Before I start, I want to tell an unrelated anecdote, which dates from the early 60s. Apparently my grandmother Sadie 1.0 went, with her sister, to visit a third sister in Yonkers. But as they approached the house, in heels and sun-dresses, their nephew Johnny, then 13, appeared on the porch. "Whores! Whores! Get out of here, whores!" he screamed. So, they ran away. There has never been any explanation of this bit of family lore, save that Johnny was "an angry boy" who later went on to a successful career in sales, so.

In case you hadn't guessed, Whore! the magazine is all about reclamation.

Whore! magazine is dedicated to celebrating the current and historical qualities of women who have defined a role for themselves outside the status quo. Through written word, art, design, fashion, and music, Whore! magazine will create a dialogue about what women are as opposed to what traditional society has dictated they should be. Whore! will also explore issues largely untouched by mass media, while reclaiming a derogatory word that has long been used to censure those who would desire, express, resist, or simply take a different path. We intend to recognize those women, both modern and historical, who strive for experience rather than conventional "goodness," and continue to fight an age-old battle against expectation.

And from the Editor's letter:

Desire has driven civilization. Historically, many women have earned the title of whore for daring to engage in such masculine pursuits as getting an education, providing medical care to the underprivileged, leading an army, or just going out in public in a very dashing tuxedo. "Fags," "dykes," and "queers" have also been a part of this history, dancing with the whores and just as often condemned. While their battles still rage, in many places they've succeeded in claiming their identity and owning the words that were once used to demean them.

Issue 1 includes "Gay porn and the women who dig it," "A history of vibrators," "A step-by-step guide to automotive empowerment," "the trials of hipster stripping" and a smattering of historical whores (!) There's also fashion and beauty ("Trashy Clothes for Classy Ho's.") The aesthetic is sharp and sophisticated. From the magazine's blog, it looks like there are some good, smart writers and thinkers on board. The emphasis on outreach and women's issues is terrific. But it seems Whore! is still figuring out just what it'll be - more Bitch (which, by this standard, sounds practically quaint!) earnest Ms., irreverent Bust or flippant Jane. (And it must be said, in my reader's opinion there are one or two ill-judged Anais Nin moments which I trust will come out in the wash.) Then there's the Whore! gear - in which you can aid in the term's reclamation by sporting the epithet over your vadge, pregnant belly, or French Roast as the case may be.

Is there room out there for a smart, politically engaged women's mag? You betcha, as someone who's one of those two things might say. Historically, it's been hard for woman-centric publications to balance the cerebral and the aesthetic, and we say good luck to anyone who tries - especially in this economy. My primary concern is that, reclamation or no, I'll never be able to see the cover without thinking Regina George - which is the one sort of empowerment not in short supply. Nevertheless, we await Issue 1 with interest.

Whore!

Essence, number 6 on the A-List, hosts an annual Essence Music Festival. As Larry Dobrow writes for AdAge,

In a year when consumers' travel dollars were tight, a jaw-dropping 428,000 people attended the festival over the July Fourth weekend, up from 270,000 the year before.

It helps that artists performing at the festival included Beyoncé, Maxwell, Ne-Yo, Robin Thicke, John Legend and Al Green. But Essence has "the pulse of the community," says Neil Golden, the chief marketing officer of McDonald's (a major sponsor of the EMF, along with Coca-Cola, Ford, Pantene and WalMart). "It's a proven, successful way to engage African-American consumers where they are most receptive." You may think of Essence as a "black magazine," but Dobrow cautions:

Some observers, in fact, think that those who label Essence as a niche title don't give it enough credit. "It's a crime to place Essence only in the African-American bucket — which is what has happened traditionally but is changing," said George Janson, managing partner-director of print at GroupM. "I can think of few other titles that have such a high degree of loyalty and engagement across demographic groups."

As for Cosmo — number 9 on the A-List — Dobrow calls it a "powerful" and ubiquitous" brand which uses TV, Facebook and Twitter to connect with readers (Dobrow writes that the mag Tweets "to thousands of followers with the verve of Courtney Love on an all-nighter.") Cosmopolitan senior VP-Publishing Director Donna Lagani explains why the brand is doing well: "When clients' business gets tough, they turn back to strong brands they can count on. When choices are being made by consumers to buy fewer magazines, they continue to buy Cosmo — and at a premium price." It's true: With Cosmo, you know what you're getting. In addition, the magazine stays creative with events and partnerships; Revlon sponsored this year's Fun Fearless Male Awards, while Maybelline is on board for the upcoming Cosmo Kisses for the Troops and Cosmo teamed up with Nivea on the Cosmo Bikini Bash.

With many magazines folding and struggling, it's interesting to see what works. And since 6 of the 10 publications on the A-List are magazines targeted to women, it's clear that we have power when it comes to the newsstand. Too bad we're getting stories like "Use Your Thong As A Hair Tie."

