A TERRIBLE BEAUTY: Ukrainian women's mags replace beauty tips with advice on home birth, using guns and wartime rape
The Ukraine edition of popular women's magazine Marie Claire is still continuing to operate amid the ongoing war, but the articles and features have changed drastically. The popular fashion and beauty magazine, is now offering expert advice on home births as well as practical scenarios like how to remove acrylic nails to hold guns. The paradigm shift in the narrative reflects how the situation in Ukraine changed overnight when Russian troops invaded the country on February 23, 2022.
Over the past weeks, hundreds of innocent Ukrainians have lost their lives as Russia continues indiscriminate bombing and shelling on cities. Alongside Marie Claire, Vogue Ukraine and Elle Ukraine are also continuing to publish online, though they have pivoted towards practical wartime advice for women victims. Many of their readers are spending their days in fear inside bomb shelters.
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The publications which spoke about the latest in global fashion and spring collections barely weeks ago, are now publishing features like "What to do in the case of radioactive contamination", "first aid kit essentials" and "how to give birth at home in war conditions".
Marie Claire Ukraine's Editor-in-Chief Iryna Tatarenko noted, "For the first two days of the war we didn’t know what to do, but then we realized we had a powerful resource in our magazine to help answer women’s questions about this new military reality they’ve found themselves in.
Readers need support and answers from experts to questions that even the mighty Google is unable to answer." She added, "Right now, pregnant women can’t even feel safe even in maternity hospitals as Russian soldiers are shelling those too."
Vogue Ukraine also joined the effort as they released stories on "How to save your health in case of an accident at a nuclear power plant" or "How to survive an emotional crisis and save a calm one: recommendations of the Ministry of Health", under their Beauty Guide section. The Vogue homepage now reads, "Danger for women at the border: What to know and how to behave," as opposed to the runaway models and designers dominating the page a week back.
The reality is, unfortunately, as grim as the haunting articles on the pages of these magazines. There are reports of rising sexual violence, as Ukraine Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba claimed that Russian soldiers are raping Ukrainian women. Many pregnant women who were forced to flee their homes are now giving birth in metro stations and bomb shelters. In general, most women refugees find themselves without sanitary products and hygiene essentials while on the run.
