I absolutely love magazines. I actually enjoy reading in general. But magazines are like a staple for me. No matter how virtual my life becomes, I still like to pick up and hold those glossy pages in my hand.
So it should be no surprise that I have mounds of magazines laying around my house because I don’t have enough time to get to all of them. Just ask Sue. Every time she visits, she finds a magazine she wants to read and asks if she can borrow. I tell her just to take it and tell me if she reads anything interesting. It’s one less magazine to catch up on.
My magazine interests are varied, too. We read Food & Wine, Diabetic Living, National Geographic, Wine Spectator. But I am a girl. And I like girly magazines. (No, not those girly magazines).
And as I stare at them piling up month after month, I can’t help but look at all of the covers and wonder if there is a message for us. In fact, I KNOW there is a message for us. But I don’t consider these headlines to be societal pressure. I think of it as friendly advice we all need as women.
Or do we?
One of my unread stacks
Here are the headlines from all of the magazines pictures above.
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Redbook, August 2010: love your life
Sheryl Crow on her secret struggle to adopt a second baby boy
What no one ever tells you about marriage: The intimate truths that save relationships
Birth Control with Benefits: Cure your belly bloat and bad moods – yay!
10 sexy one-step beauty tricks
“Organize me!” Experts tackle your clutter, stacks, & stress
Pick your best way to lose weight: 5 plans that make it easy
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fitness, July/August 2010: Mind, Body + Spirit
Burn MORE calories: The new science behind a faster metabolism
Slim. Sexy. Confident! Your Fast Track to Tight Abs, Butt and Thighs
Pizza, Chips, Ice Cream… Our Guilt-Free Shopping List
Pretty Hair, Glowing Skin Solutions for a Gorgeous Summer
Stick-With-It Exercise Strategies
Eat Your Veggies 7 Tasty, Satisfying Dishes
Instant Energy! 24 Fresh Ideas to RECHARGE Your Mind and Body
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Redbook, June 2010: love your life
Heidi Klum What she gave up to keep her marriage sizzling
Beat Stress: 15 ways to tame tension – because stress doesn’t take a summer break
21 swimsuits you’ll feel great in
What men wish you knew: Their fantasies, their fears, and why they never stop wanting you
Hot Husbands + celeb dad Chris O’Donnell
Health Alert: the young women’s cancer you can prevent
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fitness, May 2010: Mind, Body + Spirit
Sex and the City’s Kristin Davis How She Sculpts her Slammin’ Abs
Get a Body You’ll Love by May 31
10 New Superfoods Every Woman Should Eat
15-Minute Routine to Tone Your Trouble Zones
Bust Your Diet Rut: 16 little ways to stay motivated
Go from Workout to Wow! The Active Girl’s Guide to Pretty Hair
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Health, May 2010
Mariska Hargitay Her new & natural energy trick
350-Calorie Meals You’ll LOVE
Sleep Great Tonight
Lose 5 lbs in 7 days! Safe, No-Hunger Plan
Is it Just Bloat Or…CANCER?
Blast Fat All Over! Flat Belly, Great Butt, Slim Thighs
Curb Your Cravings For Food
Wow! The #1 Flattering Swimsuit is Under $15
125 Get-Gorgeous Secrets: Easy tricks for glowing skin, shiny hair and your best summer body ever
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Redbook, July 2010: love your life
Jillian Michaels shares the Biggest Loser secrets that work for every woman
28 sexy things to try in bed: He so want to test these out with you!
5 tricks for more energy (on less sleep)
21 best beauty buys of summer
12 sneaky ways you can save $5000 without cutting your budget
America’s greatest burgers!
Juicy beach read just for you
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I did a little unofficial analysis and came up with some interesting data. Start by looking at the words that are repeated in the headlines:
- Marriage = 2x
- Bloat = 2x
- Sexy = 3x
- Cancer = 2x
- Belly/Abs = 4x
- Butt = 2x
- Thighs = 2x
- Glowing Skin = 2x
- Shiny/Pretty Hair = 3x
- Energy = 3x
- Sleep = 2x
- Swimsuit = 2x
- Stress = 3x
- Beauty = 2x
- Body = 3x
Then, for one last bit of fun, I grouped the headlines together to give a picture of what this small sampling is saying about women.
Parenting
Sheryl Crow on her secret struggle to adopt a second baby boy
Translation: We know enough about parenting because we live it every day. Talk to us about something other than kids. Unless it’s a celebrity.
Relationships
What no one ever tells you about marriage: The intimate truths that save relationships
Heidi Klum What she gave up to keep her marriage sizzling
What men wish you knew: Their fantasies, their fears, and why they never stop wanting you
Hot Husbands + celeb dad Chris O’Donnell
28 sexy things to try in bed: He so want to test these out with you!
Translation: A successful marriage is all about sex.
