To find Grazia magazine offensive (surprise surprise)

[excaligirl]

Nothing new there, I suppose, but found myself really irritated by the stupid pandering article about Christina Hendricks' curves, blah blah blah, in which lad's mag founder James Brown asserts that men are attracted to larger women when they are "pissed in a club" and concludes with this absolutely Socratic question: "What can you have more fun with, a bouncy castle or a rake?"

So, wait . . . you have equated me, a woman and a human being with . . . an object that you might "have fun with."

Oh -- you meant it as a compliment. My mistake! Why, you big he-man you. Tee hee.

Feck off.

Glossy magazines are patronising and silly. Jeremy Kyle's guests are stupid. Bears shit in the woods. QED.

Haha what a dick. He has been offensive to all women - not only does he compare all women to objects, he says larger women are only attractive when you're 'pissed in a club'. Lovely.

Don't read any magazine aimed at women. They are there to sell stuff and the easiest way to do this is to make women feel crap about themselves.

\link{http://static.guim.co.uk/sys-images/Media/Pix/pictures/2010/9/9/1284045193657/james-brown-006.jpg\this attractive fella} hahahahahahahah

According to magazines, curves doesnt actually mean curves anyway.

Curves means just as skinny as all the other celebs, possibly one size bigger at a shockingly curvy 8, but with tits.

Aslong as you have boobs, you are curvy and men like you.

But you need to get rid of the boobs to do fashion, daaahhhrrling.

Just remember, fat is evil.

Thats the message, thought id give it to you here, save you wasting 2 quid on being told it again in Grazia et al.

Did you read the winning story in their short story competitionby any chance? I entered this - as did a lot of writer friends. The second and place stories were shockingly bad - I even asked a writing tutor friend of mine. So I lost a lot of respect for them. I was hoping that the winner was fantastic...I am more than happy to lose out to brilliance - 'tis a writer's life after all. It was judged by Lauren Laverne - not quite sure who she is...

But no, I don't read celeb style mags. I heard about the Grazia comp online. But I find them samey, with no substance.....

A bouncy castle or a rake?!

I don't give a monkey's bum whether men other than my DH find me attractive. Especially not men who would eqaute my physique with a garden implement. Idiot.

YANBU!

Punkatheart - I think LL used to be in a girl band. Ages ago.

I didn't spend money on it, but I was still disappointed. I thought, oh good, escapist fluff for free . . . but apparently we can't even have escapist fluff these days without a heaping helping of being talked down to. "Ooh, yes, we're all silly ickle girls here talking about silly ickle girl stuff and spending all our money on handbags, oopsy! Aren't we adorable?"

All I want is some some eye candy without the brainwashing.

That. What TheCrackFox said.

They've always been rubbishy old trash, though. I don't know why anyone buys them. In the old days the choice was between Womans Own type things which were all about knitting and offers for commemorative plates... or Cosmo with their endless quizzes on were you getting enough orgasms.

If you buy into escapist fluff it ain't going to be aimed at right-on wimmin. And if you were to produce an intelligent magaine that was, chances are it would fold in a fortnight (no pun intended)

In magazine land "curves" mean a size 8 with sillicone tits bolted on.

I stopped reading this shit about 5 yrs ago and I can't tell you how much happier it made me. If a friend spoke to you how the magazines do you would just dump them - it is all sex tips (you are shit in bed), diets (you are fat), excercise (you may or may not be fat but your shape is all wrong), clothes (you look like a scarecrow), make-up (you are ugly), relationship advice (run around after some man because anything is better than being single).

Honestly they are all shit and I make no exceptions.

Lauren Laverne is a Radio 6 DJ who used to be in indie band Kenickie. So why on earth they feel she's qualified to judge a writing competition beggars belief...

Closer is particularly amazingly shit.

Week1: Celeb A is soooo thin! Anorexic! Needs to eat more!

Week2: Celeb A has put 2lb on. She's curvy. She is so unhappy with her size etc, details her "new" eating habits blah blah.

Page after page of "fat/thin" celebs (nobody ever seems to be an alright weight or can be mentioned at all in the mag without referring to their weight), what you should be eating (cos you're fat), Closer Diets. Just a shit magazine.

Anyone else get the impression that when they call people curvy now they are slyly referring to them as overweight? That's what I assume. Not because I think they are overweight but because I know the magazines do but can't say it!

Don't read any magazines, women's or 'men's' (teenage boys more like). Like the Daily mail, their goal is to make women feel shite so that we all work our butts off to get money to spend on plastic tits, botox, diet aids and 'this season's must have shoes/£20 lip gloss'. It is all capitalist/misogynistic bollox and the sooner women realise this and stop buying into it, the healthier our mental state will be.

crackfoxes last post

Yep. I haven't bought women's mags for a goodly long time. They are crapulous. Demeaning, brainwashing crap. Can you tell I'm angry? Grrrrr!

What I don't understand is why otherwise seemingly intelligent women buy these magazines.

I used to look at them in the hairdressers but

a) I have no idea who these "celebs" are

b) I don't give a crap about them

c) They're either sycophantic or nasty about said celebs.

Give me 25 Beautiful Homes any day.

Agree with CrackFox, they are all utter, utter shite.

Also, I have a bit of insider knowledge on the women's mag industry and I can confirm - although I'm sure you won't be at all surprised to hear - that almost every single celebrity 'story' is either manufactured by that celebrity's PR company, or entirely fabricated by the magazine itself.

It's like a fairy story, or editors playing Barbies with real people, with a large helping of 'you're unglamourous and unlovable' subtext stiching the narrative together.

I read that issue of Grazia today in Hong Kong and was horrified. I live on Mainland China where Western magazines are harder to get, so I've not read one for about 6 months. Is it just me or is it heading further and further towards the less "high brow" weeklies like Now and Closer, with its fluorescent headlines?

Well, I had really cut down on reading them at all and I suppose it's for the reasons you cite, Crackfox. I was just plain weary. There are only so many times I'm interested in being told I don't measure up.

But to discover they're now bringing in male "journalists" to tell me I'm not even fully human (still seething over the bouncy castle / rake equation shite) . . . well, that takes the .

totally agree with TheCrackFox et al. There is a reason why there are pages and pages of adverts for cosmetic surgery and love psychics at the back of these magazines - once you've read them and felt crap about yourself, they hope you will turn to their "products" to "improve" yourself. Don't give them any space in your life!

James Brown is a professional cunt. He really is. I've worked with him and he\s just the same old misogyny in a pair of Italian loafers, a crombie and a flat-cap , who really can't have a conversation with a woman unless it's a wink-y one. In conclusion, he is a winky wanker with a weeny winkie.

yeah i read this too. disgusting.

Pssst.... Lauren Laverne won't have actually judged the writing competition. It will have been the office junior told to read all the stories and pick one (with a pin most likely). Then LL puts her name to the article to make it sound a bit more sleb.

Did no-one ever see the Ab Fab episodes where Patsy goes to one of her magazine meetings and Kathy Burke is in charge of peope with no idea? Frighteningly close to realtiy.