dark room to experiment with the images produced. Working towards a final  outcome. I will experiment with film.

Week 6  Documenting and  experimenting in sketchbook and blog. I will do a course in screen printing  and experiment with previous images created in the photography studio as well  as creating new work. Working towards a final outcome

Week 7  Documenting and  experimenting in sketchbook and blog. I will be finishing my final project

Week 8  finishing touches  on work, continuing to document, finishing, handing in work.

[partycardigann]

SHINee SEEK Magazine Vol.7

[taylorafergus]

Fashion: The Fast and the Furiously Unsustainable - Week 7

Haute couture has always been a relatively respected and "staid affair" of which consisted of leading fashion houses crafting garments that cost upwards of hundreds and thousands of dollars (Sull and Turconi 2008, pg. 5). These astronomical prices provide buyers and wearers with feelings of exclusivity and contribute to a greater sense of social and cultural acceptance. 

Up until the late 1980s, fashion apparel retailers had utilised their knowledge of the industry and its market in a bid to forecast consumer demand and fashion trends in order to remain competitive (cited in Bhardwaj and Fairhurst 2010, pg. 165). Fast-forward 20 years and the fashion industry requires a new lens to view, understand and predict its market. The dynamics of this evolving industry have "forced retailers to desire low cost and flexibility in design, quality, and speed to market [all of which act as] key strategies to maintain a profitable position in the increasingly demanding market" (Bhardwaj and Fairhurst 2010, pg. 165). Retailers have revolutionised the fashion apparel industry by following a strategy known as 'fast fashion' - the democratisation of couture in "bringing trendy, affordable items to the masses" - which consequently bears its own set of harmful and unethical practices (Sull and Turconi 2008, pg. 5). As an antipode to such a strategy, the 'slow fashion' movement was established and continues to gain mainstream attention and traction.

Figure 1. Shopping GIF. Source; Giphy c. 2020.

Firms and fashion houses in the fast fashion apparel industry - such as Zara, Fashion Nova, UNIQLO and H&M -  have increasingly embraced the philosophy of 'fast fashion' retailing. The term 'fast fashion' describes a new and accelerated fashion apparel business model. The strategy involves the "increased numbers of new fashion collections every year [ - typically crafted to emulate current, high-cost luxury fashion trends - ], quick turnarounds and often lower prices" (House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee 2019, pg. 6). The aim is to react rapidly, theoretically overnight, in order to develop new products to meet consumer demands and fashion trends before they become yesterday's news. Fast fashion companies thrive off of fast cycles: "rapid prototyping, small batches combined with a large variety, more efficient transportation and delivery, and merchandise that is presented ‘floor-ready’ on hangers with price tags already attached" (cited in Joy et al. 2012, pg. 275). This combined with increasing consumerism has brought forth a dangerous ethos for both consumers and the planet; that is, the adopted mindset of a 'throw-away' culture that encourages over-consumption (Xue 2018, pg.9).

The fast fashion industry is fundamentally unsustainable and unethical. Textile production plays a larger contributing factor to climate change than international aviation and shipping combined. Additionally, the process requires large volumes of fresh drinking water and is a major chemical and plastic pollutant (House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee 2019, pg. 3). To put that into context - It costs 2,700 litres of fresh drinking water to make one cotton T-shirt, which is enough water for one person for a 900 day period (Gbor c. 2020). Australians alone "dispose of 6,000 kilograms of fashion and textile waste every 10 minutes" (Gbor c. 2020). Further, the working conditions of such an industry are no better. "Most garment production is done in developing countries, which do not have strict rules for worker safety, wage regulations or child protection" which is commonly exploited (Gaitho c. 2020).

One medium that plays a contributing factor in the proliferation of the fast fashion industry is Instagram. The trends gaining traction within the fashion industry are highly influenced by, and dependent on, media and celebrities. The rapid adoption of technologies and their increasing accessibility to the internet and social media ultimately contribute to a higher ‘trend’ awareness among consumers (cited in Léa et al. 2018, pg. 8). Fashion inspiration is no longer monopolised by seasonal fashion shows, glossy magazines and photoshoots. Further, the Fashion Retail Academy argues that Instagram has grown into one of the "top sources of fashion inspiration, with nearly a fifth (17%) of people using it to find the latest trends" (cited in Skeldon 2019). Additionally, fast fashion houses have jumped at the opportunity to partner with some of the most influential users of the platform by adopting a strategy called 'influencer marketing' which is commonly employed with individuals of ‘microcelebrity’ status.  The term 'influencer marketing' refers to the phenomenon of utilising influential individuals, who are active users online and are willing to share brand messages with their following (cited in Léa et al. 2018, pg. 7).

Figure 2. Big Brother Frankie GIF. Source; Giphy c. 2020.

