Conference turris::womannotes-v1

    I use them to avoid thinking about what the dentist is going to
    do in a few minutes.  |-)
                             
    
    They make me feel like a participant observer in a culture I will
    never understand very well.  There seem to be distinct types:  look
    beautiful, be a good homemaker/superwoman, and keep up with/get off 
    on the latest weirdness.  The categories are typified by Vogue, 
    McCall's, and the National Enquirer.  The only ones I ever pick up 
    are the McCall's type.  I like the same articles Bonnie likes--the
    feature articles about everyday women (not "stars"!) who are creatively
    managing life's challenges.  
    
    I like flipping through them and reading 3 or 4 sentences per page
    until I find something that interests me.  It's like going to a
    buffet and tasting a lot of things I would never actually order!

    I'm a recipe freak, so I read almost any mag that has recipies.
    If there are enough good ones in the mag I save the whole thing,
    I have over 20 years  Christmas issues of all the leading "Womens
    magazines" Every year I take them out and use the recipies.

    I confess to reading Ladies Home Journal, Woman's Day, etc. now
    and then - I usually pick them up at the supermarket, and indulge
    in some nostalgia remembering the days when Mom would bring them
    home. Mostly it's mind candy, something to thumb through while
    unwinding from work, but I do pick up a few (very few!) exercise
    tips, recipes, and now and then something interesting in mail-order.
    
    I seldom read the fashion mags - far too many ads per page, and
    since I only use makeup for costume parties nearly all of it is
    irrelevant to me.

    I used to read Cosmopolitan for giggles, but it rapidly got boring.
    (I hate to tell you, Eagle, but the Cosmo view of the world is still
    "Diamonds are a Girl's Best Friend"; I don't think you'll get much
    enlightenment there!)

    Should I confess to reading Playboy, too? The articles, of course!
    
    -b

    Since I like needlework and cooking, I read most of the so-called
    'women's magazines' fairly often.  The only ones I ever buy and read
    for content, however, are Working Woman, New Woman, and Cosmo. (And
    Ms., of course, but I'll assume we all know why we read that...even
    though it's become so bleeping middle class lately.) 
    
    I like WW's very practical orientation to the problems of trying to
    raise a family and hold a job at the same time.  If you want ten
    pointers on interviewing a babysitter, or creative suggestions for how
    to make time for yourself in a busy world (how about getting a diver's
    log and pen so you can write your journal entries in the tub?), and so
    on, WW is a good place to look.  (Not politically aware at all,
    however.)
    
    New Woman is too aware. It tends to be too ready to blame problems on
    sexism and not encouraging enough about doing something for yourself.
    It's good at diagnosing problems, but it spends more time assessing
    blame than telling you what you personally can do about the problem. NW
    is also pretty negative about having traditional interests -- I do
    needlework because I like it, and yet New Woman leaves me feeling like
    every time I touch a crochet hook, I've belittled the accomplishments
    of generations of liberated women everywhere. 
    
    I like Cosmo because it's one of the few magazines for either sex that
    conveys the idea that life can be FUN.  Sex is fun, working is fun,
    wearing new clothes is fun, falling in and out of love is fun.  Job
    difficulties and broken romances are just part of the game.  I also
    like the way it assumes that I am in control of my life.  But sometimes
    that attitude that "I am nothing without a man" can drive me up the
    wall . . . or send me running for a convenient receptacle. 
    
    --bonnie

    Beth snuck in .5 while I was writing .6 -- how could I forget Playboy?
    
    Though I will stick my neck way out here and admit that I like to look
    at the pictures.  I find the female body an aesthetically pleasing
    sight, and I like the hundreds of different ways Playboy's
    photographers find to highlight the infinity of moods, emotional tones,
    and erotic feeling that a woman's body is able to express. 
    
    --bonnie

    	Ok, I also admit that I read COSMO once or twice a year
    	(when I really want to escape into fantasy for an evening.)
    							     
