I just heard the most ridiculous discussion about women on Fox

[neebob]

So I'm listening to this kooky Heartland show - because? I dunno, I guess I'm in a kooky mood - and here comes this segment with the author of a book called Spin Sisters, the premise of which is that Oprah Winfrey, Katie Couric, Diane Sawyer, Barbara Walters, and other women who all have lunch together (because they're members of the dreaded elite media) are "selling unhappiness and liberalism to the women of America." Or so it was billed. They also had Eleanor Clift on.

Somehow the discussion turned to women's magazines and how they're all telling women to vote for John Kerry (bad thing) and in general being political. Now maybe it's just been too many years since I actually bought a women's magazine, but I'm having trouble imagining this. The reason I don't buy women's magazines is they're full of stupid stuff that's really all about men. Every time I pick one up or even just glance at the cover, it makes me sad to think that many women are so boring and superficial and obsessed with men.

I didn't catch how they're selling unhappiness, though I'm sure that would have been interesting. The implication I heard is that voting for Democrats brings unhappiness.

If you ask me, assuming that all women only care about looking pretty and pairing off and constantly telling and retelling them how to do those things is selling unhappiness - even if they throw in the occasional story about politics.

So then the crazed host of this show, John Somebody, throws in that he's upset by all the videos on MTV that tell girls to present themselves as objects for men. Okay, I can get with that.

Time to change the channel when I find myself agreeing with John Kooky Heartland Host, especially when it doesn't seem related to the original topic.

[DBoon]

1. My wife's opinion

is that women's magazines mainly sell cosmetics. Hard to imagine that being a liberal plat.

[Borgnine]

2. That show...

That show... it's just... I mean, it's on Fox, so you know it has to be putrid, but... Jesus CHRIST. Does Fox have an incentive that the host, anchor, or reporter that acts the most moronic on the network will get a bonus? Becuase if it wasn't for Hannity, O'Reilly, or Sheppard Smith, I'd give the award to these morans.

[shimmergal]

3. Selling unhappiness, perhaps. Selling liberalism--NO!

Most of the ad messages and much of the features content (makeovers,
how to organize your time and household, etc.) assume that women are always looking for a better way to do things. This can easily be interpreted as "selling low self-esteem" so that the woman will then buy products to make her a beteter person, housewife, sex partner, etc. Feminist scholars have written lots about this syndrome.

Of course lots of us read the magazine sometimes and enjoy the tips without the rest of it being true. After all, it's fun to try new recipes, cosmetics etc. (not so sure about cleaning systems though; IMO they're never fun!)

The liberalism charge is stupid. The only way these magazines push a liberal agenda is that almost all are pro-choice.

What drives me up the wall about them lately is something else. Most have become too celebrity-oriented. You can see this by just glancing at their covers at the newsstand. I don't _want_ to read about a celebrity's life etc. in their pages! If I want that kind of stuff and fluff there's always PEOPLE magazine.

[Warpy]

4. They've got a point

...although it's not quite the one they thought they were making. Ladies' magazines (distinguished from womens' magazines like Ms and Bitch) do promote discontent among women: have you gained weight, is your mate flirting with other women, do you have WAXY YELLOW BUILDUP? They are mostly run by men and their sole purpose is to make women who read them for the recipes or the fashion advice discontented enough with their bodies and lives that they run out and buy all the crap that's advertised on every single damn page.

As for telling us who to vote for, I've seen the last couple of copies of Ms, and while they were (rightly) critical of Bush's dismal performance, they made no mention of endorsing any of the alternatives.

[neebob]

5. I wasn't thinking of Ms. or Bitch

and it didn't occur to me that they might be. Nice distinction you made between ladies' and women's magazines.

[stanwyck]

6. I buy way too many women's magazines

Yes, I admit it, I'm an addict. But that also makes me somewhat of an expert on the subject. And let me tell you. The only agenda is to sell stuff. Lots of stuff. Cosmetics. Clothes. Accessories. It's conspicuous consumption gone amok. But no political agenda. That would be way too intellectual. These magazines are primarily ads with a few articles on defining your abs, the latest trendy diet, or how to satisfy your guy in bed. I quit buying Vogue because of its puffery pieces on conservatives. The Vogue knee-pad treatment to the Republican fembots was just too disgusting. A few have tried to play the odds, like Dennis Miller, cozying up to whoever appears to be in the lead. Elle magazine ran a poorly timed laudatory piece on Barbara Olsen, the same time she was losing her life during the 9-11 tragedy. Vogue has been kneeling at Laura Bush's feet like a lapdog. And trying desperately to make the Bush twins, neices and nephews into media darlings. Not political. Just, as others have mentioned, the cult of celebrity. There's no meat. It's all surface stuff. But no agenda of unhappiness due to the destructive Bushian policies. Only unhappiness due to not buying the multitude of over-priced, useless junk. I look at the pictures and enjoy the aesthetic. I then buy less expensive versions of what I like. I save my money for what I think is more important. And, occasionally, I do an ab exercise of two.

[neebob]

7. That's OK

I'm lapsing into internet addiction and listening to Fox News. :)

[Eric J in MN]

8. having seen Diane Sawyer's interview with Howard Dean, in which

Having seen Diane Sawyer's interview with Howard Dean, in which they played late-night comedians ridiculing Dean before-after-and-during the interview, I don't think she's liberal.