Respond in whatever way makes sense to you. The following questions make for a good starting point; feel free to use them if you're stuck.
- WHAT MAGAZINE DID YOU READ?HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE THE CONTENT?
- WHAT SURPRISED YOU MOST ABOUT THE CONTENT?
- HOW DOES THIS TEXT IMAGINE FEMALENESS AND FEMININITY?
- HOW DOES THIS TEXT IMAGINE MALENESS AND MASCULINITY?
- HOW DO THE IMAGES/GRAPHICS USED IN THIS MAGAZINE CONTRIBUTE TO ITS STYLE OR MESSAGE?
- WHAT ARE YOUR THOUGHTS CONCERNING THE MAGAZINE’S COVER?
(1)I read cosmopolitan.(2 )The content is about beauty and its product, sex and entertainment world.(3) The most surprising in this magazine to me is the Advert "THE COSMO KAMA SUTRA..99 MIND BLOWING SEX POSITIONS".Wonders will never end in this generation..Sex has become a food for everyday living.(4) The text tend to portray a females perfect body speaks sexual attraction.(5) I really cannot picture out the content in male in this magazine.(6) The images and graphics used in this magazine tend to portray looking good as a woman, gives a woman a first class ticket to acquire self esteem and also promote her urge for gaining the opposite sex attention.(7) My thought concerning the magazine cover is that i believe this is another underworld strategy for lucifer to make men and women be more concerned about sex, and their outlook appearance, which to me doesnt really sound like a priority as we all tend to run lifes journey, which will surely come to an end soon.
ReplyDeleteI read one of the editions of Cosmopolitan, and I can say I am absolutely surprised but yet intrigued by the content. Most of the magazine is composed of make-up ads, pictures of models, love tips, a "girl problems" section, etc. I hate to make extreme generalizations and so I hope it'd be acceptable to say that this magazine, or at least most of it, is clearly directed towards a female audience since most of the content is oriented towards the general interests of females. Within the magazine, there are a few sections that captured my attention, such as "Weird Things Guys Do When You're Not Around." That section caught my attention instantly; one of the first things that went through my head when seeing that on the front page was, "Wow! So this is what girls care about!?" As surprising as it was, it was at the same thing not so much of a surprise because I'm sure that what men do when they're not in public is of a significant interest to many females.
ReplyDeleteThe magazine cover is also a powerful component of the magazine as a whole. Females generally care about their physical presentation more than men do (sorry for the generalization here again) and so having the model Miranda Kerr on the cover has the effect of capturing the attention of the female readers. It creates a conscious thought in their heads that may or may not make them question their own beauty for the better or for the worse, and potentially desire to be as "beautiful" or as "perfect" as Miranda Kerr. Covers in any book or magazine or meant to grab the attention of the audience and so it would only be appropriate to have a model on the cover of the magazine.
Correction**Females are generally portrayed as caring more about their physical presentation more than men are*
DeleteI chose to read Maxim magazine as this was always a favorite with the guys I knew growing up and it was one of the few that had a strikingly sexy women on the front page instead of a car or a man body building. I thought I knew what to expect, which would be women barely wearing clothes on each page. What surprised me was how many visuals were used oppose to actual articles. The 88 page magazine had 33 pictures of women posing in random sexy outfits including as a painter, a magician, a nurse (that forgot her uniform), a plumber, an office assistant, a motorcycle driver, having a shower, and a dancer.
ReplyDeleteClearly this magazine is to be used as a visual to help men fantasize as the reality is you will probably not see a women riding a horse in her bra and panties. Other content that was observed was stereotypical images such as men skiing, eating food, driving sports cars, wrestling, superhero movie trivia, and several tobacco product advertisements.
The font was very small and difficult to read. At a glance a reader would be more interested on the pictures oppose to the content. When I took the time to read the content I learned how to take a brazier off with one hand, how to swollen a sword, Russian teenagers are always horney, I should spit during sex, and my personal favorite, how to play spring break bingo.
I can understand how this magazine is attractive to the male population as it is an easy read, lots of attractive visuals and with a subscription you only pay $1.00 a magazine. Personally this content or the photos didn’t appeal to me. What I did find interesting in the article was who was rated the best Superman (Christopher Reeve).
