My neighbor is a 38 year old physically fit mother of two boys. She's married and works part time. She loves the outdoors, loves to cook, enjoys fashion and girly things as much as the rest of us.
We were discussing heaven knows what the other day when she announced, "I try not to read women's magazines anymore". I almost fell off my chair. "They make me feel fat and ugly" she told me.
We used to sit outside on sunny days and flip through giant stacks of magazines we'd both collected from airports, subscriptions and friends we trade with.
I no longer read certain magazines either. I have nothing in common with 14-16 year old size 0 models. It's offensive and frankly demeaning that the fashion industry and advertising agencies choose to market goods and services to me via these children.
I am a 40 something year old intelligent, hard working female looking for realistic solutions that will serve me in my quest to continue to grow and make contributions to this world.
I need all the food, fashion, fitness, health and technology help I can get. While I think we can all learn from the wisdom of children I'm no longer willing to expose myself to pages and pages of advertisements sending mixed subliminal messages like - if you buy our products you can be stick thin, chic, filthy rich and achieve world and inner peace.
How have your magazine subsciptions changed over the years?
Originally posted by GoingSkiing: But ALL magazines are pretty much the same thing over and over and over. How many articles on firming abs, legs, butts, arms, etc. can a magazine print? Or how many "Walk off 10 pounds!!!" articles can a person read before getting sick of it?
This is very true. That's one of the reasons I stopped buying SHAPE--oh, and the fact that the women on their covers kept getting skinnier and less clothed issue by issue. It just didn't seem like it was about FITNESS anymore, but about being SKINNY.
Personal Healthy Habits Challenge - 10/1 to 12/31/08: 1. Exercise: Get back to consistently working out 3-5 X week. 2. Food: Get back to consistently preparing healthy lunches for the week with increased veg servings. 3. Behavior: Reduce intake of sweets.
Posts: 7256 | Location: Rehoboth Beach, DE | Registered: March 12, 2004
I like Allure. It's about makeup. And what the trends in makeup are. And where to buy awesome makeup. And how to put on makeup. And who's who in makeup. And what fashions and fashion designers are dictating the next trend in makeup.
It might have other articles, but it's so overwhelmingly MAKEUP that I really enjoy it. It's a big huge makeup advertisement that manages to give some really good advice on makeup.
Challenge Goals: *10 minutes of unplanned exercise five times a week *Gym time twice a week *Socialize at least once every two weeks.
No women's mags. Ever. I sometimes buy a certain "healthy living for women" type mag off the stand but only because it's the first magazine ever to display any common sense when it comes to weight loss and the relationship between weight and life/human happiness. I've also decided to avoid magazines with medical content because my hypochondria always ends up having a field day.
We get National Geographic. If I had the time I might read Time or Newsweek, but not regularly. I'd like to read more (e.g. literature quarterlies or similar stuff) but haven't got the time.
****************** “The older you get, the tougher it is to lose weight because by then, your body and your fat are really good friends.”
Originally posted by SheriaVa: I read Cosmo for years when I was younger...and then, one day, I realized that it was just the same articles over and over and over.
I agree... I don't think I would buy it very often... like maybe once a year or something... maybe.
But ALL magazines are pretty much the same thing over and over and over. How many articles on firming abs, legs, butts, arms, etc. can a magazine print? Or how many "Walk off 10 pounds!!!" articles can a person read before getting sick of it?
Originally posted by GoingSkiing: It was very refreshing to read articles “Here is how to have some good dirty sex” ... I doubt that I’ll start buying it regularly… but this was a fun read.
I read Cosmo for years when I was younger...and then, one day, I realized that it was just the same articles over and over and over. Like that Sex Poll on the cover of the issue you have? God KNOWS how many issues of Cosmo there have been with sex polls or features about what men would tell women about sex. Frankly, some of that stuff is pretty interesting--but I realized way back when that I was paying a lot of money for this mag (I didn't have a subscription) and getting not much new content. If you read it with much frequency, I suspect you will notice the same thing.
This issue is EVERYWHERE since you posted this thread. I saw it in the store--when I would not usually even notice Cosmo--and today, when I was at "work" (my volunteer position with Social Services), the temp who sits in the same office with me had her copy sitting on the desk where I was working and I almost started laughing. It's like it's following me around saying...buy me...buy me...it's been a long time! LOL
Personal Healthy Habits Challenge - 10/1 to 12/31/08: 1. Exercise: Get back to consistently working out 3-5 X week. 2. Food: Get back to consistently preparing healthy lunches for the week with increased veg servings. 3. Behavior: Reduce intake of sweets.
