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13 years ago
On the radio driving home today there was an article about the woman who revolutionised women's magazines, with Cosmo, in the 60's. That is pretty awesome! She had a magazine that used to be about household tips suddenly advocating the use of the pill, that women should have a career and be happy being single. t the time that was revolutionary. To me, today, the product of a fairly liberal family and schooling life it is difficult to think that at one point women were considered less than men. I know it's still not an equal playing field but at least they are on the same playing field.
This got me thinking though. There are lots of magazines out there that tell women how to be women. Some are filled with fashion tip, sex advice and so on. Others are filled with cleaning and cooking tips, how to make a budget stretch further. Others are pictures of celebrities eagerly trying to give the press just enough pictures so they remain popular without also disappearing from the public eye or having no private life at all. Womans day, cosmo, take 5.
Despite these magazines conveying very different beliefs about what a woman is or should be they do exist. Magazines purely about being a woman.
Do men have the same kinds of magazine? I know quite a few gay magazines, Blue and DNA, and there is a plethora of magazines about specialist interests from fishing to cars to computers that, while we say women are free to enjoy as much as men, have such a blokey tone it's hard to think of a woman in the context. Even Men's health is about health and fitness, even if the cover resembles Cosmo more and more only with muscle bound hunks instead of sexily made up women.
Is it then that men define themselves by their hobbies more than women? Or is it that we create ourselves in the shape of role models from TV, history and movies? Do we, in fact, not need to be told how to be men? No, that can't be it either as I know from experience in enjoying less than masculine hobbies that there is a very real understanding of what it is men do and what it is they don't (Dungeons and dragons is apparently not manly despite the fact we once beat up a dragon with the dead body of our comrade!).
Maybe as a gay, social outcast adolescent male with a somewhat absent father figure I was never shown "This is the magazine that tells you how to be a man." And maybe that's why I have arrived at the age of 28 somewhat confused about what it means to be a man?
While womens magazines argue about what a woman should be they do highlight the options. Men's magazines tend to just say "Here are some manly comics now go drink, laugh about boobs and then bitch about the woman you decided to share your life with."
Or maybe it's in the articles of Playboy? It's not like anyone ever reads that!
This got me thinking though. There are lots of magazines out there that tell women how to be women. Some are filled with fashion tip, sex advice and so on. Others are filled with cleaning and cooking tips, how to make a budget stretch further. Others are pictures of celebrities eagerly trying to give the press just enough pictures so they remain popular without also disappearing from the public eye or having no private life at all. Womans day, cosmo, take 5.
Despite these magazines conveying very different beliefs about what a woman is or should be they do exist. Magazines purely about being a woman.
Do men have the same kinds of magazine? I know quite a few gay magazines, Blue and DNA, and there is a plethora of magazines about specialist interests from fishing to cars to computers that, while we say women are free to enjoy as much as men, have such a blokey tone it's hard to think of a woman in the context. Even Men's health is about health and fitness, even if the cover resembles Cosmo more and more only with muscle bound hunks instead of sexily made up women.
Is it then that men define themselves by their hobbies more than women? Or is it that we create ourselves in the shape of role models from TV, history and movies? Do we, in fact, not need to be told how to be men? No, that can't be it either as I know from experience in enjoying less than masculine hobbies that there is a very real understanding of what it is men do and what it is they don't (Dungeons and dragons is apparently not manly despite the fact we once beat up a dragon with the dead body of our comrade!).
Maybe as a gay, social outcast adolescent male with a somewhat absent father figure I was never shown "This is the magazine that tells you how to be a man." And maybe that's why I have arrived at the age of 28 somewhat confused about what it means to be a man?
While womens magazines argue about what a woman should be they do highlight the options. Men's magazines tend to just say "Here are some manly comics now go drink, laugh about boobs and then bitch about the woman you decided to share your life with."
Or maybe it's in the articles of Playboy? It's not like anyone ever reads that!
Men Health is a health magazine though, not the same kind of thing as Cosmo or Cleo. And yeah, Zoo would be similar to Cosmo I suppose....
So it is like I said, men are defined by their hobbies not by their gender, which is interesting...
There are advice pages, advice for how to get that woman you wanted and what she wants from you etc.
There is a lot of solid common sense in it.
Men's Health frequently sells the image of being the magazine that will show you how to be a better man.
One of the recent stints has been "How to be better at everything" and it tells you things like how best to do ordinary things like how to frisbee better to how to best order a drink at a bar.
That being said, I think Men's Health is more concerned with selling advertisements and making articles that play on a man's baser instincts.
As for what being a man is, well, we are as we do.
I am gay, but I don't feel like less of a man for being so.
I feel like less of a man when I have to rely on another for my well being. I feel like less of a man when I know I need to take responsibility and I don't.
I feel like the term "man" and "woman" imply a level of self sufficiency, a level of maturity and the ability to think for one's self.
Magazines that tell you how to be you can lead you to the answers people ultimately need to find themselves.
But I think that the need to make money and sell advertising often cloud what little good sense is there.
What good is it to motivate a person towards losing weight and gaining confidence when on the next page there is a Snickers ad reminding you that hunger is a candy bar away from satisfaction?