Does anyone agree that Cosmopolitan is offensive?

Dudess

Well? Would you not prefer this magazine aimed at young women to be informative and interesting rather than jam-packed with tips on how to be a ditzy gender stereotype?
I happened to glance at a review of The Tudors recently and it actually opened with something like "We weren't too interested in a historical drama about King Henry VIII but when we saw the smouldering Jonathan Rhys-Myers without his shirt we leapt to attention!"

I mean, really... That sh*t depresses me.

watna

I haven't read Cosmo in years. I found all the sex stuff a bit much. You know, all that "Sex with your boss - fun and frolics at work" and "31 positions for a raunchy month" . I'm tired. I want to put my jammies on when I go home from work and watch Grey's Anatomy of Family Guy downloads. I don't have the energy to keep up with cosmo and the sex lives we're supposed to lead!

star-pants

I can't really say because I've barely read it. Maybe the odd glance or two if I'm bored and someone has it / in a waiting room. I don't buy magazines as they're usually full of stuff I don't care about.
But based on what you said about the review, that sounds stupid. They should advertise Mills & Boon.

topper75

Doesn't matter if you are male or female - being dumb is always 'cool', not being smart. Being smart only makes others feel uncomfortable. Being dumb means you can be everyone's friend. Cosmo have to sell magazines.

Marksie

watna wrote: »

I haven't read Cosmo in years. I found all the sex stuff a bit much. You know, all that "Sex with your boss - fun and frolics at work" and "31 positions for a raunchy month" . I'm tired. I want to put my jammies on when I go home from work and watch Grey's Anatomy of Family Guy downloads. I don't have the energy to keep up with cosmo and the sex lives we're supposed to lead!

LOL, they dont know what they are talking about for a start.

But it was even longer ago that i read it (1990-1992)when someone brought it into work and it juts put men down all over the place.

It was so bad we christened it "man haters monthly"

the woman who brought it in WAS negatively affected by it. Everything guys did was taken in a poor light.

xzanti

Sure there's nothing in it, it's just all ads

Crumble Froo

can't really say. remember picking up my mate's sister's cosmo a few years ago, and found it quite entertaining. though, like desperate housewives, i found myself laughing more at it, than with it. i'd be worried about anyone who took it seriously.

LadyJ

Don't ask me, I'm just a girl!

citytillidie

I think that mag should be treated like lad mags like loaded. You hear all these female politicians in England trying to ban these lad mags because of the sexual content, however Cosmopolitan is never mentioned. I think its just as bad.

Crumble Froo

but lads mags have good articles.

Marksie

Crumble Froo wrote: »

but lads mags have good articles.

I dont know if this particular bon mot is appropriate so delete if not:

It was on the subject of womens mags:

Cosmo will teach you how to have an orgasm
Marie Clare will teach you to have an orgasm with style
Womens own will teach you how to knit one

Crumble Froo

what about women's way? or bella? can't remembe rwhich one, but one of them told me about someone who ended up on disability benefit cos she mangled her limbs twisting into too many sex positions. i think it makes for some important reading...

Archeron

LadyJ wrote: »

Don't ask me, I'm just a girl!

Lets sort out all our problems with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream.

Dizzyblonde

The thing that concerns me most about Cosmo is the legions of women out there who take it seriously!

Dizzyblonde

Archeron wrote: »

Lets sort out all our problems with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream.

ROFLPMP :D

WindSock

Archeron wrote: »

Lets sort out all our problems with a big bowl of strawberry ice cream.

I wish they taught shopping in school.


I just don't buy those mags. I'll flick through them if I am in a waiting room.

jam_mac_jam

It's not offensive just stupid really, what is far worse is the likes of Now, hello etc but they have a much higher readership. At least cosmo is funny and escapism the other ones are much worse Oh look at posh she is only two stone what a great person. Cosmo is mostly harmless silly magazine for silly girls, how is that offensive, its not really harming anyone.

