Cosmopolitan Magazine - Book Report/Review Example

Recently, the magazine celebrated its 35th birthday in UK. In its three decades of existence, Cosmopolitan boasts of maintaining millions of readership. On the other hand, it also gained quite a number of critics along the way. How has Cosmopolitan Magazine evolved Has it maintained its goal to revolutionise women as they travel life's bumpy road Or has it eventually turned into one of the filthy magazines that pollute the girls' young minds An issue on trampling at the masculinity of men has also been raised against Cosmopolitan because of its articles particularly on sex and relationship.

Are the articles really meant to treat men as some "piece of meat" To better understand the gender issues linked to Cosmopolitan Magazine, I also browsed on a book on Sociology and journals that tackle human sexuality. Discussing the magazine and its contents with a male and female friend also aided me in answering the report's theses. Cosmopolitan Magazine claims to be the authority on young women especially during the '80s as it "helped the readers keep abreast of the brave new world with career development courses on subjects like wordprocessing And as women gained more independence, owning their own cars, rejecting marriage in favour of living with a partner, Cosmopolitan was on hand with practical and emotional help" (NatMags, 2007).

Cosmopolitan's treatment of ev. Cosmopolitan's treatment of every article promotes liberal femininism. According to Professor John Macionis, liberal femininism is "grounded in classic liberal thinking that individuals should be free to develop their own talents and pursue their own interests" (1987). This is evident in Cosmopolitan's articles that boost women's confidence by posting advice on how to gain financial independence, landing a job, to attaining the dream figure. And it ultimately teaches a woman how to be confident when being intimate with a man.

But the question now is, in the process of revolutionising the women's attitude towards life and relationship, is Cosmopolitan doing this at the expense of men A male friend says no. This friend admits he was able to take a peek at Cosmopolitan's content once. Although he "did not feel the urge of purchasing one," he admits the articles are also interesting. He "did not have the feeling of being reduced into a commodity for women." Tyler Edward Anderson of the University of Nebraska writes about men's "battle" with consumerism as shown in the movie Fight Club (2006).

Some men nowadays have somehow forgotten about male chauvinism and have turned into "metrosexuals." A research was also done on the representation of male muscularity on men's and women's magazines (Frederick, Fessler, & Haselton, 2004). Cosmopolitan is one of the major sources used in this study as it features men especially on the centerfold. The research concludes that there is already a "pattern in which the media fuels gender-specific prestige competition involving body form" (Frederick, et al. 2004). However, a girlfriend who reads Cosmopolitan once in a while says she does not feel any offence with the articles on