Do you think I can borrow this magazine for another assignment of mine in a different class? I would really appreciate it :)
DeleteI read the magazine Muscle and Body. The content is very dull, scientific, and a lot is research based because it focuses on supplements and muscle building so it goes in detail about the benefits, ingredients, and the way they work. I am jealous of the males in the class reading cosmo! The colors and graphics used add onto the dullness compared to the magazines I am used to. I guess the color scheme adds on to the masculinity of this text, dark and simple. It does not grab my attention. In reading this magazine I was surprised to find a couple of images of females with muscle and the fact that the magazine was shedding light on their hard work in training. This magazine portrays males as strong, powerful, and I would even say sexy. It emphasizes the importance of fitness, training, eating clean and bodybuilding, all of the images in this text reflect this because they are all either supplements or shirtless muscular men. The magazines cover is of course a topless muscular male, making it easy to guess what it consist of. The tittle of the magazine itself makes it obvious to the reader what it is about because its simple and to the point “Muscle & Body." In response to the male comments after reading cosmo, I would say males also place importance on appearance based on this magazine.
ReplyDeleteI read a Marie Claire magazine. Well, actually, I’m not entirely sure “read” is the right word. I think “looked at” would be a phrase to use rather than “read.” I looked at this magazine much more than I read it. Why do I say this? I say this because about ninety percent of this magazine is filled with pictures. One page after another is filled with an attractive woman posing for a particular fashion line. Speaking of fashion lines, their names make up the other ten percent of what this magazine is filled with. With the exception of a few descriptions describing a few products, this magazine is filled with words like Chanel, Tommy Hilfiger, Calvin Klein, Louis Vuitton, and a bunch of other fashion companies I’ve never even heard of. Now the tone of what I’m saying may seem like it detests the fact that there are way more visual images than words, but it doesn’t. On the contrary, I prefer more visuals. Personally, I’ve never been a strong reader, nor have I enjoyed reading. I’m more of a visual type of person, which is why I didn’t really have a problem reading this magazine. I mean, why would I have a problem looking at beautiful women posing for Guess, DKNY, L'Oréal, or any other company mentioned in this magazine? I’d prefer that over a description of what they look like and how they’re posing. It would be very unrealistic to even think that I am the only one thinking this.
ReplyDeleteThe magazine I looked at for this assignment was a Cosmopolitan Magazine. Inside of the magazine are articles revealing people’s secrets, discussions about sex, and more dicey topics I would expect women to gossip about. What really surprised me about the advertisements inside is the amount of beauty products. It’s as if the editors and designers of this magazine are intending to shove this towards the women of America. I have personally gone through about 30 pages or more of beauty enhancement products to approach women to become the “ideal woman” who is flawless, which in reality is not true. Sure advertisements pay for their spots, but it seems a bit overbearing. Also with Beauty products, the use of designer brands is present to show different articles of clothing and fragrances. In these ads however, many of the models are of unrealistic proportions in which they are Photo shopped, or starving themselves. This by itself presents a problem when addressed to women as a whole. This action could be giving women the thought that this is the “ideal woman.” Also, the images and cover used in the magazine contribute to its overall message through the act of presenting themselves as “Eye Candy” by showing many flattering pictures of women. Because of this, it portrays the action of selling sex through the magazine by objectifying women. Although this is a magazine for women, it seems to be a focal point of many magazines. This also incorporates into the ideal of the “ideal woman” like I stated before. Many women try to reach perfection, but it seems like an endless cycle.
ReplyDeleteI read an older edition of cosmopolitan. The content was pretty interesting since it is aimed at the female audience. I realized most of the subjects talked about in the magazine are not always true and sometimes contradicts the things they say in a previous another article. While reading the magazine, I found it awkwardly entertaining. At first I was just browsing through the pages looking for an interesting article but I often catch myself stopping to read about something that almost does not apply to me. Opposed to Men’s Fitness, GQ, Maxim and, Car and Driver which I most likely look for the subject I want to read about first and if I have time I browse for other articles. What surprised me the most was how the magazine perceived how females think. I hope they all do not think like that. I seems that the magazine suggests that women value their appearance the most because majority of the ads and articles is centered on improving skin care and ways to dress. Also, the relationship advice the magazine give is interesting as well. I found it funny how the magazine advises the female audience that it’s best to do the total opposite of what they want to make the males “work harder”. I mean I can see how it might work, but from experience in the guy’s perspective it most likely doesn’t. My thoughts concerning the cover is that Kate Upton is an extremely attractive young woman which is probably the main reason why I chose this issue from the millions of issues in my roommate’s magazine stack.
