After dropping my mom off at LAX, I stopped by Barnes and Noble, hoping to find a pattern for a new spring sweater in one of the magazines. The first rack on the right as you enter the Manhattan Beach store is labeled "Women's Interests". Sadly, women are only interested in wedding planning, fashion, decorating, beauty and their best friends that they have never met in Hollywood. Say it ain't so.
The rack next to it held copies of the Economist, Harper's and Scientific American. I can't remember how they labeled that rack.
Am I the only one who misses the articles about current events, fiction and poetry in the "women's magazines"? To be fair, a recent issue of Elle had a profile about Caitlin Flanagan and the issues she raises in her writing.
Aside again
Her writing disappeared from the Atlantic several years ago and she recently returned with a book of her greatest hits with a few new essays. When she stopped writing, I suspected a health or family issue. Her work was clearly very broadly read and influential (even if she did get alot of hate mail). The Elle piece said that she had breast cancer during her hiatus.
Because this blog is called badmomgoodmom, I should say that Caitlin writes about just that. Even though her definition of a good mom differs from mine, I do find her astute observations about human nature hilarious. She simply states that kids are better off with a parent always around, even if that parent is working at home. It just takes an army to raise twins and work at home. Unlike many of her detractors, I think she does get the irony of her position. It is easier to be a self-styled "at home" mom with nannies, housekeepers and a weekly visit from a professional organizer. ;-)
The profile also said that her husband works down the street from me at Mattel. He was responsible for a couple of the Barbie movies. Unfortunately, they were not the one that I liked, where Barbie saves her kingdom with her prowess as a geologist.
We will talk about Barbie at a later time.
keywords: reading, sociology, magazines
I suspect that most men are NOT interested in wedding planning, decorating and women's fashion. If the section with Maxim, GQ and Monster Truck Monthly is labeled "Men's Interests," I think the labels are fair.
ReplyDeleteElle and Vogue usually have some interesting non-fluff pieces in them. Glamour tries hard but it usually focuses on the Politically Correct Human Rights Issue of the Month. I've never read good fiction in a women's magazine.
I think that Monster Truck Monthly is not filed under "Men's Interests" at your local newsrack. Maxim is, along with Stuff, Gear, Playboy, and any pornography of a harder core. GQ is a "maybe," but I would tentatively expect it to be elsewhere: Fashion?
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