I was at the check-out stand today and noticed a Women's Health magazine. The cover featured a smiling, sexy, bikini-clad hotty instead of a normal person. Is all the talk by women complaining about women being portrayed as sex objects just that-talk?
Do sexy women on covers sell more magazines to women than realistic-looking women?
2007-11-26 11:34:02 · 21 answers · asked by Anonymous in Social Science ➔ Gender Studies
Why not refuse to buy these mags and write complaints to the publisher? They're putting them out to make a profit - no sales and they're out of business.
2007-11-26 11:52:32 · update #1
Well Pix, you have a good point. The cop-out answer of "seeing real women " is a bunch of BS. Those magazines sell what the consumer wants. Apparently the consumers want thin bikini-clad women. It is all about the profit margin. If women stopped buying those issues, guess what? The magazine would stop selling them and start displaying size 14 women in bulky sweaters on the front.
Richard J's point is good. Too many mixed messages. Sure, a bunch of women will say they want real women on the covers but will still keep buying the bikini covers. Talk is talk. Where a woman puts her money is the real deal.
To those women above who don't actually buy those, I applaud you for standing by your convictions. I honestly don't know how those of you who buy them still do. I scan them on occasion at the supermarket. One page with an article, two with ads. One page with an article, three pages of ads...and so on.
2007-11-27 00:01:16 · answer #1 · answered by Thundercat 7 · 3⤊ 0⤋
This is one of the clearest examples of the sexist media! The "Men's interests" section is full of hot women. And the "Women's interests" has the same! Women have always had images placed in front of them of what they are supposed to be and look like. And we have always had to try hard to be "what guys want". The male magazines tell men what to expect/desire in women, and the women magazines tell women what to expect/desire of themselves. And we wonder why little girls are having eating disorders! I would rather see a hot half-naked guy on the cover to be honest. =) Sadly i think the only thing that would change this is if they made women look more realistic on guys magazines. If what the guys want is fake, idealistic women, that's what women feel they have to aspire to.
2016-04-05 23:46:37 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Personally, I have never seen a magazine with a "normal" looking woman on the cover, so I've not had a choice. If I want to buy a magazine then there is automatically a very attractive woman on the cover.
2007-11-26 11:48:10 · answer #3 · answered by Rivergirl 3 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Nope. I buy Zoo Weekly(mens mag). It has a hot babe on the cover, but it doesn't worry me because the articles and jokes inside are interesting compared to the bs that's spouted in magazines like Cosmo/Cleo. Then when I'm done, it gets passed onto hubby so he can check out the hot babes inside and read the jokes.
2007-11-26 11:45:50 · answer #4 · answered by Shivers 6 · 2⤊ 0⤋
Yes. Our society values women based on their appearance, and so a "hot babe" on the cover leads us to believe that if we read the mag, we'll get advice on how to become a "hot babe". I recognize this as wrong, and a blatant attempt to sell products while simultaneously distracting women from the important things (their opinions and ideas) but that doesn't mean it doesn't still have an effect on me. Thanks for calling us normal gals "realistic". The images on magazine covers appear the way they do because of plastic surgery and a free-for-all airbrushing spree, so they, in contrast, are UN-realistic.
2007-11-26 16:45:11 · answer #5 · answered by Elizabeth J 5 · 2⤊ 0⤋
I stopped buying these advertisement-laden, expensive-but- say-nothing 'rags' years ago when I realized that by cutting out the articles, I could fill two 8-1/2 x 11" pieces of paper; the rest was pure advertising - which I was paying for. Better than write to the publisher, write to the advertisers. It probably won't have any effect, but I'd do it anyway - just for the 'feel good' it gives me. (I do that to the circus on a regular basis.)
Besides, it's always better to do something - rather than do nothing.
2007-11-26 13:05:30 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
The kinds of magazines I buy don't feature bikini clad girls on the cover. I read Scientific American, Time, Astronomy, Psychology Today, and Discover... I wouldn't waste one dime of my money on stupid magazines like Cosmopolitan. (You'll always see Cosmopolitan at the checkout stands- right next to the National Inquirer. Fitting, if you ask me) .
2007-11-26 11:53:00 · answer #7 · answered by It's Ms. Fusion if you're Nasty! 7 · 6⤊ 0⤋
The day women can find their faces engraved on the side of a mountain, perhaps they'll stop seeking bikini clad role models. When the suits in boardrooms stop creating this sisyphean ideal of beauty and reinforcing the idea that to be valued a woman must be always strive to meet impossible ideals of beauty, then maybe women will start to look inward more often. Until then strongest women have to try to guide them.
2007-11-26 11:42:52 · answer #8 · answered by Me 5 · 2⤊ 2⤋
In this culture, "health" is often equated with "losing weight." So, yes, I would think women interested in these "health" magazines would be enticed with such a promise as to what they supposedly could look like if they trust in the magazine.
2007-11-26 11:52:40 · answer #9 · answered by Priscilla B 5 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I buy ones that are elegant. The sexy thing doesn't appeal to me because I am not bringing it home to masturbate. I don't even read magazines because they are full of ****. Plus most the info can be found online.
2007-11-26 14:57:01 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