Okay, so my girlfriend is making a post about certain bandom girls and their contributions to world/society/whatever, which inspired me to read some recent posts about scene queens. And oh lord, did my blood begin to boil.
So, hi, this is a rant. An uncut rant, because, yeah, I think this is important enough to share. This is primarily about Jac and Audrey, because I know the most about them and care the most about them and if that makes me biased, well, that's okay by me.
So. First, let me say that I am by no means saying that you have to like these girls. There are plenty of good reasons not to like them (and by them I mostly mean Audrey). What I am saying is that there are some severely fucked up reasons I've seen given for NOT liking them, and I'd like to address these reasons.
"I don't respect girls who use their looks to get by"/"base entire careers on looks"Okay! I understand that. I personally have no beef with the modeling industry, I think plenty of models work their asses off, and there are plenty of other careers that don't require a ton of brainpower. If you really just hate that sort of job, that's up to you. But in relation to Audrey Kitching, I've noticed people hating on aspects of her that have to do with
her as a model, not modeling in general, so for the purpose of this, let's say that modeling as a career doesn't really bother you. So what is it about Audrey's career that pisses you off? Is it the image she uses, the pink hair? If she were a plus-sized model, would this even be an issue? Why not? It's the
exact same thing. It's using a certain image to get noticed and sell something. I see Audrey get a ton of shit for being so skinny. That bothers me SO MUCH. I have a ton of pictures of a much younger Audrey because I'm creepy like that, and guess what, guys. She's always been a tiny little thing. It's just the way she's built! I would probably guess that I weigh two times her weight, no joke, and you know what? That doesn't give me the right to hate her. Unless she's starving herself for the specific purpose of getting ahead in modeling, there is
nothing wrong with being skinny. I see a ton of people love Jamia instantly for being "real girl" shaped. Uh, guys? Audrey Kitching is a real girl. Real girls come in all shapes and sizes. Judging someone based on their weight either way is a shitty thing to do and I'd like it to stop.
Another thing I see Audrey get flack for is putting too much importance on being internet famous. I'm sorry, I don't know if you guys have noticed this, but the internet is pretty fucking important in this day and age. A major issue in the writer's strike is that they aren't getting compensated for internet downloads. Panic At the Disco got discovered because Pete found their music on the internet. The internet is a fantastic way to promote yourself. And that's exactly what Audrey's doing. She's posting pictures of her work as a model so she'll get more work. I don't see what's wrong with that, exactly, or why it's really different from a photographer posting pictures of their work so people will hire them.
Speaking of photographers! It's time to talk about Jac now, and why this argument doesn't really apply to her. I see a lot of people assuming that all she does is take pictures of herself, for whatever reason. This is vastly untrue. Jac takes a lot of pictures because photography is a hobby and an interest. I take a ton of pictures of myself too, mostly because it's a lot of fun. There's nothing really wrong with that. You know what else Jac does? She goes to college, on a scholarship, and is required to maintain her grades. She parties and has fun and is basically
just a normal girl. The argument that she "does nothing" or "gets by with her looks" doesn't really apply her, unless her looks are somehow magically getting her a 4.0.
"They wear too much makeup"/"too little clothing"/"don't respect themselves"Oh boy. This...literally makes me foam at the mouth. It's basically saying "they don't respect themselves because they use their faces to display some funky art and walk around in revealing clothing." First of all, I thought we left that kind of thinking behind a long time ago. Second of all, this exact argument could be said about Ryan Ross. And I NEVER hear anyone debating whether Ryan Ross respects himself because he paints his face or camwhored half-naked in a bathroom. Guys can show off their bodies and be labeled confident. Girls take pictures in bikinis and get labeled insecure, or sluts. "She can't respect herself, look what she's wearing." You know what? If I had a body like Jac's, I'd take pictures of myself too! She's gorgeous, her body is lovely, and if she wants to show it off, who are we to tell her "That makes you less than us." If I'm taking pictures of myself in a cute bra, does that make me less intelligent than you? Does that make me not respect myself? Fuck that. If
you have a problem with me wearing a low-cut shirt, if
you have a problem with me loving how I look, if
you have a problem with my sexual life, then that is your fucking problem and I don't want to hear about it. I know who I am. Maybe you want to read
this and then get back to me.