Consumers are becoming increasingly disenchanted with their mindless consumption and disposal of fashion goods and its impact on society (Joy et al. 2012, pg. 277). Slow fashion, interchangeably referred to as sustainable fashion and ethical fashion was introduced as an antipode to the fast fashion industry (Lai et al. 2017, pg. 82). Sustainable fashion refers to ‘goods and services that respond to basic needs and bring a better quality of life, while minimizing the use of natural resources, toxic materials and emissions of waste and pollutants over the life-cycle, so as not to jeopardize the needs of future generations’ (cited in Lai et al. 2017, pg. 83). Consumers are increasingly seeking ethical and sustainable alternatives to the goods and services they encounter daily such as food, makeup, fashion etc. 

Fast fashion is a blatantly unsustainable and unethical industry that depends on the ignorance of consumers in identifying the true costs of staying ‘on-trend’ - the planet and the quality of life of others.

Figure 3. Fashion Upcycling Sticker GIF. Source; Giphy c. 2020.

References.

‘Big Brother Frankie’ [GIF], in Giphy c. 2020, influencer, Giphy, viewed the 4th of May 2020, <https://giphy.com/gifs/globaltv-big-brother-social-media-4T3QViZYrTGfcHEnnC>

Bhardwaj, V, Fairhurst A 2010, 'Fast fashion: response to changes in the fashion industry', The International Review of Retail, Distribution and Consumer Research, 01st of February 2010, vol. 20, no. 1, pp. 165-173

'Fashion Upcycling Sticker' [GIF], in Giphy c. 2020, fast fashion, Giphy, viewed the 4th of May 2020, <https://giphy.com/stickers/sustainable-ethical-zerrin-YlT2C6hzYI1xXxanjj>

Gaitho, M c. 2020, 'Unethical Fashion: Exploitation of Women and Children', Fabric of the World, viewed the 3rd of May 2020, <http://www.fabricoftheworld.com/unethical-fashion-learn-how-the-textile-industrys-practices-are-hazardous-to-workers/>

Gbor, N c. 2020, 'War on Waste: It’s time to step off the fashion trend-mill', ABC, viewed the 3rd of May 2020, <http://about.abc.net.au/war-on-waste-its-time-to-step-off-the-fashion-trend-mill/>

House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee 2019, 'Fixing fashion: clothing consumption and sustainability', House of Commons Environmental Audit Committee, Sixteenth Report of Session 2017–19, 5th of February, viewed the 2nd of May 2020, <https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmselect/cmenvaud/1952/1952.pdf>

Joy, A, Sherry, JF, Venkatesh, A, Wang, J, Chan, R 2012, 'Fast Fashion, Sustainability, and the Ethical Appeal of Luxury Brands', Fashion Theory, 1st of September 2012, vol.16, no. 3, pp. 273-295

Lai, Z, Henninger, C, Alevizou, P 2017, ‘An Exploration of Consumers’ Perceptions Towards Sustainable Fashion – A Qualitative Study in the UK’, (eds) Henninger, C, Alevizou, P, Goworek, H, Ryding, D (eds), in Sustainability in Fashion A Cradle to Upcycle Approach, Palgrave Macmillan, pp. 81-101

Léa, C, Malek, P, Runnvall, L 2018, 'Influencers impact on decision- making among generation Y and Z Swedish females when purchasing fast fashion.', Jönköping University: Bachelor’s Degree Project in Business Administration, 21st of May, viewed the 3rd of May 2020, <https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/f5fa/d75c4891a71b6c9f3781f75a13f4666ff846.pdf.>

‘Shopping GIF’ [GIF], in Giphy c. 2020, shopping, Giphy, viewed the 4th of May 2020, <https://giphy.com/gifs/pretty-girls-hair-13SrduL7iVarT2>

Skeldon, P 2019, 'Social influencers have led to the rise in fast fashion, with 30% of shoppers using Instagram for inspiration', Internet Retailing, viewed the 3rd of May 2020, <https://internetretailing.net/mobile-theme/mobile-theme/social-influencers-have-led-to-the-rise-in-fast-fashion-with-30-of-shoppers-using-instagram-for-inspiration-20388>

Sull, D, Turconi, S 2008, 'Fast fashion lessons', Business Strategy Review, June 2008, vol.19, no. 2, pp. 4-11

Xue, S 2018, 'Ethical Fashion in the Age of Fast Fashion', Digital Commons @ Connecticut College, viewed the 2nd of May 2020, <https://digitalcommons.conncoll.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1023&context=arthp>

[stratharchives]

The experience of women students at the University of Strathclyde: Beauty Standards

Niamh Cannon is back with her second guest blogpost in a series exploring the experience of women students at the University of Strathclyde predecessor institution, the Royal Technical College. Find out more about her research in her fantastic source guide, covering the topic in more detail.