    	The thing that I find curious is that every single article
    	in the magazine (or 99.9%) is in the form of examples of
    	supposedly real women.  "Jeanie is a professional marketing
    	manager who makes $300,000 a year and owns a penthouse in
    	Manhatten.  She was dating John, who often ignored her
    	and stood her up.  She used to sit home and wait by the telephone
    	(crying her eyes out) til she met Harry, Dave and Phil.  Now
    	she has a full sex life and only occasionally has crying fits
    	and beats her cat."
    
    	I mean -- give me a break!!  The women in the examples are
    	unrealistically wealthy and unrealistically silly at the same
    	time.  If I made $300,000 a year, I'd have gone to Europe and
    	told John to buzz off after the second date.  :-)  :-)  :-)
    
    	However -- it is good for a laugh (and some of the articles
    	get me to thinking of interesting side issues.)
    
    	I love the advice they had about older women and younger men
    	(they said don't bother marrying them, just scr*w their brains
    	out for awhile.)  :-)  :-)  Just a tad shallow...
    
    							Suzanne... ;-)

    	P.S.  Ok, I exaggerated ...  it isn't really that bad and
    	I do read it more often than twice a year.   ;-)
    
    	I, too, think it's sort of neat to hear about fun lives,
    	sex and all.  And it doesn't hurt to hear about successful
    	women (even if they *do* do temporarily silly things.)
    
    	It is more fun to read than thought-provoking, though.
    
    						    Suzanne... ;-)

    I don't mean to start an argument here over what is a relatively
    trivial point --
    
    But is it necessary that everything we read be thought-provoking and
    serious in order for us not to feel apologetic about reading it?  I
    know I seldom admit to other "liberated" women that I read Cosmo.
    The argument gets too heated. 
    
    But there is a time and a place for "fun", whether you want to call it
    "fun" or "mind candy" or "silly" or "shallow".  I will be the first to
    admit that if you tried to live your life *only* according to Cosmo's
    principles, you would be, in the present slang, one sick puppy.  On the
    other hand that doesn't mean you should never, for example, have a
    relation based only on sex or spend an entire month's pay on an evening
    gown for one gala party.  Maybe I won't ever do either of these
    (haven't yet) but I don't care to rule out the possibility, either. 
    
    --bonnie
    

    	RE: .10
    
    	You're right, Bonnie.  We can't be serious all the time,
    	and although COSMO may be a little unreal, sometimes I'm
    	in the mood for just that!!  
    
    	I was just teasing myself (cuz I realize that I come across
    	in this file as taking myself waaaaaaay too seriously about
    	99.999999999999% of the time.)  ;-)  ;-)
    
    						  Suzanne... ;-)
    

    I am sort of a "health nut", so I read Prevention Magazine and American
    Health. 
    
    Oh, and I subscribe to National Geographic, too.
    
    I used to read Cosmo, too, but I think I out-grew it.  ;-)

    I hope nobody minds if I branch out a little from the original topic
    (the so-called "women's magazines"), but I've found that reading
    magazines from some sub-culture other than your own can be an
    inexpensive (and relatively painless) way to get a look at the world
    from some other viewpoints. For example, reading "Cosmo" will show you
    a different mind-set from that reflected in "Woman's Day," which is
    different from "Redbook," and so forth. To go further, try comparing
    the tone and content of articles in "Cosmo" to "Soldier of Fortune" or
    "Writer's Digest". How about "Ebony" - ever read that? 
    
    Even though the readership of this conference varies from the
    fresh-out-of-school new hire to management, and includes engineers,
    secretaries, writers, and others, this is still a fairly narrow
    slice of the world population. To really broaden one's viewpoint
    it takes contact with groups that one normally doesn't interact
    with. For those who, like me, view such contact with stark fear,
    checking out a few books or magazines can at least give a toehold
    into an "alien" culture. 
    
    For example, I think it would be fascinating to read some labor-union
    publications; no one in my family has ever belonged to a union,
    and I know little about it outside of the history books and the
    front page of the newspaper. The day-to-day details from a magazine
    or newsletter aimed at the just-plain-folks might prove enlightening.
    