ReplyDeleteI read Cosmopolitan, I found the content of the magazine as to what I expected, focusing on image, how to make yourself look sexier, and all of the content having bright colors weather it was to just brighten the article or make you feel better that you don't fit the 'perfect' image. Even though I just expected the whole magazine to be about the way to achieve being the perfect women, anything that has to do with a womens body and sex, and 100 different ways to apply makeup. But I found that even though it had all of those things it also had some good(and not so good in my opinion) advice on relationships. The text strongly focuses on women and their image it doesn't seem to care about the womens emotions, in most of the magazine it only showed that you are not the 'perfect' women and that if you follow some of the steps they have you can become closer to that image. The text does not make an attempt in being manly at all, but puts a strong emphasis on how to get a man, while also boosting about woman individuality. The images used throughout the magazine are mostly of beautiful women. This adds to the effect that this is the image you are to strive for, or in some cases a handsome man being the man that you would want to strive for. The cover of the magazine has a women in the middle that catches your attention because of her appearance. That being a good looking, sexually dressed, and brown hair and eyes. It really catches your attention, along with the words on the cover, "SEXY", and "HOT" appearing in a large font to really catch your eye. The cover is there to draw women in, to show them that this beautiful, sexual women is on this cover now look inside and find out her secrets.
ReplyDeleteThe magazine that I read was Guns & Ammo. Which most appeals to men in my opinion. Not many women that I know are real big on guns, or if they are they don't really read magazines about them. At first I just flipped through to see what advertisements were included. I can to the conclusion that most it the ads were for different types of guns, which could have been expeceted. Other ads were for different types of chewing tobacco, or tools. Generally speaking this magazine's intended audience is men. There was an interesting article about the different guns in the civil war. Mainly I learned a lot of things about guns that I had no idea. The pictures in the magazine are exactly what one would expect, many different types of guns. There was another article about using pistol-mounted lights for home defense. The article listed all the pros and cons of this basically. One thing that stuck out is that the criminal could see the light and then shoot you. Which for me really doesn't matter but I guess for a guy who is seriously considering all these things, the article would be helpful. Others articles were about hunting trips in Africa and speed of bullets.
ReplyDeleteOkay, So I read Cosmopolitan magazine for the first time and have to say it is some weird, twisted stuff. The first thing I noticed was the cover mentioned something related to sex more than four times including “Sex Olympics” and “Is oral sex dangerous?“ Not to mention the cover is a girl with whom appears to be wearing only a long sweater and a bra. Once you actually decide to open the damn thing (god help you) you are bombarded with pages on pages of makeup and clothing ads. Then you move on the “stories”, somehow all the genius writers down a Cosmo figured out how to relate everything they write back to sex and image. I pity the poor teenage girl who picks this magazine up and thinks they have to be just like the people in Cosmo or they have to do what Cosmo says. The only thing this magazine can teach a woman is how to be a slut or a Barbie. People often wonder why the feminist movement often has trouble gaining support among men in things like politics, well, here you go, it is magazines like this that set women back because the image Cosmo gives off about women is what men end up viewing as reflective of all women. In addition to that, the images of women in Cosmo, like most magazines, are professionally enhanced to make the models look perfect. This is why so many girls are so insecure about their image, they have perfection as their expectation of “beautiful” but without a computer and camera, perfection is unachievable. So you have woman trying so hard to look like something they can never be. This is why some women take hours to do their makeup and dress, but still don’t feel good enough. It is honestly sad. People shouldn't have to feel like they need makeup to fake a look that isn’t them, in fact there is an article called “Fake It Til’ You Make It” in this issue. It is reasons like that, why I will never pick up a piece of trash like Cosmo again.