(OJD/1/1, Jan 1910, p103)

In this post I will be looking at how beauty standards were portrayed throughout the student magazines, whether this be through short stories and fables or explicit discussions about what was expected from women in terms of appearance and manner.

When reading through the magazines I was not specifically looking out for themes of beauty standards for women, though they presented themselves regularly enough to grab my attention. In the early editions of the magazines, that did not include the Ladies’ Page to speak for the women, the most noticeable representation of how women should look is through short stories written by male authors. In short romance stories about falling in love at first sight, lots of emphasis is put on ‘kind eyes and smiles’. This links in with Rachael Alexander’s observations about beauty standards in the early twentieth century; she writes that ‘facial beauty was associated so closely with spiritual beauty or a goodness of character.’[1] This goodness or innocence translated through facial beauty is apparent in a short story called ‘The Warning Voice’ in the December edition of the Royal Technical College Magazine, 1912. The protagonist is describing a vision of who seems to be his lost love,

‘Her floss silk hair fell in ample waves across her brows, her eyes were very large and of a deep blue, half hidden by long, dark lashes. Her face had the clear sweetness and soft delicate outlines of a child’s.’[2] 

There are two things of particular interest to note here: first that the we can most likely assume that the woman in question is Caucasian, by the note of her big blue eyes; and secondly, that the allusion to this woman as being almost child-like or baby-faced in her features is worth exploring further. Geoffrey Jones states that throughout the 20th century, ‘the dominant discourse of ideal female beauty… was Caucasian.’[3]  and this short story supports Jones’ point. In regard to childlike features, Caroline Keating writes that, ‘immature characteristics generally elicit caretaking and cooperative responses, and stem aggressive/competitive responses, perhaps human female mimicry of childlike characteristics serves this social purpose.’[4] The ideal of the woman-child appearance described in this short story can be seen as a reflection of these gendered relationships during this period: that a man is the protector over the innocent female.

In another edition of the magazine I came across an interesting exchange in the correspondence section of the issue. This section is where students would seek answers to their questions or problems that would be published in each issue. This particular answer was in reply to a problem put forward by ‘Distressed Maiden’ regarding problems with her weight. The reply was as follows:

 ‘We are indeed sorry for you… Your desire to overcome such obesity is a laudable one… you are in duty bound to endeavour to reduce your corpulence. We would not advise your continuing taking a bottle of vinegar to every meal.’[5]

 What is interesting about this advice to the ‘Distressed Maiden’ is also a point that Alexander brings up in her article on beauty standards in the early twentieth century. She writes that in women’s magazines ‘The concept of self-improvement… permeates all aspects’ of the ideal of beauty. The advice given by the magazine committee echoes the ideology, that it is her ‘duty’ as a woman to reduce her body weight as she is currently existing outwith appropriate ideals of femininity. If a woman’s appearance and body is her primary characteristic, she is bound by societal standards to keep it in check with what is deemed acceptable.

The final example I will look at is from a later edition of the Royal Technical College Magazine and takes form of a limerick under the section ‘Here and There’, where poems and fables were usually published. This limerick talks of a young chemist student spying a pretty young woman in the hallway and passing her by. He writes:

 ‘To make-up so convincing, no-defect/ This girl now doth like a canvas show/ The colours of a sunset, crimson glow,/ Cheek, lips, hair and lashes lie/ Covered by skilful travesty,/ Pseudo coloured, with face cream below.’[6]

 From this description it is clear that the young lady is wearing a lot of makeup. It seems that the chemistry student is admiring but there is also a subtle mocking tone. Alexander states that attitudes to makeup during this period of the twentieth century were mixed. If beauty was supposed to reflect the internal goodness and innocence of a woman, then makeup ‘presented a moral dilemma’. Makeup in middle class culture represented ‘mistrust’ and ‘deep-seated fear’ to many because it had a mask or disguise effect which reflected a lack of morality. At the end of the limerick, the chemist speaks of how he squeezes past the young woman in the corridor ‘And is using petrol on his lab coat still’[7] , unable to get rid of the stains her makeup left. This jokey twist at the end of the poem also highlights how the makeup on this woman has undesirable effects- the staining of his lab coat is going against the ideal that women should clean and care for men, not create mess.

It appears that beauty standards and particularly makeup were a primary characteristic of women’s experience during this period and a topic of comment. It is interesting that women seem to have been held to quite high and specific beauty standards, but the use of makeup was generally frowned upon. It would certainly be interesting to uncover a woman’s perspective on beauty and makeup at this time, as the examples in the magazine are mainly given through the male gaze. Nonetheless, this narrative illustrates that women in the early 20th century were first and foremost judged by their appearance, their character and intelligence being secondary to this.

