May I point you in the direction of this excellent blog post about glossy magazines?

[MmeLindor.]

No, it is not my blog but it is by a MNetter.

She writes about falling out of love with glossy magazines that tell us how to be real women - mainly by buying all the crap their advertisers are peddling.

"You know, no-one is telling men they need to risk their necks, backs, bunions and basically torture their feet into submission all for a bit of toe cleavage! Marie Claire, you are facilitating this misogynistic bollocks."

You may indeed... have bookmarked on the basis of enjoying that post, and the one titled... Wonderwolf...

She writes extremely well, doesn't she?

Yes. This blog she linked is also great.
(Eff you Michael Kors, I've seen your crap attitude on Project Runway and will never buy your overly expensive clothes)

Awww, thanks MmeLindor for the thread. Always love the exposure! And thanks for saying I write well, I am so thrilled to read that.

This post was one of those ones where I didn't edit it at all, so clear was I about my feelings, it just spilled out onto the page.

It's preaching to the converted here so I don't suppose there is much to debate. My views are very much based on my gut feelings and on very little actual research (I'm not nearly as well read on feminism as some posters here) but one of the commentators mentions ?Understanding Women?s Magazines? by Anna Gough Yates, which I will be sure to check out.

Really, really good post. Well done brilliant blogging MNer!

You are welcome, Dilly. I thought that you might find some like-minded souls here on this topic. :)

Joly
I remember the one and only time I bought a Cosmo. Ads, airbrushed models and how to give your man the best sex of his life featured heavily.

There was an article on how much sex is average.

I was then . No one I knew was having that much sex. Either they were lying or the Cosmo writers were.

I love Red magazine and get it every month without fail. I also like Psychologies.
Thats about it but i will admit to buying this months Cosmo for the Clinique freebie (i chose the moisture surge)
I still havent looked at the Cosmo mag yet but going by some of these posts i dont think im gonna like it.
I used to like and buy New Woman ten years ago before they ruined it by overdoing the celebrity angle.
After that it was Eve magazine. Really liked it and was pissed off when it got discontinued.
Anyone ever used to buy Scarlet? Liked that too.
New Woman ,Eve and Scarlet have all been discontinued.
Hope im not a jinx

Dilly, great post

I had that same revelation which made me stop buying mags when I realisedI could read (and read and read and read) intelligent content online ie mumsnet

I'll admit to buying Glamour this month for the hair polish (I am so not this magazines target reader - not glam at all but I do like shiny hair...) and the only magazines I buy on a regular basis are Q, NME and Empire.

Can't be doing with all the vacuous, faux-empowerment shite

(read Dilly's blog, btw - couldn't agree more)

I also bought Glamour this month for the free Percy and Reed product (i chose the shampoo) I cant understand why Glamour is the biggest selling glossy (according to the mag circulation figures on Press Gazette) cos its awful.
I used to buy Easy Living occasionally but will stop now cos i dont like the new revamp.
And i find Elle just ......shallow

I never buy these mags because I like intellectual in-depth articles about interesting subjects (mascara doesn't count)
But I guess that's for men only!

I stopped buying them too. Feminist issues aside - Marie Claire used to have a heartbreaking article at the beginning, usually about child poverty (or some other horrendous situation which was the direct result of poverty), then 10 pages on advertise clothes that cost literally hundreds of pounds for one item. I couldn't stand the hypocrisy.

Good blog.

Agree BeeBaw it is hypocritical. Grazia has a habit of doing similar.
I cannot fucking stand Marie Claire.
When i was younger i preferred New Woman which was much better.
Marie Claire used to be quite intelligent now its all adverts and celebrity and overpriced fashion.

It was Sarejavo this month, you know, the token article feigning an interest in the Real World. One of the women in the article had both legs blown off in the Siege of Sarejavo. I wonder how she feels about Laboutin's advice about the 10 shoes she should have in her wardrobe.

Bloody hell Dilly thats terrible.
Can they really not see it do you think.
Had a look at Cosmo last night.
The sex articles arent too bad but Scarlet did it better.
And Cosmo aint great but its way better than Marie Claire.
Cant believe they do that Dilly. Its so insensitive.

A bump for international Women's Day.

I used to enjoy flicking through glossy mags. But even without the re-emergence of my feminism, I found myself finding them more and more tedious. They're basically one long catalogue. So incredibly vapid.

I read GQ for the first time a couple of months ago.

In amongst the sea of airbrushed ads, it did have some interesting articles on business and politics. Why can't 'women's' mags have more of these features?

I buy women's magazines for two reasons. To look at the pretty pictures and ridicule the content. I shouldn't bother, really.

I'm always intrigued by who they think they are writing for. Some mythical London dweller with an air kissing media job, out for drinks post work most nights, six inch heels at all times who spends the national wealth of a small island nation on clothes and accessories each month. (Sex and the City has a lot to answer for.) Do the writers cluelessly live in this Ab Fab world for real, or do they fabricate these 'aspirational' lifestyles on purpose?

Ive read my copy of Cosmo and i have to say its articles were interesting especially the one on the F word but instead of using just celebs they could have put some non famous women in the article too. Some of them were using Beyonce and Rihanna as examples of feminism.
It was nice to see Annie Lennox photographed in one of the F word t shirts though and she was the one who seemed to understand what feminism is about.