E d i t o r ’ s L e t t e r
Each one of these letters I write to Flaunt Magazine’s discerning audience is expressed with modesty, humility, and understatedness. Which is why I’d call this issue a masterpiece, an unequivocal work of art, worthy of countless awards for which we did not apply.
See, the most critical thing in contemporary publishing is true and honorable journalism—the facts. Let me restate that bearing in mind this, The Double Standards Issue: the most important thing in contemporary publishing is a thumb atop whomever or whatever is espousing the facts, by whatever means necessary. See, as free media in 2018, one’s encouraged to enjoy the suppression of some, the pruning of others, the manipulation of many, in order to really get at what one really needs, which is profit. I mean, the truth.
And so at the extremely warm and welcoming, invite-only dinner parties we find ourselves frequenting, we rub shoulders with the celebrated VIPs of our beloved City of Angels; the paragons of virtue and innocence for which this city is named! Pro-lifers toast to capital punishment, fiscal conservatives smoke cigars at poker tables, and go-go dancers are reprimanded for public breastfeeding. At the bar, we boast of our charitable personas but will disappear when the tab arrives, pour Mormons the stiffest of drinks (in coffee mugs, of course, at their request), while the young lady with the alligator Birkin bag asks if her cocktail is vegan.
Life is full of double standards, and now more than ever they seem to explicitly scream, “Look at me! Now leave me alone!” across politics, pop culture, and the hairy mess of social media that strings the former two together. And so, a talking out both sides of our mouth, in one ear and out the other issue chockfull of fall fashion (don’t get me started on the dub stands here). We’ve covers with young thesp Chloë Grace Moretz—who speaks to the double standards she constantly faces in castings and on set (Page 178) despite her 65 film credits and her 21 years of age—and Chinese artist and activist Ai Weiwei, whose first solo show in Los Angeles examines the global refugee crisis through mythic craft and scale. There’s a “How to be Famous” infographic, rife with double standards (page 81), and essays on ageism, sexism, religion, and money in our central feature, “Make it a Double, We Have Standards to Abandon” (page 166).
Enjoy the issue or pretend to, and remember someone’s always watching.
Sincerely,
Matthew Bedard
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