[Wamvan] Death of Helen Gurley Brown, discussion of Cosmo and feminism

[Natalie Hill]

As I'm sure many of you have head, longtime editor of Cosmo magainze, Helen
Gurley Brown, died on Monday. Obituaries have been published in many major
publications - here's the one that appeared in the
NYTimes.<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/14/business/media/helen-gurley-brown-who-gave-cosmopolitan-its-purr-is-dead-at-90.html?pagewanted=all>

Edith Zimmerman wrote about Cosmo, also for the NYT, earlier this month. Here's
her article.<http://www.nytimes.com/2012/08/05/magazine/how-cosmo-conquered-the-world.html?pagewanted=all>

A crude synopsis of Zimmerman's piece is that Cosmo has indeed taken over
the world and has massive global influence, and this isn't necessarily a
bad thing, because Cosmo isn't as bad as its rap. A very short excerpt from
what is a very long piece:

“50 Kinky Sex Moves” notwithstanding, Cosmo does adhere to a set of
> surprisingly wholesome values. The magazine discourages plastic surgery,
> for instance, and has run articles opposing breast implants. In its
> coverage of food and fitness, White notes, “we don’t do any diets, no crash
> dieting.” The U.S. edition also has a section called Body Love, in which it
> tries “to encourage women to feel good about their bodies,” no matter their
> size. A recent issue featured a spread of a curvy woman in a variety of
> gorgeous bathing suits on some fabulous remote beach. It didn’t feel like a
> token shoot of a larger model; she was beautiful, and the bathing suits
> were reasonably priced."


Zimmerman was also on CBC's Q today, discussing her opinion. Click
here<http://www.cbc.ca/q/episodes/>to listen to that interview (click
on the first episode that's listed:
'Robert Fisk on Syria, Lionel Richie, Cosmo's Global Impact 08/14/2012').

In response to Zimmerman's article, Gail Dines penned this
piece<http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2012/aug/07/cosmopolitan-false-promise-awesome-life>in
the Guardian. Excerpt:

"Learning how to give men great orgasms on their terms does not sound to me
> like a recipe for living an "awesome life". Instead, it sounds old and
> tired. Wouldn't it be nice if, instead, there were a bestselling magazine
> that devoted itself to giving women great orgasms on our own terms? If the
> feminist movement had the Hearst Corporation backing us, then we would come
> up with a compelling magazine that would link fabulous orgasms with equal
> pay, safe housing, free daycare, and freedom from sexual violence."



These are just a few pieces circulating right now as people discuss the
impact of Brown on the publishing industry and 'lipstick feminism,' and the
impact of Cosmo on women's lives.

Just thought I would throw these out there as a conversation starter. I
agree far more with Dines - in theory, Cosmo may have opened the door for
more honest and frank discussions about female sexuality, but its approach
to female sexuality actually isn't about women at all. It's almost always
about men's sexual satisfaction, and an approach to sex that sees women as
subservient to male needs and desires.

I also agree with her that a publication designed to promote the capitalist
pursuit of buying sh*t you don't need, all while participating in
body-hating, classist racist, and ablest narratives in the process, is not
feminist. Zimmerman has a hard time getting around this in her CBC
interview.

Curious to see what WAMmers think.....
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