Rob_l

Not one of the ladies here will admit to reading and buying these mags Hmmmmmmmmm

Dudess

Wouldn't buy it unless you paid me a substantial amount, and then it would go into the recycling bin. But I have flicked through it in waiting-rooms or at friends' houses. Although I've even stopped doing that now.
jam_mac_jam, I have to disagree. I think sending out signals on how to be a bint is offensive.
And yeah there is a vibe going on in there of "if you don't have a sex life like Samantha in Sex and the City you're a loser". I bet there are plenty of vulnerable 19-year-old girls whose bible it is and who feel seriously inadequate.

Marksie, I'm surprised there was so much negative stuff in it about men back then. It seems to scream to me of "you HAVE to get a man, you HAVE to get a man!"
It has notions of being all about empowerment, when in reality it just panders to the male ideal of female sexuality.

Oh, and in keeping with the spirit of things: "Thinking too much gives you wrinkles..."

Maple

Don't read it. Don't buy any of those girly magazines, lots of superficial content about bagging a man, getting rid of a man, holding on to your man, keeping your man happy, how to eat chocolate and never gain an ounce, wrap yourself in clingfilm every night to ensure peach smooth skin so as not to lose your man. Blah blah blah.

They're crap. And out of 200 pages of trivial bs, there'll be one "serious" article about the dangers of plastic surgery or something like that.

IF i do buy a magazine, its one of those Chat/Take a break ones. They're fascinating. There's a whole other life form of mad people out there, its like Jerry Springer in print. They reassure me that i'm not actually that mental.

Lil' Smiler

Ah now I wouldn't say offensive, it seems to be tailored towards girly girls mostly.


I;m not bothered with it, won't waste my money on those magazines where they're just full of pages ads for breast implants at the back and all throughout pages and pages of the latest styles from the catwalk that are atrocious

they cost too much money for something that has so little in it. if i get a magazine i like to read the stuff in it not have loads and loads of pictures

watna

My name is watna, but you can call me woo woo!

I do think Dudess has a point, not about the thinking too much gives you wrinkles part but about females feeling inadequate! I bet a lot of 18 and 19 year olds do feel like they're losers for not being like the women in Cosmo, or even more dangerously they sleep around loads to try and obtain the cosmo ideal of raunchy sexy females with 12 orgasms a day etc, and in the process endangering themselves or giving themselves low self esteem. I think most girls are smart enough to know not to take it seriously but in the last few months I've met a seriously large amount of girls you seem emotionally years younger then they should be. One is my bf's sister, who is 16 and acts like a 10 year old. She's been getting herself in terrible trouble recently because she thinks she should be out drinking and sleeping around when she's not mature enough for it. It's these kinds of girls I think magazines affect.

Or even worse, has anybody ever read More magazine? It's the one with the position of the fortnight?

Dudess

Yeah, More!'s appalling too. I remember flicking through it when I was 13 and thinking "I'm actually more mature than some of the idiots here" and its target readership is 18 to 24.

Baudelaire

Can't say I read any of them, I generally buy Focus (as implied before, I'm a nerd ) I wouldn't be able to maintain enough concentration to get through some silly bint article, what I do know though is whats even worse is their "Rate your sexlife/man/hairstyle yadda yadda" quizes, like who the fcuk takes that crap seriously? :rolleyes: I'd agree that they probably are a bad influence on 19 year old bimbo's but all it'll take is about her 6th failed relationship and she'll most likely cop on that those type of mags talk utter sh1te and get a real life and log on here and complain about her ex's

Lil' Smiler

Oh More magazine... god!! Picked it up in the hairdressers a while ago

Ya gotta love those quizzes with the blocks and then the arrows pointing to a decision depending on which answer you chose

"is your man cheating on you?"... ha ha imagine going to you boyfriend, here are you cheating on me? and he asks where you get that idea from.. "well, i did a quiz in More magazine and it said that you were"

hmm.... so much sh1te in those mags!!

aonfocaleile

I used to buy Cosmo but I gave up on it about a year ago. Full of ads and pictures of 14 year old models wearing clothes supposedly targeted at women (as opposed to the pre-pubescent kids pictured). Its not relevant to my life so I generally don't bother with magazines anymore, other than Phoenix.

LadyJ

I guess the real problem is that Cosmo is just responding to a society of teenagers who (for the most part) want to read about how to make themselves more attractive to the opposite sex and how to know if their bf is just a bf or really a bff!