                                                        -----------

[1] Rachael Alexander, ‘Consuming Beauty: Mass-market magazines and make-up in the 1920s’, IJAS Online, 4, (2015), 3-14 (p.5)

[2] The Royal Technical College Magazine, December 1923, vol.V- no.3, p.70

[3] Geoffrey Jones, ‘Blonde and Blue-Eyes? Globalizing Beauty, c.1945-C.1980’, The Economic History Review, 61:1, (2008), 125-154 (p.132)

[4] Caroline F. Keating, ‘Gender and the Physiognomy of Dominance and Attractiveness’, Social Psychology Quarterly, 48: 1, 1985, 61–70, (p.63)

[5] The Royal Technical College Magazine, November 1908, vol.1- no.2, p.50

[6] The Mask: Organ of the Students of the Royal Technical College, February 1930, vol.XIV- no.5, p.134

[7] Ibid.

[dlstmxkakwldrlarchive]

(throwback) SHINee Seek Magazine Vol. 7

[deer-tokki]

Seek magazine vol.008 (2016) SHINee’s Everyday Q&A

Minho’s Everyday

1. What's the first thing you do when you get up in the morning? Minho: First I look at my phone. I check for messages and the time... Things like that.

2. What's the color of your toothbrush? Minho: I don't remember because there is no particular color but... I guess blue?

3. What do you usually eat for breakfast? Minho: I don't eat breakfast!

4. What do you always have in your refrigerator? Minho: Sports drink. Sometimes I drink sports drinks in the morning.

5. What is your favorite fashion item? Minho: Jeans, cap, soccer uniform. I wear uniforms for fashion, not soccer practice.

6. Your favorite wallet? Minho: A folding blue wallet.

7. What drinks do you often order at cafes? Minho: Iced Americano.

8. What is your favorite smartphone case? Minho: This is the case of a soccer player called Fernando Torres, it's a custom-made case, the only one in the world.

9. What's the most recent photo taken with your phone? Minho: A selca.

10. What games are you into right now? Minho: Certainly "Winning Eleven".

11. What about your most recent staple food? Minho: This (question) in particular! There is no such thing, I like to eat a lot of things.

12. What is the most memorable TV show you watched recently? Minho: "Soccer Euro 2016" is being broadcasted recently, so I have been watching it all (laughs). Also, I laughed while watching the Korean variety show named "Knowing Brothers".

13. What music do you listen to these days? Minho: I listen to a song by an artist called Lukas Graham.

14. What books you've been reading these days? Minho: Poetry. It's a collection of famous poets' works and I read it because there are expressions and new discoveries that I never thought of and I can expand my range of thinking.

15. What have you bought recently? Minho: What was it...? (He thinks for a while) I don't remember. (laughs)

16. What foods do you cook when you are hungry? Minho: Ramen.

17. When did you laugh the most recently? Minho: Hm... I don't think I can remember...

18. What was your biggest shock recently? Minho: It's a secret.

19. What has surprised you the most recently? Minho: This is also a secret! (laughs)

20. when do you feel relaxed when you're home? Minho: When I can sleep on my bed.

21. What did you dream about recently? Minho: Sometimes I have dreams but I forget what I dreamed about.

22. How do you sleep at night? Minho: Wearing a T-shirt and shorts.

23. What to do before going to bed at night?! Minho: I watch my face.

24. What will you eat for dinner tonight? Minho: Samgyetang.* (*Samgyetang: Ginseng chicken soup)

translation: DiamondTaem

[teddystrap]

Drama CD: [幽幻ロマンチカ・有頂天] ~Baku: Utashiro~

I didn’t sleep well last night, a mosquito was using me as a blood bag >;(... So thanks to that I was wide awake and had time to listen to another drama CD.

Character #2 in the Yuugen Romantica series, Utashiro (cv. Kimura Ryouhei), is a baku: a mythical creature that survives by eating dreams and helps people get rid of their nightmares that way. It’s too bad he doesn’t eat unwanted insects in my room as well.

‘Sorry dude that’s not part of my regular diet.’

Anyway, going back to Nanagiri High School. This time there is a rumour about the only stairway that leads to Heaven the rooftop. Usually there are only 12 steps, but if you get to the 13th step, that means that you are on your way down into Utashiro’s nightmare territory...

After you try (unsuccessfully ofc) to escape, Utashiro takes possession of your body and makes you solve some hard maths problem in 5 seconds, threatening to eat you if you fail. Thankfully he stops possessing you, and you grab a mop nearby to defend yourself. With the mop handle you push him into a row of lockers, and he is forced to end the nightmare to prevent them from falling on him - which allows you to escape.

Gotta admit that’s pretty badass for an otome heroine. ᕦ(ò_óˇ)ᕤ“ﾌｧｲﾃｨﾝｸﾞ!!

