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 think I must be the only one who still likes Red then . I still get a bit of a thrill buying it but then I see it lying on the table a few days later I do think hmmm what was in it this month? I like the gloss and glamour of it if I'm honest.

Also buy Runner's World and Country Living or Period Living (can't remember which one as they are all the same which says it all really). Nothing lives up to the promise really does it.

I haven't bought any for years. Used to read them quite a bit even though I resented how much advertising I had to plough through.

I used to like buying one if I was having lunch in town and getting stuck into it while stuffing my face. But these days I'd rather use the internet on my smartphone.

I think smartphones killed magazines the same way video killed the radio star!

Burma i still like Red. Its just not as good as it used to be.

I think its the blogs that are killing them actually There are some fantastic bloggers out there.

Pipbin there's lots of stuff - feminism and LGBTQA rights, gay media (films, tv shows, gay musicians etc), travel (can be a really contentious issue for queer people where your sexuality can land you in jail or with the death penalty), gay parenting, gay clubs/sex toys/Pride reviews/other more niche things.

I like The Stylist.

I was in the hairdressers today. I thought 'Shall I ask for a mag to flick through?' And then I thought 'No, I shall sip my coffee, zone out and just shut my eyes for a bit and enjoy no one shouting Mummymummymummy! at me for forty minutes and try not to snore too loudly.

Says it all really, when you can't even be arsed to leaf through something given to you for free when you HAVE to sit quietly for a period of time.

I just don't know who their customers are. I font care what celebrities are doing. I am never going to buy a handbag for hundreds if not thousands of pounds. I don't care whom Jemima von Millionaire was snogging in some society hot spot. I find the whole body fixation thing boring at best, twisted at worst.I rarely find out something I don't know, am inspired to try something new, or snort coffee through my nose laughing at a magazine, so why bother?

I used to love mags like Cosmo etc when I was younger but tbh I find MN a far more fulfilling read these days. Witty, intelligent,supportive, enlightening and relevant. And no horrendous ads or photo shoots that make you feel bad about yourself. I mean, relationships advice, slender twaddle, feminism, style and beauty ( and the fabulous litter tray!), what's not to like..? :)

Thanks for the answer MyrtleDove. I guess other woman's magazines only have 'we all have fannies' in common.

As someone without children things like GH are dull because so much of it is about having children.

*sleb twaddle of course!

But forgot to add, dieting advice, yay!

It's madness, the editorials.

Dress - £££
handbag - ££££
Shoes - models own
watch - price on application.

And that's just Red, not bloody Vogue or Harper's Bazar.

Do bugger off!

And I couldn't give a fig about the clothes.
I have got to the point in my life where I know the clothes I like and will wear them, even if other people think that tunics over leggings are passé.

I really, really don't care about 'slebs'. That is one of the good things about Take A Break, no gossip. I assume it's still the case.

Thanks for the ideas ^^ I shall be checking out The Week and Fortean Times

MN has ppl suggesting things they've probably seen in mags though. I saw someone tell someone else on a thread to live on just fruit yoghurt and water to lose weight.

Cosmo is fucking terrible

I gave up on women's magazines about 20 years ago as I was fed up with the vacuous content and all the beauty adverts consisting of women so airbrushed they no longer look human, and with the usual bollocky marketing hype I'm so cynical of the beauty industry and just can't stomach it. The last subscription I had was also about 20 years ago and was FHM; much more entertaining than any of the available women's mags (especially Grub Smith's sex articles!) Not read it since so no idea what I'd think of it now though.

I do hope that someone in the Women's magazine industry is reading this.

What would your ideal magazine have in it then ladies?

Mine would have articles about just interesting stuff, items about the lives of regular women in different countries, book, film and technology reviews, small amount of interiors.

No fashion or celebrity.

Sounds fine to me Pip Can we have politics and feminism sections too.

I used to read ALL of them, I'd go up to the counter with 7 or 8 every month. Now you can find all that content online. The only two I miss are Eve and Jezebel. Jezebel was a cheeky sex content mag but their features were excellent too.

This mag seems to be quite popular among the lifestyle bloggers at the moment www.ohcomely.co.uk/

Yep,

So we've got:
Politics,
Feminism,
Stuff, just interesting stuff, like science, archeology or history
Small amount of interiors,
Reviews, including technology, not just kitchen technology

I'd like travel too, one uk and one international town or city an issue.

No:
Fashion,
Celebrity,
Lists, I don't need another 5 ways with potatoes or 7 things to do with mascara.

Thanks for the link Gatorade. It looks like our magazine might be hiding on the shelves of WH Smiths under the rather odd name of Oh Comely.

Gardening please! Funny stuff...

Agree Pip Proper book reviews are a must.

And proper film reviews of interesting films (not just of whatever rom coms out at the moment).

I'd like to see more in depth articles on random subjects. Having given up on glamour, I'm now veering between Empire, New Scientist and Psychologies.

I have all my Cosmopolitans from the mid-90s era. One of them has a 6 page article on William Blake. Can you imagine a woman's magazine today running a main feature on a poet who's been dead for 200 years?

I grew up reading my mum's She magazines as well - it seemed so edgy and exotic back them - feminism and literature and glamour. I learned everything I know about sex from Dr. David Delvin!

The thing about women's magazines is that they're not interesting even to someone like me who loves clothes, spends a lot of time thinking about clothes and what I look like,cultivates a very particular style and spends a lot of money on clothes. But I don't need to be told how to do any of this by a magazine.

But the only time I see them is at the hairdresser and even there I'm more likely to read my kindle than bother looking at them.

The only magazines I buy are Uncut or Q for music.