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Thinking women's magazines have had their day

269 replies

EduardoBarcelona · 13/05/2014 06:56

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.

OP posts:
ProfYaffle · 14/05/2014 16:30

I stopped buying 'womens' magazines years ago. These days I only buy magazines specific to the hobbies I have. I don't seem to notice the ads in those, probably because they're for products I may actually want to own and realistically be able to afford.

ouryve · 14/05/2014 16:39

I got completely bored with "Women's" magazines at about the time I had DS1. I just bought the odd copy of She, by then, but even that seemed to be no longer the least bit relevant when I gave up work and had a not all that contented baby to care for.

Now the not all that contented baby is a not all that contented 10yo, I just curate news, articles etc via Twitter. Even better that you sometimes get to "talk to" the people who wrote the articles, that way.

CorusKate · 14/05/2014 16:45

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Darkesteyes · 14/05/2014 17:04

Cant stand Heat Closer Reveal Now etc. Absolutely awful. I cant help wondering if the people working on them end up with issues themselves because of the content they have to work on.

Darkesteyes · 14/05/2014 17:06

And Woman and Womans Own seem to be versions of Closer and Heat for older women.

Minnieisthedevilmouse · 14/05/2014 17:36

Why do what I consider older women's mags all centre on opening your own business? Like good housekeeping... It's bizarre.

Grazia annoyed me last week. It ran several features on feminism. Then blew that out of the water with the style of adverts in it. Particularly one for a website called debrief that crowed about a song sung by four women sitting on vibrators. And a charity fundraiser for fgm that raised money by seeing how long girls could sit on a sex toy for. Seriously.

If your going to claim to be "for women" then you have to focus on the whole magazine not just the bloody glossy feminism light articles you morons!

I would like to find a magazine I could read and enjoy the pictorials of. It shouldn't be that hard really...

alemci · 14/05/2014 17:59

I used to read the mags but now just flick through. think I won't bother much more.

Spiritedwolf · 14/05/2014 18:24

I'm 28 and I never got into women's mags. I tend to just occasionally read hobby magazines (writing, web design, art&craft, gardening) or ones like BBC Wildlife, New Scientist etc, and even then I don't seem to find much time to read them (I have a toddler and read books and mumsnet) so have a pile of ones I haven't got around to reading yet which I try to remember if I'm tempted to buy another.

I tend to find that I use buying a magazine about hobby stuff tends to just act as a substitute for actually making time to do the hobby so am trying to cut down/stop. And some magazines are worse than others - webdesign ones have pages and pages of hosting providers and domain sellers and while I see those are services that webdesigners use, most will already have a preferred provider and don't really switch unless there's a major problem. So its a bit boring.

I occasionally get The People's Friend for fiction, mainly to look at because I'd like to write more.

One magazine that I plan to subscribe to when I have more time for writing is Mslexia (for women who write) as when I've looked through issues in the past I've found they resonate with me.

Thanks for the suggestions for good children's mags above, I hope there are still some good ones around when my little one(s) are ready to enjoy them.

WickedWitchoftheNorthWest · 14/05/2014 18:30

Bitch Magazine from the US is very much still worth reading. Not easy to get over here, though bitchmagazine.org/

merrymouse · 14/05/2014 19:32

Yes, I think the monthlies have had their day. They don't contain any content that you couldn't get on a blog or forum and if you have 5 minutes of down time, you can probably download/find something more interesting on your phone.

I think magazines with more specialist content have a place, but that kind of fashion/chatty/stuff is widely available elsewhere.

The only thing they could theoretically do better than a random website is interviews. However, interviews in women's magazines are often spectacularly bad.

The weekly "my boyfriend married my dog" and celebrity gossip photo mags are different - I don't buy them so can't comment.

