Cosmopolitan
Sex, naked, boyfriend, thighs, irresistible lips are but a few of the tantalizing words
that this month's Cosmopolitan magazine's cover used to seduce us to purchase their magazine. The covers of every Cosmopolitan magazine scream sex and are directed at the consumer, which is the young woman in their sexual prime. Scantily dressed, often famous women ooz sex appeal set against vibrant hot colored back grounds. Sex sells and they definitely play the sex card.
Self Worth
Cosmopolitan not only talks about sex, but it makes women feel that they must sexify themselves in order to have men notice them. In order to get a man the Cosmo
girl must be the greatest at sex, learn all the hottest sex moves, wear the sexiest clothes, and over all look perfect and be the perfect sexy girl. The cultural ideal that the magazine
portrays is all about sex, it defines who young women have to be, the values they have to set or ignore to be a desirable woman. Promiscuity is glamorized, skanky dress is encouraged, and competition with women is established. It makes women feel worthless except for their ability to attract men. The body image that the magazine promotes is stick
thin, has a big bust, silicone induced, puffy lips, big butt, and other unrealistic proportions that real women don't naturally come in.
Younger Women Are More Provocative The shock value of sex has diminished greatly due to Cosmopolitan reaching women for over fifty years. Cosmopolitan has changed generations of women across the world. Increasingly more provocative each year, sex has continued to be the draw and the
success of this magazine.
Sexy Advertisements
In the body of the magazine Cosmopolitan promotion has a page directing readers to find Cosmopolitan on ipad. The ad reads loudly, "SEXY FUN AT YOUR
FINGERTIPS!" Cosmopolitan is advertising themselves on the web and on the news stand with the same tactics, sex. An article on how to meet men in the March issue tells
readers that one of the best ways to meet men is at the ipad display at the Apple store where men are playing with the new product. Conveniently Cosmopolitan is available on ipad and it is their new promotion. Ipad has sold over six million ipads world wide (CBS News, February 2011). This is a huge platform for Cosmopolitan to launch their magazine.
Who Reads Cosmo
The demographics of the Cosmopolitan reader show us that sixty percent of the readers are age eighteen to thirty-four. The medium age of the reader is thirty years and seven months. The average income is $27,044 for individual income and the average house hold income is $62,620. sixty-two percent attended or graduated from college and fifty two percent have children (Cosmo Demographic Profile). The Cosmo reader is educated,
employed and has a high disposible income. The age of the reader is surprising as thirty
years old is higher then the twenty something MTV generation that you would expect the
reader to be.
What Cosmo Articles Teach You
Young women who read the articles in Cosmopolitan learn that it is important to know what turns you on sexually and more importantly what turns him on. There is an emphasis to think about sex all day. By using your sexuality to get your needs met really hurts women. Girls often end up loosing their self esteem and this results in a life of
expecting less then what life should offer you. The young readers, especially young teens
see their older sisters or parents reading this material and falsely believe that it displays expectable even desirable behavior. They see them acting out sexually and these are the young teens role model.
Sex Quiz
The Sex Quizzes distinguish what type of sexual person that you are. By choosing
more of letter A, B, C or D you find out if you are more tactile, visual, verbal or if your
pleasure MO (motivation) is novelty. Figures portray sexual positions for each category.
You begin to determine who you are by your answers to a sex quiz. It is ridiculous, makes
women feel like sexual objects and in the end gets in the way of women obtain solid morals and values.
Sexy Photos
The general ads in the magazine are very sexual too. There are many naked or semi-naked women. The models are covering their mouths as if they have nothing to say but have a sultry look as if that is their message. There is the finger in the mouth depicting
innocent sexuality.
How Men Categorize Woman
The article "The Cute/Pretty/Hot Debate" attempts to crack the code on how men
categorize women as either cute, pretty or hot. After asking 100 guys they determined that
cute women are flirty and playful, pretty ones are chic and ladylike, and the hot chicks are vixens. The problem is that women strive to be the sexy vixen and in the end the cute and pretty descriptions would be a better image. For career, marriage and relationships being more playful and lady like is a better image.
Self Esteem Comes From More Then Sexy Looks
It is sad when you see the forty old women still living on her sexuality. There is an age when it seems all important and an age where the emphasis on sex turns ugly. In current culture the cougar is a known species. She is the older woman usually over forty, who dresses provocatively to seduce young men. They can't get over the fact that they are loosing their desirability from men and they feel that is where they get self worth. In fact it is the opposite. The more they put their self worth associated with sex the less self esteem they have. You can not have self esteem by wearing sexy clothes, flirting provocatively, or acting sexy. Self esteem comes from doing esteem-able acts. No where in these articles do we see encouragement to do charity, or think of others needs, unless they are sexual.
Sexual Conversation
Women talk about sex with their friends, both male and female. Instead of having an intellectual conversation they end up sexualizing the conversation. Sexting, or texting sexually suggestive messages is common in today's culture.
My New Thoughts On Cosmo
After researching Cosmopolitan, the sexual agenda is apparent. I choose to stop reading this magazine because it puts women down and doesn't teach us the morals that we should be learning. It is easy to be influenced by these images and articles without being aware of the fact that they are here just to sell magazines and products. This is all about money and has nothing to do with helping women.
Awareness In What Advertisers Are Telling Us
Awareness is the first step in protecting yourself from the sexual propaganda.
Through awareness we can make a conscious decision as to what we will feed our minds.
We can look for strong role models in successful women and pay attention to what we read, what we listen to and all forms of media. We don't have to another casualty, women can feel empowered and worth more then just their bodies.
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