Women’s magazine is a comprehensive summary of the current female world as well as important news and events from both online and offline. There are fierce, fearless characters as well as feminine, gentle characters that represent the most enchanting of species – Women.
Female magazines today
According to the research below, which shows the sales volume of women’s lifestyle and fashion magazines ranked by print retail in the UK in 2018 (in copies sold), implies the current growing trend of female magazine market.
It is clear that Cosmopolitan magazine, published by Hearst Corporation, ranked first, selling approximately 184.5 thousand printed copies in shops.
However, when you zoom out the content of these female magazines, the section of “fashion and beauty” often takes up many pages, containing few surprises in terms of gender representation. As a result, critics could be raised that the elements of fashion depict a silent but relentless insistence that women of all ages are required to make themselves attractive, to look as glamorous as possible even at considerable expense.
Sex and sexuality
Meanwhile, magazines for young women including Marie Claire, Elle and Cosmopolitan have put much emphasis on different sexual positions and techniques, “sex tricks”, “the best sex ever” or “driving your man wild” to list a few. “In many Western countries we are accustomed to being exposed to media images of undressed and sexy bodies often used as decorative objects or instruments to attract new customers,” Guizzo said in a statement. “The overall pattern of results suggests that the chronic exposure to objectifying media might lead to the dangerous assumption that such female portrayal is the norm, thus further reducing people’s likelihood to react.”
Empowerment
Another common criticism of women’s magazines is that it may discourage some readers and make them feel bad for themselves. Their standards of beauty for women are mostly unrealistic and unlikely to be matched for the majority of women. For example, female models, actresses and TV personalities on these magazines are overwhelmingly thin, which may have a detrimental effect on the eating habits and self-esteem of countless women. It is supported by Alexandra Starr in a Washington Monthly article , “You’ve got a long way to go, baby: Women’s magazines continue to create and exploit women’s anxiety” (1999).
However, in recent years, media targeting women have featured models who are not only exceedingly thin, but also muscular.
It certainly promotes strength and empowerment for women, and those who aspire to this ideal figure can effectively end up negative behaviors such as restrictive eating habits or purging. In contrast to the traditional perception in female physical attractiveness, a toned and powerful physique appears to be a new trend for contemporary women.
Media Era 