I never gave much credence to the whole "fashion magazines make girls feel like crap" thing until one day I closed my latest copy of InStyle and realized that I felt stressed. Seriously, physically agitated on several levels: 1) that I didn't look like that and 2) that I couldn't afford all the stuff they claimed I "MUST HAVE" for Spring, Winter, Fall, or whatever the current fashion season. So I cancelled my subscription and haven't looked back.

Now, I only have to feel like crap when that Victoria's Secret "What is sexy?" ad comes on.

Argh.

I think it is really sarcastic that our society frowns on magazines like Playboy, and yet all the fashion mags are in line at the supermarket. I think these magazines are the same. Only difference I see is that Playboy has articles and the fashion mags give you quizzes to make you feel your relationship is doomed.

Uhhh I'm not sure Bill, maybe you have been married too long, or your eyes need some serious glasses, but there IS one (small) difference between In-Style and Playboy. ;-)

Seriously though..The problem is in perception and expectation. First, we see this crap and think this is the way we all can look..Second, then we think this is the way we are supposed to look...Thirdly, and to me the most important...the emphasis is on LOOKS...Looks go away ..I wan't to know what you think, and who you are... ..but in this advertising clotted image heavy society..this is never the foot that gets put forward......At In-Style it is all about IMAGE.(as spoon fed to us by advertising companies for corporations to sell us stuff we don't need)

Jack, you made my point completely.. what is the difference beteween that and playboy.. Playboy has an emphasis on Looks.. it is all about Image, and yes, the same image spoon fed to us by the advertising industrie.

I think Jack is talking about boobies.

(.)(.)

Jack is ALWAYS talking about boobies.....

I should probably expand on my last answer... ;-)

Bill, I think the the difference is huge.

Actually, (and I can't believe I am going to make my argument this way considering how goofy I think the whole porn thing is..) the people at Playboy are way more honest about what they do than In-Style.

If you buy a Playboy, you are paying to see hot naked chicks. THAT is the commodity you are paying for...period. Yes, there are articles. Yes, there is advertising. And yes the girls are insanely airbrushed....but what they are selling IS boobies......really...really.... nice boobies.....ehem.....but I digress.

In-Style is doing what exactly? You are PAYING to read advertising that they are being paid to print! The ubiquitous "they", are always there to tell you.. what you "should" wear, how you "should" smell and everything else you "need" so you can be "IT".

UGGHH!!

To me, more significantly, (and this is the f**ked up part) what they are really doing, is telling you, who you are NOT. Then they show us what we "should" be.....Remember again, this is according to the people that want to sell us the shit we need, so that we can be the way they tell us we need to be. It is such a shell game..

As I said earlier, perception and expectation.
False and invented. Reality perverted.

So to me Bill, the In-Style people are only about selling....AND they pimp not only the product.... they invent the market for it as well......

Although Playboy also sells other stuff, it IS selling boobies ..Whether they are selling REAL boobies, is another discussion....(and one I am willing to research in the interest of science.)

Check out this article by Gloria Steinem. One of the best arguments I've seen on the topic:

http://www.terry.uga.edu/people/dawndba/Genderhdo.htm

Yes.. you are still argueing my point.. you are saying that In-style is more damaging to women and to our culture, yet they sell these magazines on the supermarket shelves.. They do no sell Playboy on these same shelves.. Playboy is upfront and honest that they are selling "boobies" In-Style is selling the same boobies and more.. that is what I was stating as hypocritical..

InStyle (and their ilk) perhaps IS more insidious as they purport to be "helping" you become "better" when really they give you bad self-image and make you want things you can't afford or really don't need. Like all advertising, it is largely based on fear: fear of being undesirable, fear of getting old, fear of being not skinny enough, fear of wrinkles, fear of dingy whites, fear of out-dated hair style, fear of this, that and the next thing. Yet it is OK to sell these publicly, while Playboy is hidden on the top shelf with a brown wrapper on it (or so I've heard). Playboy isn't based on fear, but it is based on false images. A person knows when they buy Playboy that they will get a very certain type of nudie magazine. There doesn't (as far as I know) seem to much deviation from this 'type' and ... well, now that I think about it more, it is evil because then guys will get that image (type) in their head as desirable when it is perhaps mostly unattainable and their wives, girlfriends, etc, will never look like that... but they'll keep thinking about it... mmm... ok, I guess they are both a bit vile.

Funny, to me those magazine covers look so fake, I don't even think it's attractive. Skin is so airbrushed that it looks like rubber to me.