EDITOR’S LETTER

Editor-in-Chief Farrah Storr explores the dichotomy between our private lives and the version of ourselves we present to the world

One of my favourite things to do is dine alone. Give me a table by a window and a compelling book and I am deeply content. I have long attributed this slight quirk – for a woman who chooses to eat alone, particularly after dark, is still a quizzical sight – to being an introvert. After all, being on the outside of things is where introverts are happiest. But over the years, I have discovered that there is, in fact, another reason. The conversation. That is… other people’s conversations. I call it the aural equivalent of ‘people watching’; you’d probably call it good old-fashioned ‘ear wigging’. Whichever way you dress it, it’s fascinating. Because here is the truth: what people admit in private is very different to what they admit in the wider world.

Look at social media and you could be forgiven for thinking that everyone, or at least everyone you know, feels the same about the big issues as you do: feminism, Trump, the idea that Greta Thunberg may in fact be The Messiah risen again in a Swedish teen’s body… you all agree on these things, right?

Yet, away from the crowds, it is amazing how differently people feel about things. I know women who bristle at aspects of fourth-wave feminism, yet fear there would be a clarion call for their head on a spike were they to voice this. I know others whose political views bend slightly to the right, an admission of which, they tell me, would have them seen as censorious radicals. What have we ended up with? A world of seeming sameness, where intellectual honesty is banished to the corners and people’s public and private lives differ greatly. The job of journalists, editors and stylists has always been to explore difference, and it is something, I am proud to say, ELLE has been doing for more than 3O years. Whether it’s how to wear clothes in an unexpected way or a new perspective on the cultural conversation – month in, month out, that is what we aim to do. This issue is no different.

Take, for example, Hannah Betts’ brilliant feature that begs the question: how much ambition can one relationship take? The general belief is that we should seek a partner who is equal to us, in all respects. The reality, however, can be somewhat different, as Betts explores on page 1O2. The same is true of Jennifer George’s story How Pulling Out Became The New Pill on page 182: a frank (and funny) look at why many are choosing the teenage ‘hope-for-the-best’ pull-out method as contraception. Is it dangerous, or an empowering way for women to take control of their bodies? In the rest of the issue, you’ll find other wonderfully individual female voices, from the inimitable Donatella Versace to supermodel Aweng Chuol and writer Alice Vincent, united only in their difference from one another. What could be more interesting than that?

“INTELLECTUAL HONESTY IS BANISHED TO THE CORNERS”