ReplyDeleteOne thing that automatically stood out to me when I first started reading “FLEX” was the colors. In a typical feminine magazine, the hues are colorful and bright – eye catching. But with this masculine magazine, a lot of the shades are just dark and grey, subliminally targeting it for a specific gender. The magazine I chose to read dealt with the subject of bodybuilding. The content of the magazine didn’t really come as a surprise/ shock to me- the cover gave it all. It talks about different vitamins/beverages and key components inside the product that will help condition the body and promote fat loss. It also gives updates on bodybuilding competition stats, and of course, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Almost all of the images presented in this book is of overly muscular men “flexing” which goes almost hand in hand with masculinity, because of the general idea that men should be the “o strong and mighty” sex ( although, this is being constantly disproved as more women join the body building community). My general thoughts of this magazine just confirms why I don’t understand or plan on understanding body builders. It’s fascinating to me when I realize that thousands of people are actually investing their life in such a trend. I was disgusted by seeing these “overly-ripped” bodies with swelling veins. I think as long as one is healthy and fit, that should be all that matters. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised to find out that being in such condition can pose as a health risk (enlarged heart maybe?). But, I guess it’s a “guy thing”.
ReplyDeleteThe magazine I decided to look at was Cosmopolitan. I was initially looking for content relating to articles or reading about current events or just anything like that. I think there is a fine line between content and advertisements. Not having any luck, there was some content buried in all of these pages of perfume and makeup advertisements. I seemed to have gotten the special “Sex Olympics” edition. Flipping to that page, it shows numerous sex positions accompanied by sketches of said position. It also gives advice on how they say, “bedroom performance enhancers.” This seemed to be the main article in the magazine. I liked how all the sex related articles and advertisements, such as the nuvaring and lubricant are positioned near the main sex Olympics article. Every makeup advertisement has an unnecessary closeup of an ideal face that was most likely photoshopped to make it so. I noticed how they are starting to show weight loss and bikini advertisements. It could probably mean they are noticing its almost summer where woman are going to start going to the beach and make sure they can fit and look good in a bikini. There were very few advertisements that did not relate to sex or beauty. For example, there were advertisements for cars and electronic cigarettes. At the end of the magazine there was the typical astrology page which I never understood. Curious to see what my “future” holds, “Don’t bother being stubborn on the 11th, when your ruler. Saturn, squares off against Mercury.” What the hell does that even mean? The cover of the magazine seems pretty generic with some actress posing in a revealing way. On the margins around the actress seems to be topics that women might seem interested in such as spring fashion. This magazine did not contain anything informational and I’m still amazed at the fact I actually spent money on something like this.
ReplyDeleteI read the February 2014 issue of Cosmopolitan. The content was definitely geared toward women, specifically those aged 18-35. Just flipping through the pages, the color palette is very pink, yellow, bright colors, with lots of diagrams and flowcharts.
ReplyDeleteI was rather surprised by the fact that there were academics quoted in some of the articles. One article, about food allergies and eating disorders, there are a handful of doctors and nutritionists who are quoted. As far as factual information of actual importance, this article was the beginning and end for this publication.
Femininity in Cosmopolitan is a very closed subject. Women must be interested in the newest eyeliner, must be interested in celebrity gossip, and they have to be primarily sexual beings. For every infographic or tidbit on anything other than sex, there are three about sex. In an article about lesbian relationships and coming out, sex was still a large topic. Instead of instilling confidence in women who are afraid to come out, they subject them to feelings about their first kiss, first sexual experience, and try to create a primarily sexual attribution to lesbian relationships.
Masculinity is also a very closed issue for Cosmopolitian. In its view, men are primarily sexual, but not for the empowering reasons that women are, but merely for the women's pleasure. In an article about obsessive lovers, Cosmopolitan tries to talk about the underpinnings of why women snoop on their men's emails and cell phone contents. They attempt to try and rationalize it as being "drunk on dopamine" before any attempt to try and show the woman that maybe she needs to find some self-confidence.
The magazines cover is a picture of Ariana Grande, whom there is no other info of on the cover, save a few words about the featured article in this issue. There are a few 40 character previews of other articles on the cover, but they definitely feel a bit disingenuous after reading some of the articles.