The next day he seeks you out disguised as a human boy so you don’t recognise him. He’s been looking everywhere for you for revenge for your counterattack yesterday. He throws you back into the nightmare high school world but you still don’t recognise him Orz. So he changes back into his demon form. And this time he got rid of the cleaning equipment so you can’t attack him lolol.

Instead, he has prepared a bed, where he lulls you to sleep. He plans to frighten you with monsters hiding under the bed, but... his brilliant plan backfires because you fall asleep sooo soundly that even demons screaming in Hell can’t wake you up. XD

Turns out you have been sleep-deprived lately because of a mosquito recurring nightmares. In fact that’s why you went to the stairwell in the first place - to investigate if it is related to the Seven Supernatural Wonders of the School. After some further failed attempts to intimidate you, Utashiro finally gives up and gently rocks you to sleep, swearing that he will get you next time. Lmao.

Next day you go and thank him for helping you sleep and he is still feeling salty. After school you stay to prepare for the bunka-sai (cultural festival) exhibition, and he tags along. You class is planning to make a haunted house, and he warns you that it might attract unwanted spirits,... but you cheerfully invite him to come and visit too ^_~.

Utashiro tells you that the state of the Seven Supernaturals has been changing due to the fickleness of humans. E.g., the Youkai with the Flowers in the Toilets [*voiced by Midorikawa Hikaru... I haven’t listened to his discs but I have a hard time taking this character seriously...] has disappeared, and he himself has emerged (since the original series). There is also a strange rumour going round that the nightmare on the 13th step is killing people in their sleep, and he’s offended that people think he’s that kind of demon.

You stupidly agree with him. To show you that he’s not all nice, he possesses you and touches and kisses you, knowing that you can’t fight back/react since you are in public and he is in invisible mode. So you run off to hide in a dark corner, secretly hoping that he will rip your clothes off and have his way with you. (ฅωฅ`)ﾃﾚﾙｰ♥

But alas Rejet is trying to keep it safe for the kids here so nothing happened calm your tits woman!! He ends up walking you home and carrying your bag for you (how sweet is this guy seriously). As he’s leaving he senses a... supernatural energy from you. So at night he sneaks into your house and, sure enough, you are having night terrors.

He consumes your nightmare, and is about to leave when you wake up. To hide his identity, he changes into his chibi-baku form. But you know it’s him anyway. You are scared to be left alone, so he becomes your reluctant dakimakura ԅ(≖‿≖ԅ). As he watches your sleeping face, he realises how he used to live for people’s happiness, before he became this yakuza demon from the ‘hood who terrorises people for fun.

Ok yeah Utashiro is that Moomin-looking thing from the Hifumi picture.

One day you bring him lunch on the rooftop as a token of your gratitude, but he seems to be having... indigestion pains from eating your nightmares every night. #youkaiproblems. He tells you that he used to do this for people regularly and they would come and visit him, but now times have changed and they don’t need him anymore, and all his friends are dead, but for some reason he’s still alive. He has remained in Nanagiri High School because of rumours that there might be another fellow baku lurking around.

At night you tell him not to eat anymore. He wants to insist, but his body is almost at its limit. He tells you there’s another way to end your nightmares - which is to confront the demon behind them directly. To protect you, he enters your dream along with you.

The demon uses the same haunted school grounds as his backdrop. However, there is an abandoned dried-up well in the courtyard which doesn’t exist in reality. As you approach, a baku emerges from the well and tries to kill you both despite your goodwill.

Turns out this thing is a youkai-kuzure, the remnant form of a demon that has been neglected, but still maintains a strong will to survive and holds a lot of resentment towards humans. Utashiro thinks he will end up the same way and sinks into a bout of “look kids, this is me in 20 years’ time” nihilism.

He begs you to run away but you refuse. You want to let the youkai-kuzure baku use your body and regain its energy so that Utashiro can restore his faith in humanity. In the end Utashiro ends up possessing you, and diplomatically talks the youkai-kuzure into exorcising itself. Basically what he says can be summarised as follows:

‘You are not alone. Me and this human girl are here for you... Now fuck off R.I.P.’

And so fuck off R.I.P. it did.

Then both of you wake up from your nightmare. Utashiro is about to leave but you stop him. So then he asks you if he can stay with you forever, because he has nowhere to go now anyway, and he doesn’t want to become that troll that lives under the bridge and throws rocks at people’s shins and glances at porno magazines through the konbini window.

*

[Thoughts] Very important update: The mosquito that was biting me is now dead now, too. And I killed it by force instead of using diplomatic exorcism.

This disc was really entertaining, I actually laughed out loud several times throughout. Kimura Ryouhei has a way of drawing out your emotions, idk, I mean most otome games/dramas are meant to do that, but his voice is just more... vivid to me in some way, I guess.

