Friday, August 28, 2009

Schizo Reading

Is it just me, or does reading a woman's magazine make your head spin? Does it make you feel confused? Do you find yourself questioning reality?

I love magazines. The articles are short. Magazines are portable. You can set one down and pick it up days later and start where you left off.

Lately, however, I have been questioning the content of so-called women's magazines. Family Circle. Woman's Day. To name a few.

Maybe it's after reading Men's Health that I have grown discontented with this particular genre of reading material.

You pick up a woman's magazine and start reading. You come across an article on how you can lose weight by not dieting. Just giving up and letting nature take its course. Following that is a special diet designed just for the readers of the magazine--the only way to lose weight and keep it off! Further on, there are recipes for nutritious meat-free meals. Then come the decadent dessert recipes--with the "you'll never be able to eat just one!" message across the top.

In a short span of time you are told dieting doesn't work. Just in case they do work, try this ultimate diet. (But don't get to used to it, because the real diet that really works always comes in the next issue.) Here are some low-fat, low-cal recipes to get you started. When you get so freakin' frustrated that you can't take it any longer, they have recipes for the binge.

This seems to be the message of all women's magazines. Is their goal to confuse us? Because we never quiet get a straight answer, we have to buy the new magazine when it hits the stands because it might hold the answer?

I started reading Men's Health because Jim reads it. It has such great advice. I never feel like I don't know which was is up. They write about sex. Politics. There are great recipes. Need a workout routine, they have it.

I test-drove Women's Health and was sorely disappointed. Obviously the editors of Men's Health had nothing to do with their magazine. Because the schizo editors were there in full force.

Is the answer to stop reading magazines? I mean, they do have some great recipes.

What do you think?
Susie

1 comment:

  1. I've disliked so-called "women's" magazines for ages... They are simply more media propoganda reinforcing impossible standards for looks and reducing women to obsessing about superficial things with the token "serious" article sprinkled in. Sometimes.

    On the other hand, I find them useful for following "popular culture" trends and getting ideas for jewelry, etc. So, for those purposes, I generally look at the ones that are 99% ads...

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