Health
Birth Control with Benefits: Cure your belly bloat and bad moods – yay!
Health Alert: the young women’s cancer you can prevent
Is it Just Bloat Or…CANCER?
10 New Superfoods Every Woman Should Eat
Translation: We’re either cranky or we have cancer. Thanks for scaring us.
Beauty
10 sexy one-step beauty tricks
Pretty Hair, Glowing Skin Solutions for a Gorgeous Summer
21 swimsuits you’ll feel great in
Go from Workout to Wow! The Active Girl’s Guide to Pretty Hair
Wow! The #1 Flattering Swimsuit is Under $15
125 Get-Gorgeous Secrets: Easy tricks for glowing skin, shiny hair and your best summer body ever
21 best beauty buys of summer
Translation: Our skin needs to glow and we need pretty hair. Also, give us some cheap flattering swimsuits.
Lifestyle
“Organize me!” Experts tackle your clutter, stacks, & stress
Instant Energy! 24 Fresh Ideas to RECHARGE Your Mind and Body
Beat Stress: 15 ways to tame tension – because stress doesn’t take a summer break
Mariska Hargitay Her new & natural energy trick
Sleep Great Tonight
5 tricks for more energy (on less sleep)
12 sneaky ways you can save $5000 without cutting your budget
Juicy beach read just for you
Translation: We are one stressed out group of women that needs more sleep and/or energy.
Exercise
Pick your best way to lose weight: 5 plans that make it easy
Burn MORE calories: The new science behind a faster metabolism
Slim. Sexy. Confident! Your Fast Track to Tight Abs, Butt and Thighs
Stick-With-It Exercise Strategies
Sex and the City’s Kristin Davis How She Sculpts her Slammin’ Abs
Get a Body You’ll Love by May 31
15-Minute Routine to Tone Your Trouble Zones
Blast Fat All Over! Flat Belly, Great Butt, Slim Thighs
Jillian Michaels shares the Biggest Loser secrets that work for every woman
Translation: We have fat bellies, butts, and thighs and we won’t until feel good we do.
Diet
America’s greatest burgers!
Pizza, Chips, Ice Cream… Our Guilt-Free Shopping List
Eat Your Veggies: 7 Tasty, Satisfying Dishes
Bust Your Diet Rut: 16 little ways to stay motivated
350-Calorie Meals You’ll LOVE
Lose 5 lbs in 7 days! Safe, No-Hunger Plan
Curb Your Cravings For Food
Translation: We need to stop eating food and when we do eat, we need to find a way to eat junk food without guilt and mask our healthy foods as much as possible.
I know, I know. Small sampling of magazines. Small niche of magazines. Unscientific research. But I wonder, do you feel like the unsexy, overweight, in-need-of-beauty, junk food loving woman they make us out to be?
I’d love to hear your thoughts.
12 comments
You know, I usually am too busy to think about feeling unsexy, unattractive and bloated… Until I sit down with my mound of magazines.
That’s why it’s better to just read the tabloids. We know every in there has had plastic surgery to look the way that they do 😉
I never found those kinds of magazines to be helpful. When I buy a magazine like Cosmo or Glamor I usually skim the articles because any piece written in there is not likely to be well-researched. Besides, what more could some skinny broad possibly tell me about losing weight that I don’t already know?
So true. Even the “health” magazines are sensationalist. I’ll look at the article that supports one of the headlines. I end up scratching my head saying, that has nothing to do with losing 18 pounds in 20 minutes!
Now I need to know what Heidi does to make Seal so happy! It couldn’t have anything to do with how she is pregnant all the time, does it? But I really want to know! Heidi what do you do!
Makes you think, doesn’t it? Magazines are a guilty pleasure of mine, too, but wow! These days I skew toward the fashiony magazines and away from the self-helpy ones. I don’t want to be (helpfully!) told how to fix ALL my flaws. Can I just look at pretty clothes and shiny baubles, and pass on the self-loathing?
I usually like the celebrity gossip magazines. Maybe I like knowing they don’t read as charmed a life as it seems. As for self-help magazines, I DO want to be healthier but honestly, I think I’m still looking for that magic pill. I’ll let you know when I find it 😉
[…] after writing about What Women Need (Apparently), I quickly rushed to get dressed. Yes, I know. Get dressed first, write later. But I was in the […]
I think your unscientific research is totally spot on! I do fall prey to these magazines often… I have actually even been know to mark a page or cut one out. That is when I know I need a reality check 🙂
Hunh… I kinda do now. Which is why I don’t read those magazines, they just make me go, oh, I should be doing that stuff?
I don’t need the magazines to know that some days I do feel like that, I just have to look in the mirror! I think your research though is right on!
I don’t really but then again, I only look through parenting, cooking or scrapbooking magazines! Love the research you did- it seems to boil down to the fact we’re always looking for ways to “fix” something.