If a magazine was published that had articles like "How to keep your self-respect" instead of "How to please your man" then sales would drop I'd imagine. Young women these days seem to want a quick fix for everything. They seem to live to impress men and teaching them self-worth is not something a magazine can do. It has to be instilled in them from day one. You learn what you live and if you have that kind of mindset to begin with (steady and secure, with plenty of self-respect etc) then a magazine won't change it. If not then Cosmo certainly won't help you obtain it.

Dudess

The "do we create the media or does the media create us" debate is a difficult one. I don't know the answer.
But LadyJ, while teens read Cosmo, women in their 30s do too - that's the really grim part. And it's not actually aimed at teens. There's Cosmo Girl for that - shudder to think what its content comprises...

Crumble Froo

watna wrote: »

I think most girls are smart enough to know not to take it seriously but in the last few months I've met a seriously large amount of girls you seem emotionally years younger then they should be.

i was about to ask if any of them were kiwis...

One is my bf's sister, who is 16 and acts like a 10 year old. She's been getting herself in terrible trouble recently because she thinks she should be out drinking and sleeping around when she's not mature enough for it. It's these kinds of girls I think magazines affect.

sounds very familiar. *thinks of some very specific people here*

very very very familiar.

LadyJ

Dudess wrote: »

But LadyJ, while teens read Cosmo, women in their 30s do too - that's the really grim part. And it's not actually aimed at teens. There's Cosmo Girl for that - shudder to think what its content comprises...

I know what you mean but silly girls can just as easily grow into silly women. My point is that no, Cosmo is not a good influence but I would be more worried about it's influence on girls/women who are already insecure rather than those who have been brought up with enough support not to feel the need to go out and sleep around etc.

I guess it just depends on the person but learning self-worth starts at a young age and it will give kids a strong foundation for the future, one that a magazine can't shake.

If, however, this learning has not occurred then Cosmo and the like can probably do quite a bit of damage.

IvyTheTerrible

There are so many things wrong with Cosmo. Too expensive for a magazine half full of ads. Takes itself too seriously. It pretends to be for "independent women" yet it's full of articles about how to get/please/keep your man. Also, as other posters have mentioned, it really isn't good for impressionable teenagers (I mean, have you seen the confessions section - "I met some randommer in the lift/plane/etc and just decided to f*** him there and then"). :rolleyes:

I prefer something silly like Now that doesn't pretend to be something it's not!

watna

Crumble Froo wrote: »

i was about to ask if any of them were kiwis...



sounds very familiar. *thinks of some very specific people here*

very very very familiar.

Maybe it's a kiwi thing. She's got herself involved in gangs and everything. She hangs out with people who have been in prison, and she's 16!!! :eek:. She's exactly the kind of person who'd believe everything she reads in these magazines.

G86

Hmmm, I might get lynched for this, but I honestly don't see the issue with it. Its a magazine thats based alot around sex,fashion, and celeb gossip - it doesn't try to portray any other image. Its hardly The Sunday Times of magazines, but after a hard days work I'd rather sit down with a few pages of gossip and fun than read about what Berties been at for the week.

I'm a freelance Journalist and I understand the importance of good reading material to educate and inform, however I also understand the importance of chilling out after work with a few magazines and a coffee

Crumble Froo

edit: replying to watna

so so so so many of them. ha, remind me to tell you some of my b/f's life story some time... it's like he grew up on a different planet.

this kid i know, 16, just gone 17, girl racer, more sexual partners than she could count, up in court for some car crash a while ago, owes a small mortgage worth of college loan, didnt stay long enough for her piece of paper at the end, can't keep down a job due to not turning up/completely cheeking the managers, and owes a fair few hundred quid in car loan etc.

and that's just the stuff i feel comfortable saying on a public forum... :rolleyes:

she just brings so much trouble on herself, owes all this money and goes out and spends a couple hundred quid on a manicure/haircut... refers to herself as 'princess'.

she is just such an example of waht is wrong with this generation... from the self confidence relying on boys, sex and material possession, to the complete lack of responsibility, to the playboy stickers on her souped up car...

r3nu4l

Dudess and watna in particular are rapidly restoring my faith in modern women Good job!

