It’s very hard to put down Cosmo without coming across as one of these crazed reactionary feminists. But the reason why this magazine continues to draw that type of reaction is that it’s probably one of the most insulting magazines ever published- not only insulting of women, but of women
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a magazine purportedly aimed at women spending so much of its pages teaching them how to focus on men. The amount of man-pleasing articles would be forgivable if they offered genuine, mature, sophisticated relationship advice. However, much of the magazine seems written in the vein of "The Rules/ Men are from Mars, Men are from Venus", where men are treated as "hogs-the-remote" cliches to be understood, not human beings to get to know.
All of this "man pleasing" stuff makes a mockery of Cosmo’s mission of celebrating its reader, the supposed "Fun, Fearless, Female." Funny, but when I hear "Fun, Fearless, Female" that lends me to think of a woman who is fearlessly independent, adventurous, and has much more going in her life than obsessing over which new sex trick will either keep her man or cause him to cheat on her with a more seasoned Cosmo reader. But apparently, Comso thinks that the "Fun, Fearless, Female" is a boy-crazy, sex-obsessed twit who has little need for in-depth career, friendship, financial, health, or personal advice. It’s all about the ween.
She’s also not very deep, because according to the consistent use of the word "hunk", as well as pictures of "hunks", she is only interested in hot and sexy boy toys and Calvin Klein models, not average Joes
So there’s no doubt in my mind that Cosmo disrespects its audience, which is why it deserves a big, fat 0 in my book. It treats them as sex-starved harlots whose entire existence is based on having a man in their lives. It’s socially irresponsible, besides. So don’t even bother reading this rag, IMO. You’re much better than that and far more deserving.
I had written about this in my diary but as suggested by a friend, felt this place was appropriate.
So excuse me if you are reading it again.