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 went through a big Good Housekeeping phase before I realised I was only reading the Sandi Toksvig column. The articles about Nigella, Lulu, Carole Vorderman, Fern Brittain seemed to come round about once every six months.

Just because you don't like women's magazines and don't see a market for them, does not mean everyone reeks the same. I do despise the Grammar used by these magazines e.g Pick Me Up, That's Life etc

I used to regularly buy Good Housekeeping, but have given that up, as it's had its day, in my opinion.

The only magazine I buy nowadays is one pertaining to my hobby.

I used to love Elle and had a subscription to it when i was a fashion student.

The only reason i buy those magazines now is if they have a very good brand of make-up as a gift and it's cheaper to buy the magazine a couple of times than the make up.

I buy runner's world though and to be fair there are alot of adverts in it too.

YANBU.

I used to spend a fortune on magazines - now I buy one once every 2 or 3 months and am invariably disappointed.

There is clearly a gap in the market for a decent woman's magazine that contains more than the usual celebs, appearance related guff, shopping pages & articles about emotions & relationships that have already been done to death.

How about a MumsMag?!

I got that same magazine and was massively disappointed. Nothing to read. Not buying again. Red is he best one. Lots of articles x

Libertine is a new magazine, loads of interesting articles and none of the awful fluff:

www.interestedwomen.com

Pretty much everything I used to pay for in a women's magazine is available for free or cheap and of better quality written by bloggers. Expensive photography is the only thing they still do better.

Also bought this month's Marie Claire and thought it was exceptionally rubbish this month - usually it has a few good articles.

That "article" on the Hamptons was outrageously vacuous.

Yes I think they have to an extent. But these true life story type ones will survive a bit longer. I used to like She but don't even know if it's stil lgoing. It went downhill a few years ago. As for Woman and Womans Own can't think why anybody would even want to look at them.

They're insulting and dim-witted aren't they? I used to like one to read in a long train or plane trip, and now I have to remember a book instead.

I AM interested in fashion and world affairs and women's issues, I really am. These magazines just aren't written for me somehow.

I MUCH prefer vanity fair

There is a specific target audience for these magazines. A few women I used to work with in a newsagents called them "books" and used to devour them - they used to take stacks of them home (for free, as they were returns) every week. Fashion, hair, make up etc was a genuine hobby for them, it's like motorcycle geeks ogling pages of ads for the latest...eh...good motorcyle :)
Advertisers pay a lot for the fact that you have to turn the page in a magazine, therefore it is very likely you will see their ad. With lower sales and subscriptions magazines have to pull in money with ads and "advertorials," plus greed means that if you can pay a writer for an article or have an advertiser pay you for an ad then you're going to go with the ad.

I like fashion too....but I find marie claire boring I always have.

I shall certainly be drumming into my DD's how its all fake and can make people feel bad about themselves..

I agree, I find them inevitably disappointing.

I think they are just too generalist for me - I can find my own bespoke mix of content online. And when I think about it a bit further, it's mildly insulting that because I possess a vagina I am only interested in fashion beauty and the odd wimmins issue. The depth of the articles is mind bogglingly shallow too. It's a shame really as I do quite like having an actual magazine to read.

Vanity Fair is a good read - a little US centric but I enjoy it almost as much as Doctor Who magazine

I used to love Cosmopolitan back in the day even tho I wasn't a Cosmo type at all.

I bought a groupon offer which was half price on subscription of what I thought at the time was Woman and Home, so I purchased it. Only once I received the magazine did I realized I had bought Womens Health instead. Now I'm not sure if you get that mag in UK but its full of exercises and every single issue has loads of articles on hot sex . I have to admit to reading those parts. Who knew that there were all those different ways to masturbate .

So I bought a copy of Woman and Home to read while travelling, only to find out that it had exactly the same articles in that the UK Woman and Home had in a few months prior, which someone had given me.

As a young teenager I enjoyed Jackie and Blue Jeans, then at shared music lessons with DSis I got a basic education from Reader's Digest (eg on relationships) to the background music of my sister's piano playing.
In my twenties, when I moved in with DP, I found Cosmo good company for a while, as well as TimeOut and other listings mags (I had a social life in those days!) and the occasional glance at SpareRib.
These days I get more from the Radio Times, which can intelligently link you to a cornucopia of programme choice than from any women's mag.
Also enjoy the specialist Quaker publication "The Friend" and the occasional leaf through National Geographic and similar travel based mags at the park cafe. Also get the thought-provoking but sometimes heavy "Amnesty International" publication through my support of them.
We also subscribe to various natural world and environment mags through our membership of various organisations such as the Wildlife Trusts which also do a nice publication for our teens - which they look out for mainly for the lovely wildlife posters.
And we get the mag DH works for too, which is always a good read, especially his column, and especially when we get a mention!
So, conscious I've probably gone off on a bit of a tangent here, but that's me and us and magazines

I have been bought a years subscription to both Prima and Essential by my MIL. I'm quite enjoying them (but I wouldn't part with my own money to buy them!) I agree the 'aspirational' type fashion ones are overpriced, empty headed, full of adverts nonsense

ITA, I used to love Marie Claire and Cosmo in my younger days. They're just trash now. With the exception of Psychologies magazine which I love, they're all quite pants now. Although my dad bus me Take a Break and Love It magazine to read when I go to his at the weekend, I do become quite engrossed in those.

I used to love 'She' when I was a teenager - lots and lots of content, as well as the education and perfectly named gynaecologist Dr Delvin. I remember when it was 'revamped' - instantly bigger print, shorter articles and totally dumbed down.

the only time I see the mags now is in various waiting rooms - and they are still big print, tiny articles, far too much fashion and dumbed down even further.

the time has passed.

I still love Good Housekeeping. My mother has been reading it for decades and I think it's one of the few that hasn't become a celeb fest or a glorified brochure for expensive perfumes and designer clothes.

Other than that I really just buy food magazines and the Radio Times. Even the TV Times is rubbish now. About half of it is taken up with updates on Emmerdalecoronationstreeteastenders.