BoffinMum · 14/05/2014 20:28

CorusKate Grin
Get a special frottage scarf from Poundland for that GrinGrin
Keep it next to your penis beaker

CorusKate · 14/05/2014 20:33

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Message withdrawn at poster's request.

acsec · 14/05/2014 20:54

I loved Family Circle! My mum used to send me her copy after she'd read it when I was at uni. I quite like Prima - again, I read my mum's copy when she's done, and I did have a subscription to Top Sante, but that got a little boring.

alemci · 14/05/2014 20:54

also the over used clichee e.g. a pop of colour.

mathanxiety · 14/05/2014 21:00

Gaaagh. 'Pops of colour' makes me want to smack someone.

skyninja · 14/05/2014 21:25

mathanxiety and alemci - me too, also when used in the 'brown eyeshadow will really make blue eyes pop'. No kidding. Anyone who read More in the 1980s will know the cardinal rules of eyeshadow anyway.

It's still just The Week subscription.theweek.co.uk/about-the-week/ for me and sometimes specialist mags. Not as in weird fetish specialisms obviously. I get all that info online Wink

alemci · 14/05/2014 21:34

really the whole thing is more adverts within articles. your life will change if you buy this new eyeshadow, dress etc.

FindoGask · 14/05/2014 21:36

People have been saying that women's magazines have had their day for years! And they're definitely in decline, it just seems to ba a long, drawn-out death. I can't remember the last time I bought one. A friend of mind brought round a couple of of her old copies of "Good Housekeeping" when I was in bed with a cold a few months ago, which were (unintentionally) a good laugh. When I was in my twenties I occasionally bought an issue of Marie Claire for a "treat" until I realised that reading Marie Claire just made me miserable and wasn't a treat at all.

BrianButterfield · 14/05/2014 21:40

If you still sort of like to look at magazines but agree wholeheartedly that they're not worth the money, check out your local library website - I can get quite a lot of magazines free on Zinio through the library - some trash like Hello!, Woman etc but also quite a few hobby and specialist mags like New Scientist.

wheresthedoobrey · 14/05/2014 21:45

I've seen numerous womens mags in the doctors waiting room. To be honest, just glancing over at the front covers with their sickening sensationalised stories of murder, rape, and God knows puts me off ever reading them. They never used to be quite this revolting in their subject matter.

Why anyone would want to digest these appalling stories over their mid-morning coffee and biscuits is beyond me!

Mind you, the USA "World Weekly News" is very entertaining - with amazingly far fetched OTT stories and pic's of aliens, dead reincarnated celebs, Elvis sightings et al............... Great stuff for the highly gullible.

My 73 year old mum buys "Yours" on a weekly basis. A lovely magazine for the senior citizen. Nice little articles and stories.

mellicauli · 14/05/2014 21:47

Intelligent Life is a very interesting (if expensive..only quarterly though. And I like the FT magazine at the weekend. I think the Sunday/Saturday magazines have taken over from women's magazine.

Becca19962014 · 14/05/2014 22:14

The only one I read is people's friend. I get very odd looks when I buy it, apparently I'm way too young for it!

I won't read anything else.

bluebeanie · 14/05/2014 23:02

I'm a bit of a magazine fan. Had subscriptions to psychologies, marie claire, glamour, grazia, brides, women's fitness and mother and baby over the years.

I agree that most of the stuff is pedalled out over and over again.

I now read Empire as I enjoy films and dh likes it too. I buy grazia for train journeys only. I like mother and baby, but get annoyed with the overuse of the word 'mama'. I'm not sure why.

CorusKate · 14/05/2014 23:15

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4yoniD · 15/05/2014 07:11

Not many people mentioning how we treat celebrities. Personally I can't stand to see someone - almost always a woman - ripped apart publicly. "Look at her bulging , her hair is shocking and what was she thinking when she left the house looking like that?! And don't get me started on her eyebrows..." - I realise that as celebrities they open themselves up to this, but it just seems so unnecessary, so nasty, and the criticism and attitude surely, inevitably, filters down to us "normal" folk?