It happens every year: as the semester marches on, I end up reading a staggering number of fashion magazines. Why, you ask? Well, it's because I have an insatiable need to read something. Usually I choose books, but I won't let myself start one towards the end of the semester because I know that I'll neglect my studies in order to read it. (Really I'll do anything to avoid my work, but at least if I'm cleaning and doing laundry I'm accomplishing something.) So, instead of reading books, I'll pick up a magazine since it will only keep me occupied for an hour or so.
This year as I was perusing the magazines, I was appalled; they seemed particularly misogynistic. The fashions are incredibly frilly, with flowers and embroidery everywhere, and the articles and advice columns really want to help you get you a man- apparently, they're the ultimate accessory. I wanted document some examples, so I went through a bunch of magazines, published from January 1999 on, and found some of the most blatant offenders.
It's no surprise thatCosmopolitan really wants you to find yourself a man. In fact, they want you to get one so badly that they published the article "Five 'Loser' Traits that You can Learn to Love" (February 1999), so that you can learn which undesirable traits are okay. Apparently, if a potential date is a mamaÕs boy, a workaholic, a guy's guy, a slob, or a cheapskate they shouldn't be written off. Indeed, these traits can be just wonderful according to author Michael Lewittes (do you think that he’s trying to drum up a date?). What I want to know is, how many articles in GQ advise men to date women that are always at work and don't clean up after themselves who also have an unnatural attachment to their father.
I had to put this one in because it really cracked me up. The editors ofHarper's Bazaar (March 1999) have a great new idea (yes, that's sarcasm) to hold back your hair: scotch tape. I suppose that they haven't heard that we aren't willing to suffer for beauty anymore (though I don't think that scotch tape qualifies as beautiful), particularly with the number of comfortabe ponytail holders on the market today.
Another wonderful idea from the folks at Harper's (March 1999) is hair extensions- though to be fair, they're being touted by almost every fashion magazine. Not only are extensions incredibly time consuming, they're also painful and expensive (yippee!). The process takes about four hours and costs from $500 to $2500. It involves sewing the extensions to existing hair or gluing them to the scalp. Enough said.
Vogue (March 1999) handed this one to me on a platter. Here are some quotations from their "Vogue's View" section. "Women are realizing that the whole drill about convenient wardrobes, and day-to-evening, itÕs so dreary" (200). Convenience is passe, who knew? "Not too long ago, a uniform was liberating- it was armor that enabled women to fend for themselves in the workplace. But the suit has done its job. I have nothing to prove" (200). Somewhere, Susan Faludi is really angry. I, for one, am with her.
This articleÕs title gave it all away: "What Would Men Change About You?' (Marie Claire, May 1999) It's this really great article (whoops, thereÕs that sarcasm again) about what men think about the way women look. They took seven women (all attractive) and had six men discuss their thoughts about them. Would it surprise you if the men were highly critical? Or that they all complained that the women weren't sexy enough until they came to a women who was quite sexy? For her they complained that "She'd be more appealing if she held a little more back" (92) and "I'd be afraid to talk to her- and I don't think she'd be interesting if I did" (92). What nice young men- I wonder what Cosmopolitan would have to say about them.
So, is there any hope for fashion magazines? Do we really care? I don't suppose that any of the preceding was a big surprise; mainly I wrote this because I wanted to bring the misogyny to our attention. So often, we are consumers of popular culture without thinking critically about it. That's why it is so insidious. From now on I think that I'm going to stick to books*- I'll just buy really boring ones during finals.
* Please, please don't tell me that books are subject to patriarchal prejudices as well- I just don't think I could handle it.