Throughout the set text for The Big Issue, there are many codes that both support and maybe could be done better regarding feminism and representations of gender and race.
The only article throughout the entire magazine that is mostly centred around gender is that of Grayson Perry's 'Letter to my Younger Self'. The article is written by Perry and discusses many things regarding his adolescence that have helped shape his later life including the fact that he is a transvestite. This type of representation may be considered as being rare or even unheard of in most mainstream magazines, furthering The Big Issues status as being more alternative in its content and style. Having this excerpt also prevents the magazine from furthering bell hooks' ideas on how race and sex determine the extent to which individuals are oppressed. By allowing Perry to represent himself and his issues in whatever way he desires, The Big Issue are taking anyway any conventional stereotypes regarding sexuality that may conform to hooks' ideas on the fact that the media is dominated by sexist and patriarchal oppression.
The lack of reinforcement is not just exclusive to this article and is prominent throughout the magazine. There is a wide variety of diverse representations of people from different nationalities and ethnicities with no attempt to create an 'us vs them' divide between the audience and these people. All people are treated he same in the magazine, nobody is seen as lesser or better than anyone else and a wide variety of views are also represented in positive ways. This fits in with the magazine's motto of 'a hand up not a hand out' in regards to its views on homelessness as it encourages readers not to feel sympathy for the homeless but see them as being just like them. This again opposes distances the magazine from hooks' ideas as it shows that the magazine is much more open and even encourages more fair, equal views.
Furthermore, the magazine can be considered 'politically inspired'. None of the issues raised are not there to help the magazine stand out or seem different like they would in other magazines. They are there to get people thinking about these things and see if they can compare their situations to what is being spoke about to potentially allow them to change their lives for the better. The magazine also aims to get people talking about certain issues, to bring it to the attention of society to maybe cause large scale societal changes without actively encouraging the audience to this. It gives the audience an issue and assumes their status as an active spectator, giving them the basis to do something about these issues. Although this idea is mostly surrounding feminism, we can link bell hooks' ideas on how important societal issues like mental health require a political commitment, not just adopting a lifestyle or a persona. The Big Issue definitely conforms to this as no issue raised is there for an other reason than to bring public attention to it.
However, the argument that in certain issues of the magazine there isn't enough on some societal problems. In the set text for example there is very little regarding feminism or racial struggles. This infers to some of the audience that The Big Issue is not as concerned with ending these issues as what they may say otherwise they would be representing all issues as much as possible. This potentially reinforces the struggles regarding patriarchal oppression as they are not doing enough to oppose it.
i like how you have talked about how the magazine steers away from furthering Bell Hooks ideas since they give a transvestite a platform to share their story and thoughts and feelings, which is something which we don't see within mainstream media often