I wanted to focus my blog post on our lecture/artifact presented by Prof. Iovannone with the difference between men and women magazines. I liked the points how he made (and our class, too) about how many ads were in their for beauty "correction" products. I agree that there are too many ads in magazines nowadays. For example, my sister gets Cosmo and my mom gets Good HouseKeeping. In all honesty, I look at these magazines when I'm bored because of how ridiculous the magazines are. The stories are just so funny to read because they talk about/show alot of stuff people really don't care/think about until its addressed in a magazine. I mean I would never have guessed that a girl magazine would feature an story/ad with a sexy girl wearing cat ears while cooking spaghetti!
Also, men magazines feature the same thing but for men. My brother gets Sports Illustrated and that particular magazine displays articles for athletes and people who workout. One issue that always draws a lot of "attention" is the swimsuit issue. Now again, in all honesty, I can't wait for the swimsuit issue because of all the hot girls in them. But going back on topic, SI created this issue for their audience (man mainly), so they could look at something they enjoyed.
Overall, both magazines feature articles, stories, and ads that pertain to their audience. The magazines' companies won't feature an ad for lady products in a man's magazine because that is not their appropriate target audience to say-the-least.
~Chad Szymkowiak
Going off of this post, I think it is also important to consider the way in which these magazines perpetuate gender norms. Since the magazines have a target audience that is gendered, there isn't an opening for those of the opposite gender to consider articles or points of the magazine seriously. Femininity is perpetuated through Cosmo, so why would men purchase or read this magazine and take it seriously? The way that magazines are structured for only one particular audience just continues to support stereotypes and norms about that particular group.
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