Posts: 7256 | Location: Rehoboth Beach, DE | Registered: March 12, 2004
Originally posted by jillybean: I've never bought one before but for some reason had this urge to pick one up last time I was shopping.
Go for it, Jill and we'll compare notes.
Here's what I liked about it.
MUCH of the advertisements are not directed at me. I don't need birth control pills or Midol. Don't need a product to fade my tattoos. Haven't used a zit product in 25 years. Was kind of nice for a change NOT to be the target demographic… and to flip thru a magazine and not have a gazillion billion ad dollars spent on trying to push MY buttons and make me buy something.
And some of the ads... Like an ad for some new Dove body wash and soap... "No girl should need a guy to get that tingly-all-over feeling". Do you have any idea how refreshing that is to read after 15 or 20 years of seeing 1,958,634 ads calling attention to my wrinkles?!?!?! (all while telling me… that I’m not old… I’m fabulous… but damn… I better do something about those wrinkles SOON!) I’d much rather read a magazine that is using sex to sell… rather than fear of looking older to sell.
And even better… on the facing page were quotes from 5 Dove “real women” in their 20’s… except to ME they all looked like they are in their 30’s and a couple of them look like they are in their late 30’s. OMG!! How great is that!!!
Because all of the advertising directed a me are of women who say that they are 48 or 52... And look 38. So very cool to see women who look older than they really are… (and that is ok when somebody is 20. But TOTALLY taboo when somebody is 45 or 55.)
Not one single ad for Olay Regenerist (which is so expensive… Walgreen’s keeps it locked up). There was one ad calling attention to Olay’s use as a great sunscreen. My sister and I have been using Olay while skiing for YEARS… because it is a great sunscreen AND best of all it doesn’t sting your eyes. (But the Cosmo ad doesn’t even mention that property… to me that is Olay’s best quality… you don’t get burned AND your eyes don’t water for half a day if you slop it all over your face and get it in your eyes.)
Not one single ad for some wrinkle cream that is $90 an oz. (OK after typing this… I did see one ad with Courtney Cox for some product called “Extreme Lift Face” which promises to take off 10 years in 5 mins… But I can live with one ad… buy a magazine for 40 or 50 year olds… and you are BOMBARDED with ads for such products.)
Magazines for 20 year olds are great! All of the stuff advertised is AFFORDABLE!!!! Stuff like deodorant. Or Dove soap that smells like grapefruit. No “O List” of things that I MUST have… like eight tea bags for $90. Wow… I’ve missed the good old days, where every ad in the magazine was for a product that was less than $8.
Not one single ad for hair color that covers the gray. The hair ads were about FUN stuff to do to your hair. OMG… coloring hair for some people is a FUN thing to do??? and isn’t all about trying to look 10 years younger?!?!
Not one single article about losing weight (that I saw). Not one single recipe (except for cocktails… OMG! I’m gonna start making cocktails, I think…)
And NONE of that magazine FAVORITE feel bad technique… the alternating articles, “Lose Weight!” “Make Brownies” “Lose Weight!” “Bake Our Cake” “Lose Weight!” “Make Chocolate Chunk Cookies” Didn’t happen in this magazine.
One ad for Astro Glide… NO ads for anything “warming”!!!! When all of the Tim Russert post-death coverage was on TV… at one point dh said, “I have NEVER seen sooooo many ED commercials in my whole life…” It was just back to back coverage of Tim Russert… and Viagra commercials. Well, if you think about it… that is probably Russert’s demographic… older guys, who are overweight… with heart disease and diabetes (which is a huge component in ED).
OK… granted… I’m not going to see any photos of couples my age having sex in Cosmo… but on the other hand the ONLY couples, my age, I see in any advertisements involving sex, either need blue pills or “warming” liquid. (And this is probably TMI… but I think that “warming” liquid BURNS and it isn’t terribly sexy to have your crotch on FIRE… it sounds kind of sexy… but the reality is something else.)
But I have to tell you… it was really NICE to open up a magazine… and NOT have one page be, “You are Forty and Fabulous!!!… and you CAN still have SEX!!!!!! (These 5 women [who are gorgeous enough to be supermodels] give their no fail tip for great sex while going thru menopause)” And the facing page is an ad for “warming” gel… to help you along.
It was very refreshing to read articles “Here is how to have some good dirty sex” with no little asterisk *even at age 50!!
To go back to KD original post…
quote:
Originally posted by kd: We were discussing heaven knows what the other day when she announced, "I try not to read women's magazines anymore". I almost fell off my chair. "They make me feel fat and ugly" she told me.
