What do we think of...lads mags?

[monkeytrousers]

not a great article but it is interesting

(apologies if the writer is a mumsnetter)

I remember when I first came to the UK, my mum and I stayed in a B&B in Bath, and she said, 'Let's watch British TV!' It was about 9 or 10, and so we turned it on, and there was this episode of 'Fat Friends' where they said fk a lot and showed this gal having sex w/an escort. We couldn't take our eyes off it!

My mum said, 'Is this cable?' and surfed the remote control. Nope. Only 4 channels. We giggled like school girls!

The next day, at breakfast, there were a bunch of us at table eating. Many were other American tourists. My mum asked the proprietor, 'They can see the 'F' word on regular TV here?! ' He said, 'Sure, after 9PM.'

All the others were like, 'REally? Cool! When can they swear? And they show topless women and man's naked butts!? When?'

That so reminds me of my cousin and her friends who came over to stay with us when she was 18 and she was so thrilled that she could buy "licker" in supermarkets and offies, because they weren't allowed to do that at home.

In some states, you can buy spirits in supermarkets, but not many. In California, for example, you can. I remember visiting there and thinking, 'Whoa! There's real booze in the supermarket.' There were also no laws regarding the time of day you could buy it.

But in Colorado, you couldn't even buy beer and wine in a supermarket. Well, you could, but it was this CRAP '3-2' stuff that was only 3.2% alcohol.

In Las Vegas, you can even walk around on the street with an 'open container' of alcohol, something that's illegal in a lot of places.

The age 21 law to buy alcohol is also strictly enforced in most of the country, b/c of severe, enforced penalties for people who sell alcohol to 'minors'.

This always amazes me, when you consider that you can easly buy a gun in the states. ( I realise it differes from state to state but YKWIM)

these magazines are worse than porn though aren't they?
because porn like I remember it from the 80s and 90s was always pretty clearly a fantasy i.e. men would buy into it as escapism. the equivalent for women would maybe be mills and boon and all that romantic tish tosh that we don't really believe either.
but these lad mags - well that's much more insidious isn't it? because men and women actually believe that this is what sexually liberated women are like - false tits, always up for it, completely objectified.
I mean look t the contestants on Big Brother this summer - not that I could bear to - but the women were like that (the ones that didn't get voted out in a minute) - dressed like porn stars, claimed to be bi-sexual (i.e. would snog another woman if it got them on tv/if a man asked them), false tits, vacant expressions.... there was one in particular who just acted like she was auditioning for a porn film the whole time.
seriously, seriously I don't remember young women behaving like that when I was one myself.
and yes, as many people have said, young women are afraid to go against the grain for fear of being labelled humourless and frigid.

tbh I feel sorry for my dds if this is the way young women are 'supposed' to behave nowadays.
(God, I sound like a right old bag don't I )

Have any of you ever noticed any advertisements for 'gentlemens clubs' popping up around the city centres. There was one quite explicit one here in Newcastle, huge fake knockers, blow job lips, the 'fuck puppet' mentioned in the article, and it was everywhere, mostly on telephone boxes.

I actually wrote to adversting standards and complained that it was explictly 'women for sale' and wholly unacceptable on the highstreet. They replied that no other complaints had been received so it wasn't upheld.

Haven't seen them but I'll tell you what I did see that really annoyed me.
The adverts for Lynx aftershave (or whatever it is) where some w@nky little ned sprays his 'Lynx' and the two posh showjumping women jump off their horses, rip their clothes off and start rubbing each other with mud.
Always thought that was a bit 'near the knuckle' for mainstream TV.

HCC. Good post. Children, when asked at school as to what they'd like to be apparently often now reply 'famous, and rich' I heard this on R4 so it must be true.

I think that the Abi Titmuss's and BB contestants of this world have sold whatever soul they have in a similar way and these ladsmags have been the eager beneficiaries.

I despair of this whole 'culture.' We've had floods, storms and hurricanes. I'm going to go and build an ark.

They make me feel fat

Actually, post-feminism makes me feel fat too

And I'm not particularly fat, actually.

Sorry, can't do a plural Titmuss without an errant ' it just doesn't look right.

That was a serious point, btw, not merely a glimpse into the peculiarity of my mind

They make me feel sad, MI.

I know I'm banging on about this (probably not a good choice of phrase) but is money so important to some women. How can a qualified, respected and yes, very poorly paid casualty nurse, jack it all in for such tawdry money.

I'd rather live in a box.

Large numbers of the children that I teach state that they want to 'famous' when they leave school. They are quite convinced that this fame will simply arrive at their door, unworked for and unannounced. A dreadful mind set to have and quite as harmful as the vile attitued to woemn that these mags peddle.