Utashiro is a totally adorable character. The way how he acts all tough and threatening but immediately panics and surrenders when the heroine is upset. Kimura-sensei calls him a ‘cute clumsy tsudere’ and thinks that he could be a good sleeping aid/pillow for people who... need that I guess.

[Reminds me of Tsuda Kenjirou’s commentary on Yomei Kareshi (a series where your guy has a terminal illness), where he’s wondering if we actually listen to it before we go to sleep. YES TSUDA-SENSEI WE DO I use drama CDs to help me sleep. With Vol.1 I was new to the series and cried buckets when the boyfriend was dying, but by Vol.7 I had got used to it and was already numb to all the tragedy. Yeah sorry.]

Actually I really enjoy listening to the Free Talks because they give you a glimpse into the cast’s personalities. I got the feeling that Kimura-sensei doesn’t really think through his replies and just blurts things out, and the spontaneity gave me a kind of a Mukami Kou vibe (in a good way though, I don’t think/hope he has Kou’s split personality lolol). I also get the feeling that he and Tsuda-sensei have similar temperaments and would get along great...

But anyway, back to the main story. Utashiro is really pretty tsun and he didn’t reveal very much romantic feelings until the very end, where it felt almost like he suddenly went from zero to sixty. It’s really different from Hifumi’s original story, which had romantic moments steadily throughout, like the date and the star-making/gazing event at night. But I think Kimura-sensei makes up for it with his very 色気のある voice.

I also liked the heroine’s personality better in this one. Hope she keeps up the epic-level KYness in the later stories.

...Aaaand now I really need to go get some sleep.@_@

[howwelldoyouknowyourmoon]

Divine Principle – “any character would have sufficed to fill the role of ‘messiah’”

Many ‘messiahs’ have taught variations of the Divine Principle in Korea.

Kim Baek-moon 金百文 taught it from the early 1940s, and was the source of many of Moon’s ideas. Kim developed the ‘parallels of history’ which culminated in the year of his birth, 1917. 

Kim Baek-moon talked about “sexual union with God”

_________________________________________

Chong Deuk-eun 丁得恩 taught 17 ideas in the mid 1940s that were integrated into Moon’s Divine Principle. She called herself Holy Mother, and had developed a theology to demonstrate that she was a new female messiah. She was over 20 years older than Moon, and had developed her ideas well before meeting him. She taught the four position foundation, the failure of Abraham, etc., many years before Moon.  She practised pikareum and described it as “Transmission of the holy blood”. At the end of her book, The Principles of Life, she emphasized the restoration of Eden. LINK

_________________________________________

Here are examples of four men and one woman who were Unification Church members, or studied the Divine Principle, and have then promoted themselves as messiahs or gurus:

Jung Myong-suk (or Jeong Myeong-seok) 鄭明析 – the South Korean cult known as Setsuri, JMS, Jesus Morning Star, or Providence. LINK

Jeong Myeong-seok, above. Following accusations against him by South Korean police of rape, fraud and embezzlement, Jeong fled the country in 1999 and lived as a fugitive in Hong Kong, Taiwan, and China before being arrested by Chinese police in May 2007. In April 2009, the Supreme court of South Korea sentenced Jeong Myeong-seok to 10 years in jail. LINK

Sex and the bizarre world of former Moonie, Providence cult leader Jeong Myeong-seok

VIDEO

_________________________________________

Lee Il-chi 李一指 (born Lee Seung-heun 李承憲 ) – Dahn Yoga LINK

Dahn is the Korean for “energy”

“During the day time, Lee attended college, and … studied with Unification Church’s Divine Principle study group looking for answers in the bible.” (“Dahn Hak” written by Lee Il-chi, page 199)

From www.freedomofmind.com: “While I was seeking Tao at Moak mountain, I attended Unification Church. … I opened up a Unification Church Il-Wha spring water franchise, but it failed so I had to sell my house.

…Lee first opened his eyes to the enlightenment in 1980. According to Dahn World, President Lee achieved his “Great Connection with the Heaven” on July 15th 1980 at Moak Mountain behind his wife Sim JourngSook’s birth home.”

[similar to Moon’s 1936 ‘revelation from Jesus’ myth]

“Lee reportedly had help from Hwa-young Moon, a Korean woman who joined Dahn in the late 1980s and whipped [the theology] into shape; she knew a good deal about the enlightenment trade, having grown up in the “Moonies,” the Unification Church.” (Rolling Stone magazine, 2010 LINK)

In 1980 Lee changed his name from 李承憲, Lee Seung-heun to Lee Ilchi 李一指. Ilchi means “finger pointing to the truth.” [Moon changed his name from Moon Yong Myung to Moon Sun Myung. Yong means dragon.]