    Back (sort of) to the original topic: Another "women's magazine"
    that I read is "Weight Watchers." It's my husband who has the weight
    problem, and he's done very well on the program; in fact, both of
    us eat more nutritious meals because of it. I read the magazine
    to get new recipes (hoping that he'll cook one or two of them!),
    but I've found that, while the intent of the mag is to promote the
    weight-loss program, most of its readers are women, and the focus
    is primarily female. (I find myself doing a lot of mental translation
    in order to see if the articles are applicable to my husband.) I
    think that this has become an inertia problem with some publications;
    men won't read them because they are aimed at women, but there is
    no incentive for the publishers to broaden their scope because they
    get no comment from men. (And vice versa, of course.)

    Does anybody think there *should* be "women's magazines", rather
    than "cooking" or "homemaking" or "stock investment" magazines???

    -b

    
    Hi, y'all!
    
    Since 99% or so of TV is brainless mush, I read alot!  (Rich gets
    mad when I make fun of Miami Vice, and tell him what's going to
    happen ahead of time - a 5 year old could figure it out!)
    
    Love to read any magazines about Fine Art - American Artists, etc.
    Read Family Circle and Women's Days sometimes - depend if they have
    good recipies, and/or articles. (I forget which one - June issue,
    I believe had a nice article about a guy with an autistic son.)
                                                         
    Rich gets Penthouse and other "men's" magazines - I read some and look
    at the pictures. Sometimes we look at them together - it can be
    fun, if you don't take it seriously.
    
    And, I do read Cosmo.  It's fun.  And sometimes even has good articles!
    :-)!
    
    Bye!
    
    Corinne
    

I guess I have stereotyped "women's magazines" as those that are like RedBook
and Womans Day.  I lump those found at the register in the supermarket as
"women's magazines".  I guess I never thought that magazines for women that
don't include a diet, an exercise program and a fattening dessert were
considered "women's magazines".  In that case, I get Ms. but only because
it was a gift.  It has some interesting information in it, but I don't really
like it that much.  It's pretty sexist in its own way.

The other magazines that I get are Home Mechanix, Consumer Reports, Reader's
Digest and another one like Home Mechanix put out by Rodale Press.

Hmmm, what was the question?
...Karen

      My wife and I read Home  and Home and Garden magazine.
    Are these mags considered womens, mens or both?
    
                      REK
    
    PS What's your opinion?

    Gosh, Popular Mechanics is one of my favorite magazines. 
    
    when I can afford it.
    
    --bonnie

The only magazine I currently get is Road and Track.  I also pick up
occasional issues of magazines with good crochet patterns.  (Never know
when you might want a lace carburetor cover).

    when stuck for something to read in a dentist's office, I will try
    one of 'em: Ladies Home Journal, etc.
    
    Have to put them back on the table because they make me so mad.
     "woman w/o man is nothing, and certainly not *happy*!!!"
    phooey.  Recipes are neat, but I don' have time for them anyway;
    cooking for one tends to discourage me from thinking a whole lot
    about food preparation.
    
    Of womyn's works, I read a little lesbian fiction, but find the
    longer stuff to be somewhat poorly written and obtuse.  Short lesbian
    writing has a LOT of fantastic, biting, loving, well-put together
    stuff.
    
    Although I shouldn't limit that to lesbian fiction: a lot of women
    of different sexual orientations are putting out good fiction these
    days.
    
    Lee

	RE: .23
>			  Lucky for women because in their finding they
>    concluded that a greter part of the budget was spent on magazines....
    
	So, does that mean that they will continue to buy more magazines?
	Will they stop classifying "women's magazines" as different?  I hope
	so.  That's like classifying women separate from everyone else who
	have a much broader range of interests (women don't?).  Do you know
	what the men were trying to find out when they asked?

    CACM, SIGCHI, HFS, and Tech review...
    
    But when I read a book, it's almost always a classic or criticism
    of a classic (Shakespeare), or feminist or women oriented.
    	Mez

    
    Yeah, I read "women's" magazines when I visit my mother and
    grandmother.  They get Women's Day, McCall's, Good Housekeeping.
    There is not enough substance to many of these magazines for me
    to want to run out and buy them, but they _do_ give me topics for
    valid and valuable conversations with mom and grandma.
    
