Anyways, I found this article while searching for a feminist opinion on Hugh Hefner, sometimes I think he’s a sleaze, sometimes I think he’s a somewhat decent sleaze, within the context of him being born in the dinosaur age and that at least he pays well….unlike that American Apparel creeep!

Latoya, what I think when you check out the gamut of men’s magazines, you’ll find that they vary greatly, from the smutty, shrink-wrapped soft porn magazines, to the banal lad mags, to health-oriented men’s healthy mags, to more heavy hitting mags like GQ, and I’m not sure of they have this in the US, men’s fashion magazines that focus solely on men’s fashion.

When I am looking for a Western-style men’s mag to read, I usually look at the cover: if there is a woman on the cover, I usually dismiss it. If there is a man on the cover, preferably in nice clothing, then I might consider getting it. While this may seem like a cosmetic choice, but IMHO, whether they place a man or woman on the cover does give me a clue as to what to expect inside.

That’s why I avoid lad’s mag like FHM and Maxim like the plague. I am sick of having beautiful women shoved down my throat at every single opportunity, as if that was my sole purpose in life, to look at beautiful women…when all I really want to do is read about fashion or cosmetics or things that pertain to men, like men’s health or lifestyle choices. I mean, you’d NEVER see a man on an issue of Cosmopolitan for one.

I collect men’s fashion magazines, but I don’t think the US even have them. These are magazines that focus solely on men’s fashion to the exclusion of everything else. these magazines are quite rare and usually are published outside the US. Actually, in Japan, there are magazines dedicated solely to men’s fashion, as well as showing how to style the hair, how to apply cosmetics, how to pair clothes. Women get this all the time in women’s mags, but these things are often never seen in issues of Western-style men’s mags.

Having said that, I get the “Are you gay?” a lot from both men and women for simply wanting to read such mags (men’s mag sans women). I just sigh at such comments.

I have seen no women’s equivalent of GQ, however, and if you do know one, I’d like to have a look at it, and recommend it to my female friends, who sometimes hunger for a bit more.

In regards to Cosmo, I used to read my Mom’s issues of Cosmo when I was younger, and like Racy T mentions above, there were some pretty investigative pieces in Cosmo at that time (this was like the late 80s to early 90s). There were articles on war, serial killers, etc. I’m not sure about the modern-day Cosmo though….

I stopped buying Cosmo many years ago, b/c as a journalist it pissed me off that instead of having real stories, they started having “round ups” which were just reader tips edited into an “article.” It lost all its substance… and, once upon a time, it had some. The first time I read about the Taliban, at least 10 years ago, it was an investigative piece in Cosmo. Amazing how things can change.

Cosmo is the only women’s magazine that routinely features half-nekkid men for our viewing pleasure.

That may be true for the American market, but certainly here in the UK we have – or at the very least, had – “more!” magazine”

I’m in the UK, and I had a phase of reading “more” as a teenager (cut short when I left a copy lying in the livingroom and my mother confronted me with “you need to keep this in your bedroom, I do NOT want your younger sisters reading about “sex position of the fortnight” and I hope that you are NOT having sex”. I was so embarrassed I stopped buying it.

Anyway, I’m now 22 and out of my parents’ house; and the only women’s magazine I spend money on is “Scarlet” (http://www.scarletmagazine.co.uk – amusingly I just went to the site and on the homepage is the tagline “Scarlet makes Cosmo look like a Methodist prayer book”). It’s about 10% sex toy/lingerie ads and 70% erotica or articles about sex (which I guess is either a good or bad thing, depending on your view/personal politics/number of tracks in your mind) but it’s almost entirely written and edited from (IMHO) a feminist standpoint – the editor and several writers unashamedly describe themselves as feminists; they are currently running a campaign again media sizism which includes articles, open letters to TV shows and using models with a larger range of body shapes and sizes than most women’s mags. Which is to say, still mostly white girls size 8-14, (that’s US 4-10ish, I think) but at least the upper end of that range appears at all… Their erotica section is mostly by female writers and often features stories or scenes involving non-hetero couples. Articles about sex and relationships focus on mutual pleasure and respect, and often feature women enthusiastically experimenting with sexuality and new ways to play. They have a strict restriction on the number of pages per issue focusing on fashion & beauty, and a “no-diet policy”. Oh, and they give a free box of sex toys to anyone who signs up for an annual subscription! I’m a big fan :)

And you better take care of that curly or straight hair fast or you wont be attractive to a man! Once you have used all these “beautifying” products, you can snag a man! Work hard at keeping him by taking the ridiculous sex advise!

puhllease,
If it was about empowering women and acknowledging our sexuality, it would be about us gaining sexual pleasure. The articles would be about BC. About our sexual health. About healthy boundaries.
Not about how to keep a man.
ick.

I’m saddened to discover it has such a huge readership.
That informs me that we haven’t come nearly as far in the movement as I thought.

And yeah, I read it. ;)

annalouise: As someone who probably fits into all of these, and who doesn’t identify with any particular subculture, I’d like to explain why I feel like Cosmo & its ilk make me feel bad about myself (note: this isn’t to disagree with what you said, because you bring up some really interesting points, and of course your experience is totally valid. I just wanted to share my own personal take on the mater).

Hating my body isn’t a novelty for me; I’ve been doing it since I was ten years old. Is it all Cosmo’s fault? No, obviously it would be silly to blame the giant pressure on women regarding appearance on one magazine I didn’t even pick up an issue of till years later.

However, the reason I can’t even bring myself to read Cosmo as a brain turn-off is because they basically normalize disordered eating and body hate. They talk about all these little ways you can cut calories and they make it seem like it’s about both health and sexiness and like it’s some fun cool thing to do, like it’s normal and, yes, something all women should do, and all women should WANT to do, to mentally scan every bite of food you put into your mouth and you know what? That kind of thinking is the exact kind of thinking that has taken over my life in the past and made me miserable and crying and totally unable to enjoy food for days on end. I don’t think my story is uniquely terrible or anything, and honestly I think I’m lucky that it never moved beyond a messed-up mental relationship with food that had a few minor health consequences (mostly somewhat decreased bone density) to a full-blown eating disorder. But it happened, it still happens sometimes, and if I read Cosmo I find myself half-wanting it to happen.

So. Is it Cosmo’s FAULT that I have these issues? No, of course not. Does reading Cosmo reinforce patterns that are incredibly damaging to my mental health and general ability to enjoy life at all, and that have been present since I was 10? Yes, it absolutely does.

Weirdly, I do occasionally enjoy Self magazine, even though they have some of the same issues. I find them less prevalent than in Cosmo, I guess, or the way they’re presented isn’t as upsetting to me for some reason.