Lee left two sons and his wife. [Moon left his first wife, Choi Seon-gil, and infant son in 1946. (ref. Michael Breen, Sun Myung Moon, the early years) Hee-jin Moon was born on August 17, 1955 in Tokyo. He was the son of Kim Myung-hee and Moon Sun Myung who married on June 30, 1955. Moon has acknowledged he is Hee-jin’s father. However, Moon never gave any financial support for his wife or for his son during their four year exile in Japan.]

In 2008, Dahn settled a lawsuit for an undisclosed sum when a college professor named Julia Siverls died of dehydration while hiking a Sedona mountain, allegedly lugging 25 pounds of rocks in her backpack. LINK

The Scary Yoga Obsession – A Glamour exclusive LINK

Thousands of young women have turned to the popular Dahn Yoga practice, and many say they love it. But now some former members are making shocking charges of greed, psychological manipulation and sexual assault. Who’s right?

… A few months later Jade attended a Shimsung workshop led by a high-level Dahn trainer and staffed by Dahn masters. These workshops, according to Jade and some of the other plaintiffs in the suit, take on the air of group therapy, with participants sharing their deepest, darkest insecurities with a roomful of strangers. Masters are quick to offer a box of tissues or a supportive embrace during emotional moments. At the end of the workshop, the lights dim, loud drumming music is turned on and the participants chant, weep and shout, “Who am I? What do I want?” Lucie remembers that some people walked out midworkshop, unnerved, but she and others felt as if their hearts had opened.

Recalls Lucie, “It felt like you were falling in love, only much bigger, because you weren’t just falling in love with a person, but with a community, a practice and a lifestyle, all in one. It was everything. I felt like the luckiest person in the world.”Cult experts call that lavish attention “love bombing,” a common recruitment technique. “As social beings, we respond well to people who make us feel welcome and secure,” notes Janja Lalich, Ph.D., a professor of sociology at California State University, Chico, and a cult expert. “Love bombing also tends to make the person feel more obligated to comply with requests from the group—requests to come back again, to give more, to bring friends and so forth.” The technique doesn’t work on everyone, which may explain why many people can practice Dahn Yoga without being consumed by it. “Dahn is especially appealing to anyone who is anxious, vulnerable or struggling with personal issues like a breakup or questions about career direction,” says cult expert Szimhart.

Six months into her Dahn experience, Lucie dropped out of college to dedicate herself completely to Ilchi Lee’s “vision” of spreading the word about Dahn Yoga. When her MIT tuition refund check came, she cashed it to pay for a course at Dahn’s National Retreat Center in Sedona, Arizona. “You feel good when you write the check or swipe your card,” says Lucie. “Like you just bought a present for your soul.”…

… Lucie now directs a ski school in New Hampshire and has paid off the debt she accrued while at Dahn. One good thing she says has come from her ordeal is a “beautiful friendship” with Jade, Liza and Nina. “We’re healing together,” says Lucie. While they say they may never see a penny—or an apology—from Dahn, they hope their complaint will save others. “The women who become sabumnims are incredible people; they are so smart and passionate and have so much to contribute to the world,” Lucie says. “Ilchi Lee’s bank account is not a cause worthy of all they have to offer.”

Catherine Elton is a journalist in Boston.

It is worth reading some of the comments under this Glamour article.

_________________________________________

Woo Myung-shik – Woo Group LINK (Not to be confused with Woo Myung and Maum Meditation)

_________________________________________

David Jang – LINK Christianity Today September 2012, Vol. 56, No. 8, Pg 36, “The Second Coming Christ Controversy”

… The details of Jang’s early life are in question, and multiple efforts to contact him for this story’s publication were unsuccessful. Critics in Korea, Japan, and China say he was involved in Sun Myung Moon’s Unification Church. They point to his appearance in a 1989 student handbook for Moon’s Sung Hwa Theological Seminary as an assistant professor of theology, teaching systematic theology and Unification theology. They also cite a 2002 history of Sun Moon University praising him for helping to fund the school.

… But according to several sources with experience in Jang-associated organizations and communities, many members of the movement believed that the key event in Jang’s early missionary endeavors is not in his résumé—nor, indeed, in any written source. It was believed, these sources said, that in or around 1992, early follower Borah Lin told Jang that she believed he was the “Second Coming Christ”—not Jesus Christ himself, but rather a new messianic figure that would complete Jesus’ earthly mission. According to several former members, Lin became an important spiritual figure in Jang’s closest circles. Documents from teaching sessions indicate that Jang and his followers look to October 30, 1992—Jang’s 43rd birthday—as the precise date of the start of their own movement. Beyond that, affiliated groups including Apostolos Campus Ministries and Olivet University look to 1992 as the year of their founding.

