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[–]not_mean_enough 2 insightful - 1 fun2 insightful - 0 fun3 insightful - 1 fun -  (0 children)

I'd never buy or even look at it. I hate the idea that just because I have a vagina, I am going to be interested in the same stuff as other people with a vagina. I think the very idea of 'women's magazine' or 'women's media' is sexist. I want to read about medieval dresses, music theory and particle accelerators, and another woman might want to read about vintage motorcycles, cake decorating and video games – why should we share a magazine? It's possible to specify what your magazine is about, but you can't have a magazine with no particular subject matter aimed at a certain demographic without relying on stereotypes.

Have you noticed that, while there are magazines directed to men, there aren't really general-purpose men's magazines? You have car magazines, fitness magazines, male fashion magazines etc.–because publishers recognise that men are a diverse group of individuals with different interest. One of the reason why women's magazine are so shit is that, if you want to appeal to a very wide audience without specific interests, you have to go for the lowest common denominator shit, and you can't get in depth into any subject. If you're interested in fashion, better grab a Vogue instead of Cosmo–Cosmo's coverage is supposed to be lower quality, because the percentage of actual fashion nerds is among its readers is too low to cater to them.

I could take a look at a magazine marketed to women, such as a feminist magazine, or a housekeeping magazine, but not because it's "for women" but because I would expect to find something of interest to me personally. But I'd stay away from anything labelled as 'women's magazine'. If something is for everyone, it's for no one. If something is for half of everyone, it's still for no one.