“Omg look at that! It reached a million views!” screeched Annabelle through the phone.
Gaia lowered the volume, thanking God that she had placed Annabelle on loudspeaker in knowing that her earbuds had suffered no significant harm.
“This is just brilliant” continued Annabelle in the background, oblivious and likely nonchalant to the fact that at this stage she was simply talking to herself.
Gaia looked at her phone, gazing at the post which had brought out such rarity of positive expressions out of her manager. A melancholic cloud engulfed her as she analysed the video of herself in lingerie, walking amongst nature and urging fellow women to free themselves from the shackles of patriarchy.
“Okay you need to do another video now. We have cracked the code! Get your undies out and meet me at Hyde Park in the next hour” Annabelle’s voice interrupted Gaia’s thoughts.
“I’m sorry what did you say?” Said Gaia sheepishly, praying that she had just misheard Annabelle’s voice.
“You know what I just said” And with that, Annabelle cut the call and the line went silent.
–
Her bedroom was filled with darkness, curtains drawn, piled clothes embracing her floor and empty water bottles scattered across and within reach. Gaia had been hiding in her cave of chaos for the past week since she had agreed to record the recently posted feminist lingerie video with her newly signed agency. At the time, Gaia thought it would be a great idea, after all, her ambitions to create a strong personal brand in order to champion women’s rights were at the core of her values. She trusted her manager Annabelle’s judgement, whom was a headstrong outcome oriented career woman who admittedly always achieved her goals. So how could Gaia possibly reject her offer, knowing she had been selected out of all the other pool of wannabe influencers signed to Annabelle’s agency in order to be the face of her new feminist campaign.
Gaia pulled the blanket over her head and further sunk herself into her bed. She wanted time to stop, she wanted nothing more but to go back in time and reject the offer, she wished she had never engaged with Annabelle from the beginning, but she knew that she couldn’t. The damage was done. She had sold her soul the moment she signed the agency contract, and she knew she had no control or ownership over the distribution of the media she had agreed to be a part of.
Her phone buzzed.
*Wtf is that video of you I have just seen on TheShadeRoom?* A preview of the received message read on her phone.
Gaia groaned and flung her phone across the room.
This was it. There was no going back now. Her mentor had warned her that authenticity and quality always trumps quantity, but she had not listened. Enamoured by the charm of instant gratification, she had been too blinded by Annabelle’s gigantic grandiosity to realise that she was walking straight into her trap. There was no going back now.
Gaia thought back to her past video essay discussions, the ones which had initially caught Annabelle’s attention, and prompted her to sign up to her agency. Videos which she had shared on TikTok, where she spoke in-depth about the ongoing agenda and the slow erasure of traditional womanhood – and now here she was on social media, half naked in the name of ’empowerment’ and speaking from scripts not even written by herself, on the patriarchal agenda whose aim is to allegedly subjugate women into submission in order to abuse them.
Gaia shuddered. That video was not her brand, she knew it was a misleading over-generalisation, her initial core audience knew that too, and yet she had sold her values for the sake of what? An ego-driven covert mysoginist who was obsessed with creating controversial divisive content in order to sensationalise and create chaos to fill her greedy pockets? Gaia thought back to all the champagne filled evenings, flashbacks of Annabelle’s wide eyed laughter, as though she was driven by substances, and all the promises (which had yet to materialise) made to her.
*bzzzzz bzzzzzz* Gaia’s phone vibrated from across the room.
“Fuck, I need to meet Annabelle!” Gaia jumped out of bed and landed right in front of her ginormous mirror. She looked at herself, and in that moment realised she no longer even recognised herself. The innocent and idealistic young lady who had stared at her 3 months ago was now replaced by a jittery and anxious stricken individual. In that moment, Annabelle realised she had lost her autonomy. In chasing the approval of the corporations, she had sold her rights to her personal opinions, lost her authentic self and had now become an industry slave.
Gaia picked up her phone from the floor:
*Take it or leave it* She typed in response to the inquisitive message she had previously received.
She found 2 mismatched underwear amongst her piles of clothes, took a photo and composed a message to Annabelle:
*Which one?* she typed.
Within seconds Annabelle responded: *They’re hideous! Perfect! Bring them both*
Accepting her new objectified faith to her captor, Gaia grabbed her tote bag, flung in the underwear, and headed off to her new prison.
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