Thinking women's magazines have had their day

[EduardoBarcelona]

I was given a copy of Marie Claire. I just read it. Why? Adverts. Adverts. Hard adverts hard to bend. Samples.

Shit trite editorial and letters "I read the article on North Korea im so pleased to live in Europe". Yup thanks for that.
Articles on what it's like in the hamptons. A big on dodgy abortion providers. Pages on a woman in the desert with skeletal legs. See pic.

Then the most hilarious "get the look for less" see pics.

I used to be a total magazine junkie, but I think it's nearly a decade since I bought a women's glossy. I do get the proleporn mags like Take A Break from time to time, but they seem to be getting tedious, as well.
The last really great wave of women's mags was in the mid 90s, with titles like Minx coming along - interestingly, Minx and a few others were sort of pitched as 'Loaded' for women and they were loads of fun. Mind you, early Loaded was actually really funny, it wasn't all tits and cocaine.
But mags have changed. It's not just that us old farts are getting old. I have hoarder tendencies, which I am partly overcoming by selling stuff on Ebay, and I have shifted a lot of old women's mags like COsmo and COmpany from the late 80s and early 90s, and they were all much more interesting then. Features on all kinds of things, not just sex, clothes and slebs. Really good columnists like Julie Burchill and Marcelle D'Argy Smith. I do think the industry is dying, partly due to the internet and partly due to the fact that now the mags are all run by cheap young interns with little or no life experience or writing skillls.

I cannot remember the last time I bought a 'womens' mag. I do buy Private Eye, LRB, Living Etc (though this seems to have turned into Elle Dec by stealth over the years tbh, whilst Elle Dec has turned into a cross between architectural digest and wallpaper )

All the pictures I'd want to see are online- pinterest, flickr etc. All the chatty, gossipy stuff is on twitter, and various other fora, all the advice is on here!

I hope womens' magazines have had their day. They are boring and patronising.

I remember when it were all fields....

I only buy glossies when there is something good attached to it, like elemis flash balm, or neals yard gubbins. I flick through and either give to ds to chop up for GCSE art or to mate at work for use in English lessons.

Hey, MNHQ, any chance of a MN magazine???? Or would that dilute what we do on here?

I was given subscriptions to good housekeeping and woman and home. Finally realised they were rubbish when one of them ( can't remember which) got really excited about having a celeb's signature on the front cover. Still remember the thrill of rushing to school on Wednesdays to read my best friend's Jackie mag though. Nowadays The only magazine in our house is my partners men's health magazine - full of impossibly tiny women with arched backs and slutty clothes

I learned so much as a teen from Dr Delvin in She in the 70's/80's. My Auntie used to buy almost every mag going - she'd bring them round when she'd finished, I grew up with Woman's Realm, People's Friend (which I ignored as it looked old but sounds like I'm missing out), Honey, Cosmopolitan, She, Woman's Weekly, Woman, Woman's Own. She still buys some, but woman/woman's own are nothing like they used to be. They are like Bella/Best - loads of minor celeb features, a lose-weight-by-just-eating-peppers-this-week feature, and some gawp-at-the-tragic-person stories (usually involving American murderers). I read the stories in My Weekly/Woman's Weekly.

I miss the days of Family Circle and Living (not the new magazine with the same name) being the only magazines sold in supermarkets, along with Home & Freezer Digest. They were full of simple recipes that didn't make you feel inadequate if you hadn't earned a Michelin Star, and could be made with ingredients that didn't cost a fortune in money and food miles, and ideas for your home that didn't involve chucking out your furniture and redecorating every 6 months.

I remember the days when i was a kid when supermarkets only stocked Family Circle Usually near the till and usually with a picture of Nanette Newman on the cover.

I found a copy of "The Lady" magazine at work. I really liked it! Not at all a gossip magazine and some really interesting articles.

Yes, mumsnet the magazine. That's a good idea.

I used to read them when I was in the doctors waiting room. Just didn't speak to me at all.

They seem to Assume, as has been said that everyone works in an office and wants to spend four figures on a handbag.

Since someone started bringing in old copies of national geographic and New Civil Engineer I haven't read one in years. :)

does family circle still exist

I was a magazine addict.
Not anymore.... I have Mumsnet.
I'll very occasionally buy Woman and Home, Good Housekeeping ( gone off , I trust Which more re product tests) , Vanity Fair , Red, Instyle, Tatler and Harpers.
I can't abide Heat or OK.
Grazia started out well but lost it's way.
I read Hello (when desperate ) at the hairdressers
I can't stand the glossy promotion of celebrity women ( off the telly etc)with something to sell.
Great line from the Baz Luhrman song 'Wear Sunscreen' ..... 'Do not read beauty magazines, they will only make you feel ugly'.
That song should be played to a 12 year old girls- it might prevent some of them having 'issues' later on.

I hate mags for all the reasons stated by others. I haven't bought one in years, I only ever see them when I'm having my hair done, twice a year. The most irritating articles are always a report by some young one who has spent a week at a detox buddhist mediation chakra cleaning retreat in Thailand and shites on about how they felt going in, how their body adapted, how purified they felt.. how it is recommended to readers and is only £5000 for one week including flights. Feck off.

meditation not mediation!

I used to read lots of women's magazines, plus the housey ones, but always felt crap that I was too fat, didn't wear enough makeup or the right clothes or even that my house wasn't right. Bollocks to all that. I have a wonderful life and I couldn't be happier. I have a gorgeous husband and pregnant with our first little person. I love my house, but mainly because it's where my family lives, not because I've managed to get the right shade of wallpaper to satisfy this month's trend. Don't need anyone telling me which mascara is best either, thanks! The only magazine I will entertain is Essentials and even then I ignore most of the "advice".