To feel like there is not one decent women's magazine on the market

[tinierclanger]

They all churn out the same tired old stuff slightly rehashed every now and again, there's no proper journalism, hardly any proper reviews, no insight into anything. They're all so boring!

But i do like TAB - cheap and cheerful, exactly what it says on the tin. I like the woman who writes about her family life every week

I miss Eve too! It was my fave although I love Red too - however it does make me feel a bit of a failure - I'm never going to be like the women they feature! Also buy Easy Living, but don't touch the weeklies as have no interest in slebs. I like the articles in Red and Easy Living but the fashion is totally out of my world - just cos you're over 35 doesn't mean you suddenly have the income for designer fashion!

Has anyone tried Psychologies? I might give Vanity Fair a go then but thought it was only for the rich!

It's not just that us old farts are getting older and fartier. I am a hoarder someone with quite a few old mags knocking around which I bundle up and sell on Ebay, and the evolution and deterioration of the women's titles is quite interesting. IN the mid 80s they were nearly all arse-kickingly feminist in some way. In the mid 90s they started 'softening' a bit and it become more and more about 'relationships' ie devoting your whole life to making a man commit to you. Then in the mid 90s as the bigger titles like Cosmo got soppier and soppier, there was a kind of explosion of feisty titles (Minx, B, and then Nova's revival a few years later) some of this was down to people trying to do the equivalent of Loaded for women.
Now they are all awful and I haven't bought one in years.

Cosmo was brilliant in early 90s, really intelligent articles.

Then the old editor left and some bint called Nikki came in in about 1994 and it just turned into pink fluff.

I used to love a mag called Womans Journal as well, god knows what I was doing reading that at the age of 15, it was for middle aged women. But again, at least it was bloody intelligent.

I jumped straight from the Beano to Cosmo, bypassing Miss, Just 17 and Looks magazine, which were always crap (loved Smash Hits though, and earnest muso magazines with free tapes such as Select)

And Sky magazine was great fun.

Just17 was good when it started!

I remember Minx. What happened to that? It didn't last very long. Ditto the new version of Nova, which had potential.

I used to get Vogue every now and then, if only for some fashion wishful-thinking. It did used to have some interesting articles as well, about things like art collectors and women who ran odd businesses, like party planners. Horribly upper-middle-class, but didn't insult its readers' intelligence.
I still like a look at Vogue's fashion spreads at the hairdressers', but it seems to be full of thinly-veiled advertorial for face creams and plastic surgery now. Urgh.

What about Psychologies? There's no fashion, but there's book reviews, good articles, a bit of food and health....

Vanity Fair is pretty much focused on wealthy people but when they cover a particular subject they really get into the guts of it. Their reporting is really indepth although I wouldn't buy it regularly. Again the Economist, which I do read every week as my DH is a subscriber, is great. A few months ago they did a fantastic article on why the number of births of girls was drastically falling across the world (abortion, infanticide) and how it was a ticking time-bomb in places like China where increasing crime was linked to frustrated males who had no hope of finding a partner. They also helped me to really understand the economic crisis across the world.

Part of the problem with the women's mags is that the journalists appear to live in a very narrow world and don't really seem to interact with people not like them so they can't properly communicate with people not like them and it shows.

One of the things that make me laugh is when they show pictures of supposed members of the public to display what it is we are wearing around the country this month/week. For some reason all of the women featured look like they either work in the mag office or the pictures were taken outside the London College of Fashion where they just rounded up some fashion students or PR people because they never look like the average woman I see on the street.

TBH women's magazine just turn my stomach - there is NOTHING in them that I want to read.

If I buy a mag it will be New Scientist or the Big Issue - both contain far more sustaining stuff to tax my brain cells. I may not understand it all, but at least it isn't insulting my intelligence or assuming I'm some vaucous, celebrity-obsessed air-head with nothing better to do than worry about the latest seasons colours

I'd forgotten about Minx, I used to love that. I wonder if anyone in the industry will read this thread and exploit the gap in the market ....

I used to but Heat magazine every week up until about 4 years ago. It used to be funny and different and wasn't like the other magazines that were full of mostly made up "celeb" stories. Then they joined the band wagan of publishing untrue celeb stories and it went down hill from there.

used to love smash hits just 17 and heat.
moved on to cosmo and marie clare.
bought cosmo only yesterday first time after years - dreadful no interesting articles at all - naked men issue because we love our men ??
oh dear.have we really gone backwards over the last 15/20 years.
nice free nail varnish tho

I used to be a magjunkie too.

Now I just read the odd special interest one.

The only magazine i buy now is the Sainsburys one

I used to have a subscription to Marie Claire, now ti is just full of the same wanky-tosh as the others.

Someone once said that buying a women's magazine is the equivalent of burning a $5 note while proclaiming "I have no self-esteem".

I think they may have a point. I agree that all of them have gone downhill. Even Bella used to have really good short stories in them, now it's all celeb drivel.

I hate how they all assume women work in offices too. It's all office parties/ at the office. Very irritating.

Minx was good, but it became full of Polly Vernon and the opinions of and unsurprisingly died soon after.

I've loved magazines since I was a teenager but can't stand the ad laden crap around now. I miss Eve too.

I love the recipes in Sainsbos magazine.

Thank you for this thread!

Something I am so passionate about (ie I rant on about like a banshee at any opportunity ).

Womens mags are cr*p!

The thing that really piss*s me off is because they are in the pockets of all the cosmetic companies (because they are so reliant on advertising from them) they collude in the claims that spending 100 quid on a anti cellutite cream or 200 quid on a anti wrinkle cream is a complete waste of money!

At hairdressers I always go for mens mags GQ etc as they have more in-depth articles and do not focus on trying to loose weight, how to catch a man, or search for the psychological meaning behind the the type of muffin I selected that morning.

And all those fawning articles to actresses (asking not about their art) but asking about their boyfriend history and how did they loose their pregnancy weight so fast?!.....ARGHHHHHHH

Another big big big vote for Vanity Fair. Great political coverage (but I'm a democrat not a republican so I would say that) and often really, really interesting in-depth articles.

Indaba climbs off her very high hobby horse and reaches for the rooibos tea to calm herself.

Psychologies is great indeed - for men too though [hwink]

I miss Eve too. I think if personified, Eve would have been a Mnetter.

there are only so many 'How to have a career orgasm whilst sporting the new must-have schleb handbag' articles that are worth reading...

though do you think that possibly, ladies with kids ren't the target audience of these mags?

I occasionally buy Essentials. I like the fact that they have real women on the front page and have shunned slebs. Don't buy it every month, but its OK when I'm off on the train.

The rest is all pretty shamey-shite.

Used to read New Woman when I was younger. Have tried She, but found that it assumed that everyone is earning £££ and their fashion and "must haves" was unrealistic.

Sorry - were unrealistic.