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

[Jarrah]

Hey Natalie,

I did an interview on this yesterday on On the Coast (around the 1:00:00
mark):http://www.cbc.ca/video/watch/AudioMobile/On The Coast/ID=2267036281

To be fair, I had literally 10 minutes notice of this interview, but I'm
not 100% happy with what I said - I always realize after that the 8 minutes
goes way faster than you think. I wish particularly I would've mentioned
that her tips and advice were very much geared not just to straight but
also to just white women. And I had intended to talk more in detail about
consumerism and how it conflicts with feminism fundamentally, but missed
out.

Anyway, additional discussion/feedback appreciated - the more I researched
her the more I was fascinated by all the ways she contradicted herself
through her life - for example making statements around how "brainwork"
will amuse women but beauty won't, but then becoming a very frank advocate
of plastic surgery and weight loss because of her idea that as an older
woman you have to maintain this standard she espoused of sexual
attractiveness. And again this idea that she promoted financial
independence and not marrying someone you don't love, but still argues that
sex is everything and you have to follow these rules for beauty and
lifestyle in order to attract "the right man".

-Jarrah

On Tue, Aug 14, 2012 at 11:49 AM, Natalie Hill <nhill10 at gmail.com> wrote:

> 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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>


-- 
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Jarrah Hodge
@jarrahpenguin
http://gender-focus.com
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