To consider The Big Issue as applicable to feminist theories such as bell hooks, it's important to understand that The Big Issue goes out of it's way to dispel stigmatic stereotypes, and it is known as giving a voice to the voiceless; subsequently, we can't imagine any extremely familiar representations being represented here, however to acknowledge when these stereotypes are being defied, we need to know what they are to start with.
The article 'Moving On' demonstrates life after poverty and the good that The Big Issue prides themselves on facilitating. This provides a sense of hope for those who may be currently selling The Big Issue, or are just financially in a bad time and are worried what the future might hold for them.
This article features the stories of those who were once in poverty, but actively got themselves out with the help of The Big Issue and are now living lives that they are happy with and grateful for, however the pieces are not written by those involved, which adds a sense of not so much oppression, but allegory that these people are still voiceless due to the stigma surrounding poverty and homelessness, and have to rely on an alternative establishment to have their voices heard. This coincides with The Big Issue and John Bird's anti-establishment stance, which has resulted in disadvantaged people having to rely on them wholly to escape from poverty; this alludes to bell hook's theory that class is a factor to why people are discriminated, oppressed or exploited. This can be seen again through the mode of address that instills pride in and about the ex-vendors as they are particularly vulnerable.
Furthermore, bell hooks' theory also intrinsically links to race and gender playing a part in discrimination, exploitation and oppression, and can be seen demonstrated in the Moving On
article through Joel Hodgson's story. This photo relies heavily on the stereotype of black London teenagers in more disadvantaged areas as social nuisances and destructive, particularly due to crimes such as drug dealing, and it strong contrasts it through the very simple binary opposition of good and bad. The bad, by Big Issue standards, would be those same stereotyped teenagers for not actively trying to get out of poverty, whereas Joel can be seen as good for pursuing an aspirational, academic career even through his poverty.
Moreover, on the Moving On article, Marvina Newton's story furthers bell hooks point of gender, race and class being factors into the negative treatment and representation of people
however she is now very successful and powerful, an image constructed through the visual representation of her from a low-angle, suggesting that people now look up to her and go to her for advice, just like she has done in the past with The Big Issue. Furthermore, this may also suggest that this representation is needed as it may seem unexpected that someone could turn their life around so drastically, but young black women with disadvantaged pasts are amongst the most vulnerable groups in society for discrimination, exploitation and oppression, so by encapsulating Marvina as authoritative displays that The Big Issue is there to champion everyone and guide them on their way to success.
Something else interesting about this picture of Marvina is her traditional African beads, suggesting that culture and the arts is important to a lot of the people who have been through poverty as that is their interests; this could be a judgement of the establishment who are seen as having more lenience to stem subject professions, however the fact that people like Marvina can keep their interests and culture and background through their hard times and turn that into a profession, is what The Big Issue believes to be about.
Marvina's piece emphasises that she was one of the lowest social class groups when she became a victim of poverty as she was just still a teenager, and her menial jobs such as waitressing highlight that her journey has been a long and hard one to become not only a biomedical technician, but a charity founder for other disadvantaged youths, no matter their colour.
The fact Marvina chose 'not to be a victim' connotes to The Big Issue's values of being proactive in your escape to poverty but may potentially be seen as problematic as gender, class and race are things that can't easily be changed, particularly by those in poverty and so whilst the mind-set is the message, there is a little aspect of questioning as to whether this can be the case for all people who struggle with poverty, particularly young black females.
This article also approaches aspects of feminism as political by overtaking the patriarchy and placing women in positions of power and authority. The Big Issue perhaps views feminism as a determined political cause rather than a lifestyle choice if you want to be proactive and get something done about problems. The frequent mentioning of London links to this, and how it's a tourist attraction and a political/corporate playground, but there is an underbelly of poverty; the establishment aren't doing anything, and so the lifestyle choice of feminism transforms into a political means of getting things done, and effectively bell hooks' theory of feminism being a struggle to end patriarchy seems somewhat applicable here.
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