Women's Magazines - Possible Rant

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Women’s Magazines…

I HATE them.
They are full of the same old shite every week – diets, ‘slebs’ on diets,’ 'the diet's that do not work', how to please your man, how s**t men are, interviews with 'reality stars' ‘idols’ or 'choreography men', clothes, handbags, ‘problem pages’, eurgh. It’s enough to turn your guts out.
Is there such a thing as a women’s magazine which encourages you to focus on self-fulfilling goals – like climbing MT. Everest, or finding a cure for HIV, discovering the outer reaches of the universe or becoming PM, or discovering a mountain hold of Roman treasures?
Whatever happened to ambition? It seems like every woman around my age just wants to get an even tan , a rich footballer, and a nice bikini to lie on the beach in (not to actually swim in, though.)
And they think I’m a psycho?

Really, I am generally offended by these publications. I spent so many years of my life reading these things, and I can see my niece starting to read the same old crap...they amount to nothing, and should be consigned to the scrap heap, yet from what I see, they are used as a basic communication tool among women. Why? WHHYYY?

Yes, in the US, we have Oprah which has a fair share of such (minus the mountain hold, perhaps).

Oprah is a lot better than most of them. I don't read any women's magazines, although I have glanced at Oprah once or twice. Most of them are just pure crap of course with all the weight loss tips an relationship bunk. I never pay attention to them, just like tabloids, someone must be buying them or else they wouldn't exist. I wouldn't pay any mind to them, I don't know anyone in my life who actually reads them.

SakeGirl, I totally agree with everything you wrote about women's magazines. They are inane, stupid, prurient garbage and a huge insult to women. I am confused about one thing, though: why did you spend so many years of your life reading them...?

Who says Scientific American isn't a woman's magazine?

Men and women's magazines tend to focus on the lowest common denominator.

"Men's magazines" are pretty stupid too. I agree with Chronos.

My magazines are "Runner's World" and tattoo mags.

I don't really know. I was about fourteen when I started - it was probably for escapism, more than anything. What a waste of time it all was though!

SakeGirl, you are correct, they suck. Let's start a new one.

I stopped reading "Seventeen" when I was thirteen, realizing what self-serving, contradictory BS it was. Never picked up another woman's magazine. If I'm stuck in the dentist's office, I will read literally anything else available in the waiting room.

Interesting fact. As we were waiting for the diagnosis of autism from my psychiatrist (I was 13 when she said this), she told my Mum to buy women's magazines for me because it would 'help me act more normal'. How looking at close ups of cellulite, photoshopped 'perfect' bodies and diet advice would help a vulnerable, self loathing autistic girl act more normal, I don't know...

The reason she mentioned this was because I kept picking up 'woman' magazine while I was waiting for my appointments. What she didn't know was that I was skipping all the celebrity stories and was reading the 'real life' stories, AKA the freak show kind of stories... I had an interest in that kind of thing for a while!

I tried to learn social skills from women's and teen magazines... and nothing happened. I didn't get any friend and I couldn't talk with people about things I've read (yeah, autistic girl suddenly talking about lipglosses, boys and giggling, get real). Maybe I learned something new about the society and got some skills in NT-logy.

I prefer "unisex" magazines with smart articles written by smart people. I'd rather know something about science than about celebrities life.

They make money by feeding into girls' insecurities. It's an endless market, sadly.

I stopped reading magazines period when I was 14. I never personally related to any of them anyways.

Or "Wired"?

... "National Geographic"?

... "Astronomy" or "Sky & Telescope"?

... "Physics Review"?

... "Lancet"?

... "JAMA" ("Journal of the American Medical Association")?

... "The Wall Street Journal"? (Okay, it's a newspaper ... although a financial newspaper)

Ladies, stop reading women's magazines if you think they're so superficial, and start reading magazines that involve engineering, applied science, or business principles.

Marie Claire magazine used to have some pretty decent articles mixed in with the fashion info. They changed editors and now it too is a wasteland. At this point I have given up on magazines. I got tired of simply being an audience for advertisements.

Wow, me too. I used to read all of the body language stories. Years ago I had like a real date & I had read this article that said things like "show you are attracted to him by touching his leg" so I did, even though it was weird. It didn't work though because I was honest in all of answers and they didn't impress him (it felt like a job interview).

I hate how all of the women's magazines tell you that everything about you is wrong & needs to be changed or you need to develop an interest in things that don't interest you. I rarely read them anymore. I actually like the silly fun men's magazines. I would buy a women's magazine with a hot guy on it every month and a bunch of jokes inside.

I also read other magazines about things that interest me like world news or music.