This may sound dumb… but this is the first magazine I’ve read in a while that didn’t make me feel fat, ugly or OLD either (That wasn't a Cooking Light...).
It isn’t a “perfect” magazine, but for who knows why the ads for cellulite cream didn’t bother me??? But I guess they didn’t bother me when I was 25 either.
It was like a “Sex in the City” magazine… a lot of the articles were pretty much irrelevant to my life… I’m going into my 22’erd August with DH… and don’t really care that Cosmo says that August is a prime cheating month. We’ve got issues in our marriage… but cheating isn’t one of them.
It was an entertaining read. And actually, made me think… OMG… dh and I could do THAT!
Yeah… Cooking Light makes me go, “OMG… we could grill that” but this was a different kind of hot that doesn’t involve grills or ovens.
AND, at least me personally… didn’t make me feel old or ugly while reading it. At least this issue. I doubt that I’ll start buying it regularly… but this was a fun read.
Denise-so funny you posted that! I never buy any magazines except Cooking Light, Food and Wine, and Gourmet. I have been contemplating buying the new Cosmo and now really want to! I've never bought one before but for some reason had this urge to pick one up last time I was shopping.
Jill
Summer Challenge Goals: 1) Walk 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week 2) Plan weekly menus
I splurge and buy these as treats sometimes: Martha Stewart Living Everyday Food Health Running
Which is different from what I used to subscribe to: Food and Wine Bon Appetit
I just can't cook those rich foods anymore!
As for the issue of women as portrayed in magazines, I just never let it bother me at all. I read what interests me and take inspiration from what has meaning for me, and looking like a model has never been one of my goals - perhaps I'm blessed. I choose to see it that way! Women's magazines are really a decadent pleasure for me: I have three fresh ones beside me that I savor slowly and I try to drag that out for a month until the next ones arrive!
Lynne
Posts: 1104 | Location: NH | Registered: February 28, 2005
Magazines' real job is to sell stuff. If they entertain us, it's a bonus to them, but what they really want to do is make their advertisers happy by making us buy a bunch of stuff we probably don't need. When we're unhappy about ourselves and think we need fixing, we're more likely to spend a bunch of money either to fix ourselves up or to cover up our flaws or distract ourselves from them. Bleah.
----------- Jen
Posts: 2868 | Location: Ohio | Registered: March 11, 2004
I can't say that I have given them up. I still find some positives in them.
These are the ones that I subscribe to:
Diabetes Forecast Shape (recently resubscribed to after ending the subscription a few years ago) Health (I'm letting this one lapse) Fitness Self Eating Well The Artist's Magazine (planning to subscribe)
The ones I pick up on occassion:
Prevention First Quick and Simple (don't think this is available by subscription yet) Cooking Light
The ones I will read/skim while working out (if available at the gym --usually they older issues that folks have brought in)
More People Entertainment Weekly Reader's Digest Time Oprah Redbook Good Housekeeping Prevention
Magazines which I don't subscribe to anymore
Body and Soul (I just didn't care for it) Cosmopolitan (I dropped this one a few years ago)
I get several magazines, but I will not be renewing some. I do agree that most of the magazines out these days for women are just not worth getting. I get Allure, which is about a girly as they come....I love makeup and this is what it is about mostly. I also get Real Simple and Cooking Light,which I really like. I also get Eating Well, but I will probably stop my subscription. I used to get BHG, WW, Martha Stewart and a few others I can't think of, but I did not care for those.
Robin
Formerly "Robinbebe"
Posts: 420 | Location: SE Michigan | Registered: August 19, 2004
I get a lot of mags and don't end up reading all of them...which is not good...but here's what I get currently by subscription:
Health (long-time gift sub from Mom) Fitness (new gift sub from Mom) Eating Well (tho I think I may have let the sub lapse accidentally) Heart Healthy Living (just started getting this) Nutrition Action (newsletter vs. magazine)
Entertainment Weekly
I used to buy SHAPE pretty regularly off the newstand but found it the same thing over and over.
Personal Healthy Habits Challenge - 10/1 to 12/31/08: 1. Exercise: Get back to consistently working out 3-5 X week. 2. Food: Get back to consistently preparing healthy lunches for the week with increased veg servings. 3. Behavior: Reduce intake of sweets.
Posts: 7256 | Location: Rehoboth Beach, DE | Registered: March 12, 2004
O Cottage Living (good small-house ideas) Yoga Journal
The traditional women's magazines bore me -- they used to have good articles, but now they use all that space for trying to sell me stuff, mostly by making me feel fat and ugly. No thanks.
----------- Jen
Posts: 2868 | Location: Ohio | Registered: March 11, 2004
OMG! 
