Cosmopolitan magazine prides itself on being a magazine for a women by women. However that couldn't be further from the truth. Women should spend time uplifting each other and making each other better however cosmopolitan prides itself much like the beauty industry by telling women in order to succeed in love, sex, friendships and life over all they have to read this magazine or buy this product. Cosmopolitan magazine commonly known as Cosmo magazine has been selling women dreams and sex for almost as long as its been around. It's crass, classless headlines draw its readers in every single time. Not to mention putting some of the teen sensations and role models for young girls in skimpy clothing with headlines that read "HIS BEST SEX EVER". Now I don't know about you but I would hate to see my little sister, niece or my daughter fawning after these unrealistic body imagine goals that Cosmopolitan promotes as well as its various sex goals and tips right on the cover. Even grown women are prone to feeling inadequate after reading some of these articles and seeing this women dressed according to Victoria Hearst one woman advocating to have Cosmo pulled from the shelves and even goes as far as to say it's covers rival Playboy Magazine in this article. Below is just one controversial magazine cover from Cosmo with 17 year old actress Dakota Fanning looking stunning on a cover embedded with several sexually explicit headlines.
Aside from its controversial cover the substance of cosmopolitan magazine is hardly as intellectually stimulating as its competitors such as Vogue and Glamour. The primary focus of Cosmo is sex tips and tricks, beauty tips and tricks, how to get the guy articles and of course the interview with whoever is on the cover. Below are a few articles pulled directly from the magazine.
Now if sex tips, oversexualized women, unrealistic body goals, and 10 ways to get him to ask you out for coffee is your cup of tea then Cosmo is for you. However as someone who likes a lot more substance and a lot less self help and sex tips I'd make a a hard pass on Cosmopolitan. If you want to learn about all the over evils of Cosmo here are some more articles to check out.
As Gail Dines mentioned in "Growing Up Female in a Celebrity-Based Pop Culture," it seems like the majority of the articles featured in "Cosmopolitan" focus on pleasing men. One of the article titles that you included, "Touches That Lock Down His Love," is a good example of this. Instead of recommending little things that will improve the reader's quality of life, the title suggests that the article focuses on how to improve the life of the reader's presumed boyfriend/husband/etc. instead. The emphasis is placed on "his love" rather than "her's." The "Beauty Q&A" similarly focuses on how to make one's body more appealing for the purpose of being attractive rather than improving the reader's life, further objectifying women while setting unrealistic standards of beauty. This is especially bad for younger people, who are more impressionable, setting unrealistic standards that will likely stick with them for long periods of their lives. As Dines points out, "Cosmopolitan" suggests that female pleasure should be derived from being a desired object rather than being a desiring subject.
ReplyDeleteNow a days the media tries to imbed in us the perfect looking male and female. Females having big breasts and butts, lots of make-up and a flawless body, while men have a jawline, six pack, nice hair and eyes, and a nice smile. From that people go and try to be other people just because the media says thats how your suppose to look.
ReplyDeleteOften times we see magazines bashing women more than anyone else. Even the teen magazines focus on sexualizing women by showing the clothing mimicking those of older celebrity fashionistas. These types of magazines offer dating advice and ways to find out if he's into you. They don't make magazines that cause men to wonder if she is into you or if she likes you. We don't make magazines for men to find out clothing that women want to see them, instead we make magazines for women to sexually please men. Magazines like complex offer insight on how to make men feel the best and how to get women to learn about ways they can control their bodies for the pleasure of men. The difference between men and women is going to be hard to change and it will take people making a conscious decision to stop worrying about money but treating people with equality and respect.
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