    I subscribe to: Scientific American, Time, Life, Analog, Architechtural
    Digest, American Artist, TV Guide, and Omni.  I cancelled Playgirl
    when they changed their format.  I am considering cancelling Omni,
    since every issue I've read in the last few months has had at least
    one article I considered sexist and offensive.
    
    Books?  Mostly Science Fiction, feminist authors, religion, and
    mysticism.  Our landlord couldn't understand why we wanted to rent
    a 3 bedroom house for the two of us, until he saw the movers hauling
    in over 5000 books :^)
    
    Rita
    

    
    
    Over the past 5 years I have stopped reading almost all magazines,
    execpt MS for some content and People for relaxing before seeing
    the dentist or doctor.
    
    I do read a lot of books, almost all of them by women especially
    Scifi with female protagonists.
    
    Lately I have been reading a LOT of literature on Feminist Thealogy
    and compiling a recommeded reading list.  If anyone has suggestions
    of material that I could add send me mail.  I am looking for music
    as well and have been reading up on composers who are women.
    
    _peggy
    		(-)
    		 |   Is there a magazine about the craft?
    

    I like a lot of different magazines.  I'll buy a "women's mag" if 
    there's a really tasty looking something on the cover.  Sometimes the 
    human interest stories are good.  I used to buy Ladie's Home Journal 
    for the "It Isn't Easy Being a Woman..." feature which used to pay 
    $200 (?) if your story was accepted for publication, and I'd always 
    read the "Will This Marriage Work?" feature.  I _still_ think the 
    "Do's and Don't's" column in Glamour is funny.

    I like Yankee, Handwoven (I've got a loom but never use it), Travel 
    and Liesure (I like to dream), National Geographic, Natural History, 
    Smithsonian, The Utne Reader (differing viewpoints from all over?), 
    Bon Apetit, Gourmet (I like to cook and eat), People (I'm a sucker for 
    gossip), Time and/or Newsweek, Scientific American, The Mother Earth 
    News (it fuels the homesteading fantasy), and Architectural Digest.

    CQ

    New Woman               Family Circle
    Newsweek                Woman's Day
    Better Homes & Gardens  National Gardening Assoc.
    Good Housekeeping       1,001 Home Ideas
    Country Living          Playboy
    Golf Illustrated

    New Woman               Family Circle
    Newsweek                Woman's Day
    Better Homes & Gardens  National Gardening Assoc.
    Good Housekeeping       1,001 Home Ideas
    Country Living          Playboy
    Golf Illustrated        Consumer Reports
    

    	
Subscribe			Occasional

    Newsweek			People
    Practical Homeowner		Bon Appetit
    Consumer Reports		New Yorker
    Cooks Magazine		MS
    Petit Propos Culinaire	Byte
    Herb Quarterly		National Geographic
    Just Crossstitch
    TV Guide ;-/

    People.
    
    I picked up a Vogue magazine last week at my doctor's office and
    nearly puked at all the smutty, sexual, exploited advertisement
    that goes on in there.  I understand that advertisers have to sell
    a product and they feel that 'sex sells', well, why not try to speak
    truthfully about the product instead of using 'subliminal' seductions.
    
    Did you ever look REAL close at those ice cubes in cocktail glasses?
    They are fake and are often touched up.
    
    One page dipicted a woman 'on her back' with a guy's hand holding
    an ice cube and letting it melt on her neck.  It showed the melting
    of the ice cube in the center of her neck but on it's way to her
    breasts.  
    
    This was an ad for perfume.  Geeeesh!

    A really good book of short stories about women written by a woman
    is 
         Nine Women, by Shirley Ann Grau
    
    I generally dislike short stories, but she really makes you want
    to read more about each woman.
    
    Aline

    
    e.m. delafied....
    
    diary(ies..5 of 'em) of a provinciaal lady.
    
    lauriets has em.
    
    wise, witty, wonderful!