Walking into the store and coming across many magazines, I decided to pick up the usual Cosmopolitan magazine and have the cashier laugh at me for it. This magazine has a gorgeous woman known as Ashley Benson from Pretty Little Liars on the cover. The content is filed up with many ads for perfumes, hair and cosmetic products, and female clothing lines. Besides the ads there was a lot of talk about sex, first dates, relationships, and fashion tips. I was most surprised about the amount of ridiculous fashion advice. I say this because these tips this magazine gives to females are ridiculous. No girl is going to try to wear any of those outfits because of the fact that they are too bold. This text portrays females as imperfect and delicate. Between the ads and stories it seems as if this magazine is giving out all sorts of advice to make females better then they are. Cosmo acts as if women are gentle and to be handled with care, with pictures of gorgeous models with extreme figures displaying most products. Cosmopolitan acts as if every man should have a chiseled body with a 5 o clock shadow and a perfect smile. They portray men as an image as almost every man could never meet. The also portray men as foolish from all the bad breakups to the bad hook ups and how men are goofy characters. This magazine shows many styles as suggestions for females to wear and none of them to me look simple or comfortable. I believe this cover displays a colorful, bold display of eventful stories that interest women. They target insecurities and seem to have all the answers to the million dollar questions every female has.
ReplyDeleteI read the latest issue of Self magazine. The thing that most surprised me was that every single article was about making yourself look better. I expected some of the articles to be beauty tips and weight loss pieces. I was amazing that every single one was about how a certain item made you look or feel better. These articles give women the idea of the perfect woman. They tell the woman what they should look like and how to try to be that way. The pictures and articles show a woman of what they think guys will like and how to look better. The images in the magazine illustrate what it means to be beautiful and how to become healthier. The images set a goal for what all women should strive to become. Beauty and health are the most important things according to this magazine. The cover was very simple. It had a beautiful girl named Julianne Hough on the cover almost to set a goal for woman right off the bat. Around her you have things like 5 quick tips to lose weight, how to burn more calories, how to get a better looking stomach and secrets by the cover woman. The subtitles quickly catch your attention. When woman want to look like another, they want to know their secrets. The cover usually emphasizes this and other beauty secrets.
ReplyDelete1) I read the current issue of cosmopolitan. The content of the magazine is definitely geared toward females. The magazine has no intention of gaining any support from masculine males. 2) What surprised me the most is that I didn't realize that cosmopolitan was a magazine that focuses on sex as an action or hobby. 3) The text in the magazine is intended to give females tips and pointers on how to improve their sex life. There are many sections within the magazine that allows females to share their stories about past relationships with men they have previous been with. 4) I think the magazine doesn't really take a stance on masculinity since it doesn't focus on the male community at all. Maybe that in its self is how the magazine interprets masculinity. Maybe cosmopolitan believes that males would like to know what is going on in a females head and that would provide some incentive for them to purchase the magazine. 5) All of the images and ads inside the magazine were mainly for women. Ads about make-up and clothing along with female sex toys are included inside the magazine. 6) The magazine’s cover was the only reason I decided to take this particular magazine. Arianna Grade is on the cover and I find her very attractive.
ReplyDeleteI read the Cosmopolitan where almost all of its content contains things about women, emphasizing body image, smell, etc. Every other page there’s an advertisement for products such as perfume, outfits, make-up, and things women use as beauty products. What surprised me the most is how the magazine is set up. For example, almost every page there’s at least a picture of unbelievably gorgeous and beautiful women. I feel that girls who read this are constantly bombarded with images of these women and can make them feel somewhat insecure about their body image. I feel that they may forget that most of these images may be photo shopped and reading this creates a sense of standard in which women are to achieve this image. The text in this magazine mainly talk about sexual activities, for example, there’s a page dedicated to sex called, “Twelve Days of Sex Moves.” Also, there are sex questions and answers and advices to lost weight. Therefore, I believe that the text also emphasizes how women should look and how they should “treat their man.” The text isn’t the thing, however, I feel that the images used in this magazine has the most affect on the reader, which are intended for women. Like I said, the reader is constantly bombarded with these images of women who are sexy, sending a message to the reader where they desire to look as sexy. With these images that are used to advertise beauty products, it gives the reader a feeling where they can achieve the “sexy look” by buying their products. Overall, I think Cosmopolitan, a very popular magazine, is successful in their technique of image in order to manipulate their reading into reading their contents and absorbing all the images which lead to them buying such products presented.
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