Cosmopolitan Month by Month View - SEPT 2012

Can women’s magazines, focusing on the case study of Cosmopolitan (UK edition), ever be considered feminist?

September 2012 - Cover Star - Nicole Scherzinger (Singer/X Factor judge)

47 Fashion / Beauty adverts ÷ 204 pages = 23% of magazine 

[excluding other adverts for food, drink, cars etc]

For

100% Confident - Regular Feature (pg36)

- This feature often includes inspirational quotes from famous female celebrities which encourage the readers to be confident women.

- This promotes women as living up to the tagline of the magazine, which is 'For For Fearless Females'

- "Being perfect is boring. It's the imperfections that make us perfect." Jessie J

Alpha Female - Regular Feature (pg36)

- This feature often includes advice from a successful working female about the industry they work in 

- This advice encourages the readers to focus on their career choices 

pg 68 - Feature about standing up to domestic abuse

- Cosmopolitan supports Women's Aid's Real Man Campaign, explaining the devastating effects of psychological abuse and featuring celebrity men.
- This feature also has a news article about a woman who was murdered by her jealous boyfriend, warning women to stand up for themselves and not put up with abuse

  

Cash & Careers Clinic - Regular Feature - (pg 87)

- This regular feature helps women with a different topic regarding their work every issue, inspiring women to focus on their careers.

- Gives women reassurance, tips, and real life examples of certain situations. Can help to build women's confidence in work, an topic that other magazines may not touch on.

- This example is about working abroad.

So You Think You Want My Job? - Regular Feature (pg  91)

- This regular feature often explores unusual occupations that readers may not often know about

- Again, it promotes the importance of having a good job to the reader, giving them confidence to achieve whatever they want. The feature also gives advice about how the reader can get in to that profession.

- This issue the job is a producer

ultimate women 93

Catwalk to Curvy - Regular Feature (pg 136)

- This regular feature shows how women with curvy bodies can still wear the catwalk trends

- This feature shows the readers that any size body can be beautiful

- However this feature only takes up 1 page of the whole magazine, there should be more pages focusing on the bodies of curvy girls rather than the pages full of thin models

- There is a short article from Laura Puddy, where she writes that being curvy does not necessarily mean being plus sized. This can help women to feel better about their body shape as not all are the same.

Against

Men vs. Fashion - Regular Feature - (pg 25)

- This is a regular feature where three men rate what they think about what four female celebrities are wearing, also featuring the Cosmo fashion verdict, which can be quite different from what the men think

- The article does state, "we don't dress for men, but we're often curious about their fashion sense."

- However this article still suggests that we should consider what men would think of our outfits and what is 'fashionable', rather than wearing what we want to, and what we feel comfortable in

- The article also is an example of the magazines fixation with celebrity culture and body image

- The celebrities are often criticised for making bold moves or wearing unusual fashion choices, giving the reader the idea that we should all be dressed the same to be considered fashionable

Men on... - Regular Feature - (pg 31)

- This is a feature which regular features a few men's opinions on a random issue.
- This issue three men give their opinion on women wearing blazers. There is no reason for women to dress to please men so it seems irrelevant that this feature would be printed in a magazine which is supposed to be about giving confidence to women.

Never Be Tagged in the Same Look Twice - Regular Feature (pg 46)

- This fashion feature suggests we should be obsessed with what we wear, and that it is a bad thing to wear the same outfit twice.

- It suggests we will be judged on Facebook by the outfits that we are wearing, rather than opinions shared.

- This encourages women to splurge on new clothes, causing unnecessary worry

body news 187

Your Body... Only Firmer - Regular Feature - (pg 189)

- This is another example of how the magazine is obsessed with body image

- It is important to promote exercise, but the amount of articles about diets and slimming in this issue could be damaging to the reader's confidence, especially a younger reader who may be easily influenced

- It is good to encourage women to exercise and be healthy but sometimes it seems as if there is no escape from media's obsession with body image, as a page of exercises is shown next to a weight loss advert

Unsure

Manthropology (pg 31)

- In a way this page featuring mens opinions on random things seems fair, as the 'gaze' here is on the men, instead of women, but at the same time this is another place for men to effect women's opinions, maybe in a negative way (for example, about women wearing blazers).

The Cosmo Face Off (pg 38)

- This article is a debate about whether or not it is a crime to call someone fat (both responses from females), so could be seen as a good thing or bad depending on which response you go for.

-  In a way I think it is good this magazine is touching on issues like this that are in the media today and allow intelligent opinions to be formed, rather than ignoring things like this.

- However some may be offended by the comments, or think that it is unnecessary topic to be covered, which is continuing to remind women about obsessions with weight.