Popular phrases such as “tricks you must try” and “every woman must read” plant seeds in readers’ minds which grow and develop, to the extent that readers decide that they do want to try and they must read it because it is what they want. I am generalizing here but magazines do use these tactics to influence and persuade. Bearing this in mind, what type of woman would pick up such magazines? Surely not the intellectual, I hear you say, but perhaps this thought is wrong. Why not the intellectual woman? Maybe she is busy every day with work and meetings and these magazines give a form of escapism where trivia is relaxing and takes her mind off the pressures of her every-day life.
However, if we look from the other point of view, we could say that women who buy these magazines are gullible to features and the manipulated statistics. For example, the diet that 85% of women rave about would seem like an attractive thought. Unfortunately for these women, if they read the small print they may see the words 85% out of the 200 people tested. 170 women do not accurately represent the whole of the British population of around 56 million yet the women still follow the trends, believing the figures are accurate. The editor’s clever use of the words can, now and fast make dating, dieting and fashion sound possible and more easily accessible.
The bold strap-line header reading Stop Dieting, Start Dating is followed by information on the magazine’s mindless features, one of which says lose 6lbs in 6 weeks which ironically is what the strap-line header is trying to avoid – dieting! Surely this shows that women who pick up the magazine can’t be intellectual or they would have spotted this obvious contradiction and not bought the magazine. The compelling and unbelievable headlines draw gullible women to the shelves to pick up and buy.
Some may see Mischa Barton’s quote, “I won’t give in to body image pressure” as a sensible and inspirational comment but you wouldn’t have to worry about pressure if you looked like her. This is a strange thing to quote on the front of a magazine which encourages just the opposite, with features about body boosting and fashion fixes. Women who pick up this magazine may agree with her sentiment and for a short time will feel happy with their own image but on reading the accompanying features will soon discover they are not at all happy with themselves.
Magazines, such as this, aim to give you more confidence and make you feel better about yourself, right? Well, it would seem that way until you give it more thought. The article break free of ‘I’m not good enough’ syndrome forever is offering to solve a problem that you never even realized you had, and as for the not good enough comment, I’m sure before women read this they did feel good enough, but as soon as they read it they concentrated on their faults and worst features. These kinds of comments are aimed at women who are easily influenced and indoctrinate them with the need to become the perfect woman.
If we look at women who read specialist magazines such as Horse and Hound or Gardening World we immediately know they are interested in these subjects but what of the woman who reads Cosmopolitan? Does this mean she is only interested in fashion, dating and sex? Maybe – but such an assumption could be misleading. From here we could go back to reading for escapism, which is surely for all women in this hectic modern society. But if we work on the assumption that women read to learn rather than to be entertained then Cosmopolitan is not for the intellectual woman.
Of course we could look at the woman reader and believe that she is a vulnerable and insecure being, who needs life lessons on how to find and keep her man. The magazine may make women believe that all their problems will be solved if they flick through the pages. Magazines like this thrive on women’s deepest insecurities and encourage their shallow dreams. Should we then assume that these women have low self-esteem and do not have a high value of themselves?
Shocking storylines prey on the curious minded and make compelling reading. Perhaps these stories put women readers’ lives into perspective and give them a feeling of well-being. On the other hand, women may have a sadistic streak and actually enjoy reading about other people’s misfortunes. Although, we cannot rule out the fact that they may just find the story interesting.
Cosmopolitan is the best selling women’s magazine in the world, which is a sad reflection of the modern woman, the superficial and image-orientated covers produced are obviously what attracts the reader. However strongly I feel that we should not judge a woman by the cover of her magazine, I do believe that there is some justification in doing just that.
