Actually, it’s pretty simple: He finds a year’s worth of Cosmopolitan in your house.
Ever since I read the book Spin Sisters by Myrna Blyth I’ve looked at women’s magazines in a new light. We all know they’re written by liberal New York women, but seeing all the examples given by Blyth (a former magazine editor) was astonishing. In addition to the silly sex tips and scare tactics like the health risk in your purse (it turned out to be the actual weight of the purse), there are articles that could actually harm women, such as the recent anti-gun response in Parent magazine.
Cosmo recently announced their new editor, former Marie Claire editor, Joanna Coles. In New York magazine she recognized the silliness of some of Cosmo’s eye-grabbing headlines:
Coles — who appears on CBS’s The Job tomorrow to award an editorial assistantship at Cosmo — wants her magazine to stop talking about how to pleasure men. “Cosmo is a magazine by women, for women, about women,” Coles said. “And we are about women feeling proud of any choice they make. The issue is when you make a choice own it, and if it’s a mistake, then move on.”
(Worth noting: Headlines from their March issue do include, “20 Sex Moves for Every Mood,” and “So You Are Thinking About a Threesome.”)
Even gay men won’t have much of a place in the magazine. “A couple of male gay friends of mine have suggested they write sex columns for me. And I was like ‘Buddy, women are fine without advice from gay men. Women have been around since the Garden of Eden, and you know what, we were tempting just fine back then. I feel like there’s been this weird move, partly directed by Sex in the City, where suddenly gay men were supposed to be oracles for women,” Coles said. “And actually, women love gay men, and of course we want them in our lives, but they don’t have to be the be all and end all for sex advice.”
Interestingly, conservative author and columnist Ann Coulter was way ahead of the curve on this phenomenon. See her essay on Sex and the City in How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must).
Of course the downside is that this may set the scene for Cosmo and other women’s magazines to enter the political arena with even greater fervor. As conservatives and libertarians, we tend to admonish these outlets as garbage and then ignore them. Yeah, that’s not working. Instead, let’s engage them. If you’re a writer, write and pitch story ideas. Maybe pitch the idea of taking a “scary” concealed carry class. Or being abstinent in college. Or what it’s like being a black or gay conservative. Read a ridiculous article in Cosmo while getting a pedicure? Send a letter to the editor. It may not get published, but you’ll at least let staff know that conservative women exist and could be devoted readers if they were more relevant. Aren’t we the rich anyway? Who else do they think will buy the products in their 100 pages of ads?
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