Battle of the Sexes: The Magazine Edition
When I go to the gym for my pilates class, I often grab a couple of the free magazines they have sitting around and pretend to read them to disguise the fact that I’m actually perving on the hot muscle men in the lounge. Last week I picked up a women’s mag and a men’s mag. I didn’t realise until I got home. I’ve read men’s magazines before of course, but never while simultaneously skimming through a women’s mag. It’s only then that you truly realise how the other half live. The men’s one may as well have come with a free penis and a sense of direction and the women’s with a whiny bitch and free make up.
So I browse through the women’s one and here’s what I see: a ‘wish list’ type double page spread informing me of things I should want, which really covered all the bases, from deck chairs to cupcakes. Make up advert. Little bit of news about quirky thing happening in other parts of the world. Make up advert. An article telling me how to model my holiday on the Sex and the City 2 movie (I needed more eyes to give my intense eye roll more impact). Make up advert. A crazy spread on how to mix and match clothes which I’m sure has only led to more mismatched outfits. How to wear the right eye shadow for my eye colour (I was struggling to stay awake at this point). An article on how to start your own business (by God, apparently, women have brains and can like, actually do that). An article on curing blindness (my my, we’re really stepping it up a notch). An advert for Nurofen (which was fitting, ’cause I was considering overdosing on that). And of course, no women’s magazine is complete without a recipe.
Then I turned my attention to the men’s mag.
Within the first two pages, there was money and cars. A short piece about some computer game where you get to blow shit up (complete with picture of an army looking dude with a machine gun and a blast going off behind him). An article about the world’s greenest mobile home (legitimately very interesting). An opportunity to win an Apple iPad (err, no fair – what? ‘Cause I’ve got breasts you think I wouldn’t want an iPad? Bitch please!). Advert for mobile phone. An article about some sexy new type of plane. A technology section (‘Cause you know, only fellas know how to work those computer and mobile phone thingies). An ad for razors. An article about the hunt for a mafia member in Sicily (erm, hello?! I’m officially switching to this mag). DVD reviews. Poker tips. A crossword (a goddamn crossword?!). Ad for mobile phones. A whole section of ‘instructions for men’ including how to tie a bow tie, how to not feel bloated after a working lunch and how to untie yourself from a chair when held hostage (seriously!). More chances to win more ridiculously cool stuff.
So basically, men’s and women’s mags are both guilty of reinforcing ridiculous stereotypes about the sexes. But the men’s mag is gonna teach me how to play better poker (or you know, just to play poker), win a bunch of cool stuff and give me instructions on how to get out of a hostage situation? Yeah, that gets my vote.
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Tags: magazines, stereotypes