… The basic content of these messages, both as contained in the notes and as described by former members, bears similarities to the teachings of Sun Myung Moon—that Jesus’ work was left unfinished and in need of another "Christ” to complete it. Daniel 12 records a notoriously ambiguous prophecy that refers to 1,260 days (“a time, times and half a time”), “1,290 days,” and then finally to “1,335 days.” The 1,260 days, the notes say, finished when Jesus was born, and the 1,290 days were completed when Jesus began to preach and teach publicly at 30 years of age (1,260 + 30 = 1,290). His three-year public ministry, they say, advanced the prophecy of 1,290 days to 1,293 days, but because the Cross cut his mission short, Jesus did not fulfill the prophecy of the 1,335 days. There is thus a remaining gap of some 42 “days,” which were said to symbolize 42 years. Multiple sources said that this 42-year gap was believed to have been fulfilled by Jang.

The lessons also taught a doctrine of “three Israels.” The first was a national Israel, the second was composed of Christians, and the third was constituted by the movement Jang had founded. The 144,000 of Revelation 7 was said to refer to this “third Israel,” and the Lamb who redeemed them was said to be “not Jesus, but the Christ of the Second Coming.”

Closely associated with this idea of Jang’s followers as the “third Israel” is a distinction between the “gospel of parables” that Jesus taught and the “eternal gospel” delivered to Jang. One of the lessons said, “Jesus speaks in parables to preach to us, but to the new era, the gospel will be explained more clearly, that is, the everlasting Gospel.” This “everlasting Gospel” will be proclaimed by the Second Coming Christ.

_____________________________

And a new True Mother, ‪Senyu Ryuka Sama‬  LINK

‪A service with Senyu Ryuka Sama‬ LINK

_____________________________

Disciples of the messiah, Lee Man-hee

Rival Korean messiah, Lee Man-hee, builds workshop next to UC / FFWPU Cheongpyeong Center

How “God’s Day” was established by Sun Myung Moon on Jan 1, 1968

Newsweek on the many Korean messiahs of the 1970s

Hwang Gook-joo and his orgies

Chong Deuk-eun – Great Holy Mother

Park Tae-seon – another Korean Pikareum Messiah

Kim Baek-moon talked about “sexual union with God”

Kim Seong-do and the roots of the Divine Principle

The six ‘wives’ of Sun Myung Moon

Sun Myung Moon: “church and the state must become one”

[taeminstummie]

seek magazine vol. 7

[smoldinopup]

REMINISCENCE - JONGHYUN IV

Translation of a special section dedicated to Jonghyun in the newest Seek magazine (Vol. 11).

Chattering

In every issue, the members would challenge different things in the "SHINee CHALLENGE PROJECT". Regardless of where you look, Jonghyun was the only one who had a lot of "speech bubbles" (A/N: I think they refer to the speech bubbles next to the photos in the magazine here). No matter if he was baking bread, cooking meals, or making amezaiku*...while the other members were concentrating, Jonghyun kept talking all alone! Even when they made a rabbit amezaiku for vol. 7 he made a live broadcast almost by himself when he continued babbling "No, that's not a rabbit. I make a quail.  Let's go with quail! That's no good, a penguin. I will do a dolphin! It will become a shark...It's the evolution of mammals!" (laughs) In such situations, the other members would kindly let him be. Jonghyun who liked making things, really enjoyed these fun challenges every time. When the members made ceramics and the time was over he would say "No way!" "I will continue!" with a pouting face.

*amezaiku

Japanese

Though it is Key who is the center during interviews and talks a lot because his Japanese is very good, Jonghyun was also trying hard to study Japanese. Jonghyun is familiar with manga and Japanese songs and learned the language that way. He liked the anime "My ordinary Life", and to be honest the Seek's editorial department didn't know the anime and he was very surprised about that, asking "Eh? You don't know it?" He said that the manga "Ghost in the shell" is his bible, that he loves reading mangas by OHNARI Yuko, and of course he loves the movie "Your Name". 

Jonghyun would also listen to a lot of Japanese songs. In 2010 he sang NAKASHIMA Mika's song "Yuki no Hana (Snow Flower)" in Korean, and in 2011 during SHINee World he presented his Japanese by singing HIRAI Ken's "Boku wa kimi ni koi wo suru (I love you)".

Of course, the other members also listen to Japanese music often, but Jonghyun was really into Japanese Indie bands and was very familiar with them because he listened to them so much.

While the band traveled through the whole country during their arena tour in 2014, Jonghyun made sure to eat local specialties and tried to memorize a word from every region. Until shortly before the interview he would look at Japanese reference books, and though he never showed off, Seek knows how hard he worked on learning Japanese and tried to understand more about Japan.

*I was a nice lad and put links to all mangas, animes, music that were mentioned here.

Other parts: Chatting | Japanese | Liking Dogs and Children | Expressive | Sweet tooth | Gentleman | Tsundere | Shyness

A/N: I’m not a native speaker - neither of Japanese nor English. The words written in brackets can also be found in the original text.