Or better yet, get the fuck out of my journal. I don't want you here. What these girls choose to post online has nothing to do with whether they respect themselves or not. Don't you dare assume that it makes them less of a woman, or less of a human being. I've never seen them state anywhere that brains are unimportant, that men are better than women, or anything that people seem to assume.
*breathes*
"They don't actually do anything, not the way Alicia/Lyn-Z/etc. do"Fair enough about Lyn-Z, these girls most certainly aren't in a band. But let's talk about Alicia for a second. Yes, she used to tech on Warped Tour and work in the music scene, yes, she's awesome. I love Alicia, but I haven't seen much of what she's been doing lately other than being Mikey Way's wife. And let's not pretend like quite a few of us would know who she is if she wasn't connected to Mikey or Pete. There's nothing wrong with either of those things, to me, and to be honest...it's not a hell of a lot different from Jac or Audrey. And if you want to see exactly what it is that these girls do, head over to my girlfriend's awesome post/picspam
here. It's about Jac, Audrey, Keltie, and Ashlee, the girls fandom seem to hate the absolute most, and why we need to stop saying "they contribute nothing".
I'll sum it up for you here, too. Jac is a student at UCLA, Audrey models and styles hair. If you want to talk about them not doing anything or not working hard, check the facts out first. Jac maintains a 4.0 and has for a few years now. That takes time, effort, brains, and a hell of a lot of studying. Audrey, whatever you might think of her chosen professions, sounds pretty ecstatic in her Buzznet journal when she finally gets to get a few days off. Modeling is work, and she does it full time. She's not just sitting around in a computer chair all day taking pictures of herself. If you want to argue the merits of what these girls do, be it student, wife, bass player, model, whatever, that's a different story. But they all are committed to their jobs. And maybe before you judge them for not contributing anything to
fandom, you should remember that these girls did not sign up to be musicians. Audrey Kitching and Jac Vanek did not come here to make you dance tonight, they aren't here to provide music for you. And just because they aren't involved in the music that we all love doesn't mean they aren't doing something worthwhile that we can enjoy or respect them for.
And what exactly are you doing in life that allows you to say "Being a student isn't good enough. It doesn't mean enough. Photography isn't a worthy profession. Styling hair for a living obviously means you have no brains, why aren't you doing something worthy?" Let's talk about that. Let's talk about artists. Let's talk about people who do your hair for a living. Let's talk about people who work on cars for a living. Let's talk about how fandom gets so high and mighty as to actually judge people for taking what they love to do and turning it into a career. Isn't that the fucking American
dream? If you could sit around talking about fandom all day and get paid for it, who the hell wouldn't jump at that chance? I think it's time to stop judging people based on their careers and start examining them as
people. Their personalities, how they come across in videos.
That should be the way you form your opinions.
"I don't think I'd like to hang out with them in person"Okay! Totally valid point. I wouldn't want to hang out with Audrey either, she seems like a bitch. (
ETA a year later: Okay, having met her in person, she was actually totally sweet and seems much less like a bitch now than she used to.)But she is a fascinating person who I'd love to read fic about. Just like Brendon Urie.
"I don't care about them because they don't make music and that's what I'm here for"/"don't know anything about them"Awesome! Carry about your business. Different strokes and all that jazz.
Mostly, what I'm trying to accomplish with this post is to make you reconsider your opinions, or realize that maybe you were a bit uninformed to begin with. I'm not saying you have to like these girls at all! I'm just saying, it's time to stop judging them for living the lives they choose to live.
Rant over!
I hope I don't get hate mail for this. But discussion is more than welcome!
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