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Sat 2 Aug, 2008 11:08 am
I gave up reading crappy 'women's mags' about 4 months ago, and started getting the newpaper instead. Half of this was because I felt this would be what would be best for my own advancement, and also because I wanted to- I like the newspaper.
I was never REALLY into women's magazines, but would read then if anyone else in the flat bought them. It's just like reading fluff. Sometimes mindless entertainment is nice. It's a mixture of ashamed interest, and laughter at the people who write the damn things.
Anyway, yesterday on the train I found heat on an empty seat and thought i'd treat myself to reading it. I was shocked.
I didn't realise before then how much the industry feeds on women's insecurities. The whole thing is a massive paradox, which I already knew. But what i didn't realise is actually how vindictive it actually is.
Women celebrities are rated against one another, rewarded for 'good fashion' slated for 'bad.' Emphasis on appearance is the central theme of the whole entire book, thinly veiled by words vaguely stating an opposite message. Diet tips appear next to an article with Gok Wan and '10 reasons why YOU can look good naked.'
There is no central message.
'Curvy Kelly shows off her new beach body!'
'Kelly in image crisis as she struggles to shed the pounds.'
This indecisiveness, to me, illustrates to a large extent the insecurities women feel and the pressure women face. Constantly questioning- Is it ok to be like this? Is it better to be like this, or this?
The vicious circle arrises when not only to the magazines spread paranoia and image-obsession, but attract its victims at the same time. Why would you CARE about any of the articles unless you looked at these magazines for some sort of clarification of your own life? Some sort of 'support' or some way of facing your worries about your physical appearance?
I'm glad to say I only read half of it. It bored me.
Those mags also push curly-haired women to straighten their locks and straight-haired ones to get perms. This is how they keep their readership; it's a lot like the fashion industry, which is one of the bigger drivers of the magazines. E. g. you changed? Good! Now change again! Oops, too late. Change some more! And so it goes.
You're right about it playing on insecurities but the whole mindset is one of insecurities. Also it comes from a lot of conflicting information on things like diet, exercise and child-rearing, from real experts, and the magazines print all of it, with little editorial selecting. They just put it out there, even though today it might say carbs are bad whereas yesterday it said fat was bad and the day before that it demonized salt and tomorrow it'll demonize fiber or whatever. Plus those three subjects (diet, exercise and child-rearing) are the Holy Trinity of women's magazines, along with getting and keeping a man (The Holy Grail). And the Holy Grail has also changed, although that's been less a function of what experts do and say versus what happens in society, e. g. the women's movement, etc. Add into that fashion, which is essentially a synonym for mutability, and poor editorial decisionmaking, and you end up with conflicting information that changes from month to month and magazine to magazine.
It's also pitched towards women with very little education, keep that in mind, so the audience is expected to swallow most of this, hook, line and sinker, without complaining. I don't believe any of them print letters from their readers, either, so if there is any critical reading going on, it's going on just at the pocketbook level, so a copy is either bought or not bought if the message continues to be agreed with, and eventually that translates into circulation going up or going down, perhaps enough to close the magazine.
Be glad that you recognize how bad it is and don't depend on it. Lots of folks do.
Well, it has been ever thus, at least in my experience.
I do remember an occasional interesting article back in the day, say one or two by Gloria Steinem back in Glamour, or was it Mademoiselle? pre the more feminist mags, anyway.
Which do you consider "girlie" mags. Vogue, Bazaar, Elle? Marie Claire, Allure, Glamour? Cosmo?
Gok is a lovely fella. He seems pretty spectacular about making women feel good about who they are and how they look.
Don't know about the mags. I subscribe to Ricardo (Canadian cooking mag), Toronto Life, Dog Fancy mag, Better Homes and Gardens. The other mags I l read regularly are Fine Cooking, New York and Hello. Very occasionally the New Yorker and InStyle (maybe once or twice a year now).
I was fond of Gloria S's magazine MS until I found out her lover financed her. She lost stature in my eyes. Guess she wasn't all that liberated
Ever'body knows where to find the true low down skinny on this kinda stuff . . .
Heard it in a lo-ove song
Heard it in a lo-ove song
Heard it in a lo-ove song
Can't be wrong!
The periodical industry has been doing this for a couple of hundred years now. The only major problem they have is to come out with a men's magazine which will succeed. The problem is the lack of boobs. If a men's magazine doesn't have boobs, it's likely doomed. It seems that within the demographic which the women's magazines are targeting, the men of that demographic don't even read--iffin it ain't got boob pictures, it ain'ta gonna sell.
Whatever happened to True. A surprising amount of the stories really were true. Yeah, probably done in by a lack of boobs.
How about this title for a men's mag,
The Scrotum Times -
Ballsy, full of action. Exciting beginning and ends and full of punch.
eoe wrote:Which do you consider "girlie" mags. Vogue, Bazaar, Elle? Marie Claire, Allure, Glamour? Cosmo?
I'm not too familiar with some of those. I'm thinking Heat, Ok! closer, etc.
I don't know to much about Vogue or Elle, I just asumed it was the same **** but formated for a different (slightly posher) target audience.
Jespah,
Do you really think it's the intellegence level that makes some women so dependant on these magazines?
The only one i read is Parenting.
I'm such a bore.
@Bella Dea,
Cooking Light, Southern Living. zzzzzzzzzzz
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