Dudess

Cheers Renewal! (Sorry, couldn't be arsed spelling it the correct way - now, how's that for not pandering to a male?! )

G86 wrote: »

Its a magazine thats based alot around sex,fashion, and celeb gossip - it doesn't try to portray any other image.

It ain't what it says, it's the way that it says it though...

Sex and fashion? Topics lots of us are interested in. But how about framing them in a manner that isn't designed to bring out the bimbo in you? (If you may be so inclined).

LadyJ

Dudess wrote: »

It ain't what it says, it's the way that it says it though...

Sex and fashion? Topics lots of us are interested in. But how about framing them in a manner that isn't designed to bring out the bimbo in you? (If you may be so inclined).

True. It's never about looking good or feeling good for yourself, it's always, "What to wear this summer to bag your man" etc. Load of crap tbh.

Men who see those magazines must think everything women do is to impress them. It's embarrassing.

G86

Dudess wrote: »

Cheers Renewal! (Sorry, couldn't be arsed spelling it the correct way - now, how's that for not pandering to a male?! )

It ain't what it says, it's the way that it says it though...

Sex and fashion? Topics lots of us are interested in. But how about framing them in a manner that isn't designed to bring out the bimbo in you? (If you may be so inclined).

I do see what your getting at here, however I still think you're taking it too seriously.

watna

r3nu4l wrote: »

Dudess and watna in particular are rapidly restoring my faith in modern women Good job!

Aw, shucks!

I understand that magazines can be entertainment. I do get them occasionally myself when I want to read about nice clothes and funny true life stories (my mum married my fiancee etc!) but what I think Dudess is getting at, and I agree is that Cosmo (and one or two others) just seem to take it a bit too far. As LadyJ says it all seems to be about getting a man, dressing for a man, keeping him happy. There's few articles (at least last time I checked) on say, getting a better job if you're not happy or feeling better about yourself. Now, I know not all magazines are like this and most women are smart enough to laugh at them (I find more's position of the fortnight, particularly amusing. It's always really awkward looking!) but our point is... some younger women take it very seriously and live by it. If that's the case it's not the best reading material to have around.

Offensive... maybe not.

Giveing young girls a little bit of a warped view of the world... probably.

Crumble Froo

bit of a vicious circle really... silly people warrant making of silly magazine, which encourages and creates more silly people...

watna

Crumble Froo wrote: »

bit of a vicious circle really... silly people warrant making of silly magazine, which encourages and creates more silly people...

Yup, I would agree with this. Seems to be how it works. There's no harm if you know it's silly and you can have a laugh but it's people who don't realise this that we should be worried about!

p.s. Crumble Froo (I was about to type Narco!), very interesting about the girl you know in NZ, sounds quite similar to the bf's sister. Hmm... must be a crazy country!

Meathlass

I admit to buying Cosmo most months; it's the only 'women's' magazine I buy. I also buy Newsweek, Time, The Economist, National Geographic and I subscribe to lots of archaeological and historical magazines. So I don't think you can have a blanket statment that only idiots buy these magazines. I do remember my mum picking it one day recently though and saying that nothing had changed since she bought it 30 years ago, she stopped buying it when she realised they just recycled the articles every few months.

Even though it's very expensive I usually just flick through it, never read the stories (not interested in sally from manchester's battle with cancer or plastic surgery worries), look at fashion and make up , love the problem pages and the sex advice which makes you wonder if you followed their advice for looking good and looking after yourself and practising your pelvic exercises to strengthen your 'sex' muscles when you'd ever get any time to actually have sex! I certainly wouldn't let my 15 year old cousin read it though, it's too sexually explicit. Some of the confession stories are hilarious. One that sticks out was a 20 year old on the way to a family party. She was stuck in a traffic jam on the motorway and started flirting with the guy in the car next to her (all through grins and hand gestures) they both took the next exit on the motorway and had sex in the toilet of a petrol station ... classy!

Yeah there're are lots of articles about sex but there's also sections on healthy eating, work life (how to get that promotion or a pay rise etc), small travel and hobbies pages. Nearly every month they have an article on sexual health as well so it's not all bad. Certainly would prefer it to those mags that are full of pictures of celebs with scathing comments underneath.

