Comments on: What I’ve Learned from Women’s Magazines

By: XUP

XUP — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 12:30:59 +0000

Kimberly – Isn’t it? That’s how they’ve gotten women to buy stuff for decades – maybe even centuries. Play on their insecurities, maybe create a few new ones while they’re at it; offer them solutions that can’t help but to fail – which keeps them coming back for the one magic formula that will succeed. It’s positively diabolical. Avert your eyes.

By: Kimberly

Kimberly — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 01:38:33 +0000

I love this post. It’s so true! And I still find myself unable to pull away from those things in the supermarket checkout line. They draw you in with all those promises (Lose 10 lbs in a week, Organize every closet in your home in under an hour) and then make you feel like an idiot. It’s quite a brilliant marketing scheme.

By: XUP

XUP — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 18:13:19 +0000

Leah – I wish everyone was this smart, but these things sell big time. Fly off the shelves.

GND – They have articles like this – disguised as this — all the time, but they’re really just the same old crap.

By: gurlnextdoor

gurlnextdoor — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 14:23:08 +0000

Just once I would love to pick up one of these magazines and read an article with substance. Soemthing that goes beyond make-up, clothes, how to seduce a man.

How about focusing on the importance of education, the importance of being independent and forward thinking, how to be a successful professional, if that is what you choose in life.

By: leah

leah — Thu, 05 Mar 2009 07:17:39 +0000

i very rarely ever look at these magazines, if they are in the waiting room i find myself getting sucked in with the headlines but it’s really all the same crap just recycled.

if taken with a grain of salt, they are mildly entertaining.

i think that women and girls get sucked in to this stuff, they buy into it hook, line, and sinker. it’s destructive in that we are not taught to value ourselves, to know that everything we need resides in us already.

just like the wizard of oz message at the end where dorothy clicks her heels.

we are enough and to view these magazines as a valid source of identity is a huge mistake.

By: XUP

XUP — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 12:40:08 +0000

Ruhh – I don’t think it’s going to die any time soon. People are too much in love with their stuff. And just when you think you’ve got all the stuff you need, they come up with a whole bunch more stuff that you MUST have.

Friar – Ha ha – did they also tell you that deoderant needs to be smeared in the palm of your hands? And toilet tissue is rubbed gently on the side of your face? (I guess it’s good to know that magazines demean men and women equally. That’s something, I suppose… isn’t it? )

Helen – If you’ve ever written for magazines, one of the things the experts tell you is to recycle your article and ship it off in various forms to all the magazines. And, to go back through your old articles every year or so, throw in a few new buzz words and ship the bastards off again!

Laura – Check back in a month and let me know if you have a whole new positive outlook on life, okay? Mexico, eh? It’s minus 28 this morning here. I hope that makes you a little more satisfied!

Noha – Glad to hear you became addicted to chocolate all on your own. And thanks for the hilarious and ingenious.

Jo – I agree completely. At least, if they didn’t have a serious problem before, they will after getting sucked into that world.

Meloukhia – I don’t think people are born consumers, I think in many cases the market is created. Take the example I used a while ago of women shaving their body hair. No woman would have thought of this on her own – Gilette waged an intensive and prolonged media campaign to convince women they were hideous with all that body hair and bit by bit women bought it. Now it’s the norm. And we are now being convinced to do away with more and more of our body hair. Young girls think pubic and arm hair on women is gross. Never underestimate the persuasive powers of a good propoganda machine. They have wrought incredible things over the centuries.

Geewits – You may be one of the few among us who actually has an identity now. It may be a tad off-the-wall, but at least it’s solid.

Cedar – The Atlantic? You suck as a Washingtonite, too.

By: Cedarflame

Cedarflame — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 07:22:58 +0000

I suck as an American I subscribe to:

Harper
The Atlantic
The Sun
Utne

Wow, I don’t subscribe to one homo magazine…dang I suck as a homo too.

By: geewits

geewits — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 02:13:25 +0000

I'm having an identity crises. The mags I take are People, Entertainment Weekly and National Geographic. Maybe I am a gay aborigine?

By: meloukhia

meloukhia — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 01:41:14 +0000

I have to admit, I used to love getting trashy women’s magazines, reading them in the bathtub, and hooting with laughter at all of the ludicrous content. But, XUP, I think you’re right in the sense that they are definitely feeding an ugly side of North American culture. And I do know people who take them seriously, and religiously follow every suggestion (even when one month contradicts the next!), and those people frighten me.

That said, I think that they are also a product of our culture. There wouldn’t be a market for women’s magazines if we didn’t think that women are sex objects/babymaking machines who are only interested in celebrity, beauty, and being thin. Just like there wouldn’t be a market for men’s magazines if we didn’t think that men are obsessed with cars, sports, and titties.

By: Jo

Jo — Tue, 03 Mar 2009 00:12:44 +0000

I don’t read women’s magazines. I had to spend a few hours in my dentist’s office last week, and all he had were women’s magazines. They were the same thing – over and over and over… ad nauseum.

My favorite magazine is The New Yorker, followed by The Economist, The Utney Reader, Vanity Fair, Newsweek and Time.

Oh, and MacLean’s *heh*.

I have often thought that women’s magazines — much like daytime television — is a “plot” to keep women in their place. Really, I’m not kidding. Anyone who watches Oprah, or reads her magazine has a serious problem.