...and why Cosmopolitan? bad joke? big hair? feminism?

22 April 2009


Cosmopolitan magazine was always a bad joke to me. i thought it embodied some of the worst stereotypes about women. but the other night i did a huge wander through archives of their covers that i found in various places online. that look! that 80s big hair sex kitten look was just astounding. and now i can’t stop looking! the man who shot most of those covers is the legendary Scavullo. the woman who engineered that Cosmopolitan style and philosophy is Helen Gurley Brown. if you don’t know Scavullo, Google him. as for Ms. Brown [Ms?] well she had her own brand of feminism. calling it feminism pisses a lot of people off, or did. but feminism does come in many packages. Ms. Brown has a new book out about her “Bad Girls Go Everywhere“ by Jennifer Scanlon. the review by Salon senior editor Laura Miller says it better than i [‘cuz honey i just make purses for a living…]. i never thought about “class prejudice” as being a reason for the backlash against Ms. Brown’s viewpoints. and i never thought i would look back at these covers and think- hot damn! perhaps a comment at the end of the Salon article summarizes it best “…Brown basically urged women to fulfill men’s fantasies. That’s not feminism.”

image credit TFS forums. the model is Janice Dickinson.

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woah, that is JD? I clearly don’t know much about how she used to look.

eyeliah    22 April 09    #

Oh my gosh I had the same thought as eyeliah, I had no idea that was Janice Dickinson, my how she’s changed lol!

Ashley K    22 April 09    #

i didn’t know she was until she showed up this go round. then found these. she’s in some really nice photos.

SwanDiamondRose    22 April 09    #

Girl what? If you ever wanna come to a show with me by all means and we will dance! We are going the The Kills May 16th, they are so awesome!

eyeliah    23 April 09    #

ok coolness :) if i can i would love to go :)

SwanDiamondRose    24 April 09    #

I read that Salon article and was glad for it. I often thought I was the only person in the world who cared about some of the really awful articles in Cosmo. This 80’s cover though is really fascinating…

CR    24 April 09    #

the stats about it being the best selling women’s magazine always, is quite an interesting fact. i really love looking at the old covers now. going back to the 70s, they are incredible. if i actually had some copies i would love to read them now. it’s amazing with how much judgement people have, including me, that you don’t actually check the material or talk to the person yourself. thanks for coming by :)

SwanDiamondRose    24 April 09    #

 
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