Marksie

Meathlass wrote: »

I, love the problem pages and the sex advice which makes you wonder if you followed their advice for looking good and looking after yourself and practising your pelvic exercises to strengthen your 'sex' muscles when you'd ever get any time to actually have sex!

LMAO damn it my secrets out... now you know the secret of how to become PI mod

Babette08

Didn't even know it was still in circulation :eek:. I think most who'd buy it would buy it purely for entertainment value - it's pretty tongue in cheek anyway or as far as I remember from the odd glance in the hairdressers. A lot of magazines aimed at women are full of contradictory rubbish anyway..but at the end of a working day all you're really up to doing is flicking through the pages anyway - if i want a decent read or advice it won't be from a girly mag. But yeah if i want to check out the latest fashions & have a nosy on how the other half lives then i'll pick up Grazia or Look

ali.c

IMHO most womens magazines are overly negative, though prehaps if they make you feel like crap you might buy some of the many many products advertised in them?? And they dont pay ridiculuos advertising costs because it doesnt work. As for the gossip sections well who the hell cares if this or that celeb is too fat/thin??

I decided a about 5 years ago that I was not going to be buying into that stuff and to date i have not had a single reason to rethink that decision.

Also without the sage advice offered in said magazines i have managed to hang on to the bf, dress myself daily and what not so clearly i must be doing something wrong

metaoblivia

The only magazine I have a subscription to and read is International Gymnast. Sometimes, on the weekends when I'm at the gym, I'll read whatever woman's fashion magazine is lying on the floor. And by read, I mean look at the pictures. I'm not offended by them because I don't think about them enough to have an opinion. If other women want to use that a guide for living their life, I guess that's their prerogative, but I've never found much useful advice in them, even as a teenager.

missmatty

I can't stand Cosmo. It's expensive and crap and full of ads. I don't normally buy those types of magazines but if I had a gun to my head I'd buy something like Marie Claire. That does some interesting articles sometimes about serious issues.

shoegirl

watna wrote: »

I haven't read Cosmo in years. I found all the sex stuff a bit much. You know, all that "Sex with your boss - fun and frolics at work" and "31 positions for a raunchy month" . I'm tired. I want to put my jammies on when I go home from work and watch Grey's Anatomy of Family Guy downloads. I don't have the energy to keep up with cosmo and the sex lives we're supposed to lead!

I've only read it once or twice and had mixed feelings. It depends on what you expect from a magazine. I wouldn't see such a magazine as serious stuff so I'm not really bothered by it. I only read that kinda thing in the hairdressers to kill the time. I can see how some people could be offended if they expected it to be informative on an intellectual level, but I don't think women read it for that reason. If I want to be stimulated, I'd look elsewhere.

Dudess

I think people are confusing Cosmo with the "bit of light entertainment" magazines (Now!, Heat, Closer etc). I don't find those mags a prob - they're crap but they don't masquerade as anything other than cheap and nasty. Cosmopolitan is a very expensive, very well put together publication. It markets itself as a "bible" for young women.

Nevyn

I reckon it is so expensive cos it is infact instalment payments on the labotomy needed to read it.

g'em

Dudess wrote: »

I think people are confusing Cosmo with the "bit of light entertainment" magazines (Now!, Heat, Closer etc). I don't find those mags a prob - they're crap but they don't masquerade as anything other than cheap and nasty. Cosmopolitan is a very expensive, very well put together publication. It markets itself as a "bible" for young women.

Ah jaysus, Dudess, untwist them knickers

I don't buy Cosmo, I usually get Glamour (much of a muchesness in other words), and like Meathlass it's just one of many different publications I read every month. My day is spent (when not on boards ) reading scientific mumbo-jumbo that I have to appraise and approve so wimmin's mags are like a naughty little treat for me once a month, and like going to the cinema to see a blockbuster I indulge to be entertained, not educated.

The kind of people who are impressionable enough to take their life lessons from a magazine are the kind of people who will be impressed upon by anything and anyone. I'm not one of those people, I part with €3.50 for an evening worth of fun, light hearted reading. And y'know, strange as it sounds, every so often there's actually some very worthwhile information in there. Granted it's usually make-up related, but still...