Actually, I do live in a box, and a very moral box it is too.

sorry but pmsl at post feminism making you feel fat
serious post or not
it is a bit despairworthy isn't it
no-one complains
no-one cares
you can't even buy a lapel badge like you could in the 80s to protest

maybe I will join you on that ark bubble

If I move my fat post-feminist arse over, you may just manage to squeeze in, HCC.

I saw this yesterday, and found it very tawdry and depressing. I felt particularly angry about a quote from the FHM feature about "how much are you paying for sex?" which suggested that at £5 a shag "she's too cheap - about the same price as a Cambodian whore" - not only is it normalising the objectification of women, but contains a passing, presumably jokey reference to an area of the most horrific exploitation of women and young children on the planet. As if it's all OK.

the kind of men who write that lad's mag shite are 40 year old skinny spotty-backed greasy nerds with sweaty hands, BO, green teeth and pit stains who still live with their mum and the reason they write this crap is they're very depressed because they can't get a girlfriend.

Pity them. They will die virgins.

I haven't read all this thread but I find these mags distasteful. What really annoys me is that they're not on the top shelf along with other 'naughty' mags but can be right in front of you/your child in special promotions. I sometimes turn them round on the shelf so you can't see the cover.

That article was really depressing. Is this what it's come to? What is really upsetting is its availability, right there on the shelf where young children see it. Admit it's porn & stick the mags up on the porn shelves. Don't pretend it's anything else.

I hate the thought of young lads buying this shit and thinking that this portrays today's women. Tits and ass and up for it. Or a young girl, thinking that this is normal and acceptable. It has to have an effect on their mindset.

It's so out of order. Aargh! Now I'm feeling cross and grumpy and wish I hadn't read this thread so late on!

It's scary how widespread this portrayal of women is. Everything has been sexed-up, it's just ridiculous and infuriating. Why should we feel like out of touch feminists if we complain? Since when did feminism become such a dirty word?

Yup, feminism still has a long, long way to go. Men are feeling threatened and this is their defence strategy, a rather predictory one too, of insulting your opponent kiddie style i.e. "my mum's got bigger tits than you!"

The best way to overcome this is to carry on getting the better grades, fighting for more women bosses and equal pay, getting more women barristers and judges, raising penalties for sexual crimes.

Don't react tit for tat, that's what they want. Just remember, it's them that have to pay for sex, not us.

Well, quite, pip. Feminism has been a dirty word in quite a lot of circles for too long imo.

So, what can any of us actually do about it - that's the question isn't it? I guess these mags won't be covered by anti obscenity laws or porn laws. Maybe there isn't anything because, well, it's hard to legislate for this kind of stuff. I find these mags so offensive, I really do. I saw the News of The World headline today and it had the words 'roasting' and 'rape' on the front page and it was on the front page presumably because it had a) lesbianism/threesome sex b) rape and c) a footballer. And with all that's going on in the world, that is what the NOTW wants to lead on because that is what they think will sell the most papers and, arguably because the tabloid press have been selling the UK public this shite for so long, they're right, this is the sort of story that sells papers. I do feel quite despairing about it.

I can't stand these magazines and agree strongly with Frieda's comment, this was the part which I found most distasteful too. The 'lads' editing these mags struck me as a particularly unappealing, spineless bunch - a mixture of semi-literate middle-aged men who on the whole seemed uncomfortable with what they are doing, apart from Mr Snake Shoes Dice Ring, who reminded me of the sort of guy who mysteriously appears at New Year's Eve parties at 11.55pm.

feminism schmeminism.

its throw away society - women do it too - only we dont go making mags about it. as the lack of mainstream porn for women shows. i remember back in the 90's there was a to do about how there was no porn for women in the shops. and there was a big media thing about some mag that was published - only gay men ever bought it.

we're all ann summers and vibrators.

you only have to look at mumsnet flip tongue in cheek stuff ont he relationship threads to see that stereotyping isnt only for the male of the species. and women bashing is done in the main by...shock horror - errr women.

what stuff like this is doing is propogating whats already out there anyway - no it doesnt make it right but its not like this stuff has suddenly appeared and is putting back womens plight by 100 years.

we have a pink plastic throw away society, shaped and moulded by pop culture and trash. there have for a long time been images on our screens in our newspapers and in the media telling us what kind of wife we should be, what kind of meals we should cook, what kind of face we shouldhave, how skinny we should be.

its not down to these mags - these mags are a sympton of society. thats not to say its right - its just to say that - it never stuck out to me as somethin to pick up on - any more than say the general media view that you have to be under 25 a size 6 and have big tits and white teeth.

guess i am surprised that this inparticular has been picked out.

and feminism ... well, no better not. brothers and sisters of the world unite and fight this capitalist plague. ( i only say that becasue i look good in Khaki green and military stuff is in at the mo)