Cosmo Thinks I’M Fat: Images of Feminity in Women’s Magazines

Cosmopolitan magazine is â€Å"the lifestylist for millions of fun fearless females who want to be the best they can be in every area of their lives. † The best-selling magazine in its category, Cosmopolitan has 58 international editions, is published in 34 languages and is distributed in over 100 countries. Despite its popularity, a number of leading researchers have suggested that the material presented in these magazines can be damaging to the mental state of its readers in numerous ways.After examining the latest issue of Cosmopolitan magazine, it appears that while there are several examples of degrading advertisements and features a majority of the ads are neutral or positive in tone and help define a more modern, feminist woman. The November 2010 issue of Cosmopolitan definitely displayed a number of advertisements that displayed overtly sexualized images of women. One ad for Skyy Vodka showed a bottle of the vodka situated suggestively between the legs of a woman weari ng red leather boots.An article about Kary Perry has her laying in bed with ample cleavage with a caption reading â€Å"This cleavage is Cosmo-approved. † Jean Kilbourne contends that advertising content can affect people in deep and possibly hurtful ways. â€Å"Sex in advertisting is pornographic because it dehumanizes and objectifies people, especially women. † (Kilbourne) When people are constantly bombarded with images of objectified people–whether men or women–they are conditioned to see each other in dehumanizing ways.This means that the attitudes that can lead to sexual aggression are normalized. Kilbourne maintains that â€Å"Ads don’t directly cause violence, of course. But the violent images contribute to the state of terror. And objectification and disconnection create a climate in which there is widespread and increasing violence. † Kilbourne shows concerns about two trends in fashion and advertising that she cites as cultural re actions to the women’s movement. The first is the increase in images of violence against women.This is seen in an ad for Belvedere Vodka that depicts a woman blindfolded being led to a martini glass with a toothpick with two olives-a phallic representation. The second reaction Kilbourne notes is the increase of violent images depicting children–especially young girls. An ad for JC Penny showed two very youthful models dressed as young school girls ad looking vulnerable. These ads seem to suggest that the age of the objectification of women does still exist within the advertising world.Although some parts of the magazine may have objectified women featured, there were actually more displaying positive female role models. Advertisements for Dove body mist and deodorant portrayed women of different healthy weights, shapes and ethnicities- not for sexual gratification but to show confidence. Their contender, Secret, used the motto â€Å"When you’re strong, you spar kle. † However, the most positive image might have come from the Nike â€Å"Make Yourself† campaign. There were two ads from this campaign in the latest issue of Cosmo.The first read â€Å"Make yourself- Strong† and showed an image of Olympic Track and Field Medalist Allyson Felix. The second read Make Yourself Proud and featured professional dancer Sofia Boutella. This grouping provides a diversity called for by Wolf If the icon of the anorexic fashion model were one flat image out of a full spectrum in which young girls could find a thousand wild and tantalizing visions of possible futures, the icon would not have the power to hurt them. What this suggests is that even though there were some negative images, the range of role odels helps to allow women to find whatever they need to find themselves within the pages of the magazine. According to Kilbourne, our culture defines femininity and masculinity in a way that narrows accepted gender roles. The popular cult ure usually trivializes [relational skills] in women, mocks men who have real intimacy with women and idealizes a template for relationships between men and women that is a recipe for disaster: a template that views sex as more important than anything else, that ridicules men who are not in control of their women, and that disparages fidelity and commitment.These stereotypes of masculinity are found over and over throughout the magazine. A story about Alex Rodriquez reads â€Å"Right now, there’s no guy sexier than A-Rod. Baseball fans are obsessed with him, and three of Hollywood’s most gorgeous women have fallen for him. † Some other comments throughout the magazine bring to mind disturbing images if they had been aimed at women rather than men. ? Brad Pitt: It’s hard to tell who has more testosterone: Brad or his chisled Megamind character Metroman ? Chris Pine: He’s starring in this month’saction packed flick Unstoppable Oh, did e mentio n he takes his shirt off too? ? Fernando Verdasco: Speaking of shirtlessness, this top-ranked tennis hunk has been posting pec-tastic images of himself on Twitter ? Enrique Iglesias- We have mixed feelings about the fact that he used a fan’s camera during a concert to take a shot of his crotch. Rude! But can we see it? In a context where the subjects were women these comments would be extremely unnerving. The significance of these observations appears to show that while the objectification of women may be on the decline, it is on the incline for men.The fight for equality is succeeding, to the detriment of the male gender. Unfortunately, even Kilbourne minimizes the effect that this can have on men. There is a world of difference between the objectification of men and that of women. The most important difference is that there is no danger for most men, whereas objectified women are always at risk. Sometimes risks are more than just physical. Also, the assumption that all men are larger and/or stronger than women seems just as narrow as many other assumptions made in the past.