The A-List — Magazines, Essence Is No. 6 On Ad Age's Magazine A-List, Cosmopolitan Is No. 9 On Ad Age's Magazine A-List [AdAge]
Earlier: Cosmo: Wear Your Dirty Panties Around Your Ponytail

Katie Holmes, Emily Blunt, Julianne Moore, Renee Zellweger and Zoe Saldana all look amazing — although poor Emily is… obstructed in her pretty shot. But instead of famous-for-being-famous ladies like the Kardashians, these are women who are using their talents: Katie just finished shooting The Extra Man and Don't Be Afraid Of the Dark; Emily is filming The Adjustment Bureau with Matt Damon and just wrapped Gulliver's Travels — plus she's in The Wolfman; Julianne has four films coming out in 2010; Renée has a flick called Case 39 coming later this year and two more in production (including the Bridget Jones sequel; Zoe Saldana has six movies scheduled for 2009/2010.

While it's great that Elle picked some stunning, impressive ladies to feature, why do all of these women have to share the month of November? Couldn't each have had a month of their own? Because if Elle has, as the saying goes, blown their load, then next month we might get stuck with Jessica Simpson wearing plaid. Again. As in, for the third time.

Women in Hollywood [Elle]
5 Covers For Elle's Women In Hollywood Issue [ONTD]

Earlier: Why Do Women's Magazines Pick Cover Girls Who "Don't Work?"
Jessica Simpson's Elle Cover: Waist Not, Want Not

New York Magazine's Cut blog has panned the name, which they find patronizing, but I strongly disagree. Yes, the word is ironically archaic, but it's one that we should bring back into circulation: it's not girlish, it's not prissy, it's not demeaning. Rather, it denotes maturity, respect, and more sense of personal identity that "lady." Plus, this is the title of a defunct American ladymag that featured poetry and demure fashion spreads, and I dig a nod to our printed past.



2. It has solid credentials. This is the long-awaited women's counterpart to Fantastic Man, the tongue-in-cheek cult British style journal which combines an edgy aesthetic with a subsersive anti-fashion sensibility. The tone is often that of an old-school men's journal, but it's not satire-tiresome. And plenty of semi-ironic early-80s-style photography that still somehow manages to genuinely celebrate the moustache or tweeds or whatever new band they're promoting. I don't dig just anything retro - The Chap was always too arch by half for my tastes, and we've all got Mad Men fatigue - but for now, they've got the balance down.


3. If we can go by the tantalizing glimpses - as seen on the blog Mag Culture - it'll actually be worth reading, consciously taking on ladymag puff with humor and style. Says founder Gert Jonkers, (who also founded gay-alt rag Butt) to BlackBook, "It's a magazine about and for amazing woman. It will be inspiring, it'll have great journalism, I hope it'll be super good fun too. Of course it'll look at personal style, and business, power, art ..."Here's one scrap of available text:

Maureen Paley is a legendary London gallerist of open mind and precise thought. A New Yorker who found herself in London's East End long before it was fashionable, Maureen champions artists like Wolfgang Tillmans, Gillian Wearing and Banks Violette, all of whom fit with her independent, subversive spirit. Maureen is devilishly good company, and an art event cannot be said to be truly happening until her beehive enters the room.

Oh, and did we mention the first issue has a story - and a spread - on the power of naps?

4. And, oh yeah - the fashion.



5. We want something to love. I'm trying not to get inflated expectations - we've been burned before. But there's a real gap in the market for more smart style, and I'm eager for it. If it follows its bro's formula, it'll be hard to track down and pricey when you do, but also Christmas List-worthy and available on Amazon. Fingers crossed, gentlewomen.


Meet The Gentlewoman [MagCulture]
Fantastic Man [Official Site]
From The Founder Of Fantastic Man Comes Gentlewoman [BlackBook]
Fantastic Man to Spawn Gentlewoman [New York]

Cosmopolitan is the magazine with the highest-single copy circulation in the business. Meaning: It flies off of newsstands. But according to new numbers from the Audit Bureau of Circulations, Cosmo's down 7.8% over the first half of the year.

According to the NY Times:

Single-copy sales suffer more than subscriptions during recessions, as people refrain from impulse buys, and higher unemployment means fewer commuters passing newsstands.

But AdWeek has a different take: Ladymags might be growing more and more irrelevant. Lucia Moses writes:

Consumers can now get a wealth of style news and advice from any number of Web sites, blogs and TV programs. A further erosion of the fashion magazine editor's dominance has come from lifestyle and celebrity magazines, which over the years have been busy rolling out their own fashion content.

As a result, fashion editors have made the dismal discovery that slaving long hours to put out a magazine — however great an issue it might be-simply isn't enough anymore.

In addition, those "celebrity magazines," like Ok!, Life & Style and In Touch, aren't without their own problems. As MediaWeek reports, Ok!'s circulation was down about 10% the first half of the year and In Touch was down about 16%.

Then there's the mystique and allure of the magazine culture itself. A magazine editor used to be a know-it-all, a couture connoisseur, declaring items "in" or "out." These days, "real people" marketing campaigns are popular; YouTube makeup tips go viral and fashionistas are more likely to copy something from The Sartorialist than from Vogue. As AdWeek's Lucia Moses points out:

Even the famously aloof Anna Wintour has been making herself more accessible for interviews […] On September 10, Wintour herself is expected to be out rubbing elbows with the hoi polloi at a Macy's pop-up store in (of all places) Queens.

Magazines can be great, when well done: Beautiful photography, intelligent writing, a focused, edited point of view. Maybe a drop in sales doesn't signal the end — but a new beginning, in which some of the current titles are re-evaluated. Lord knows we don't need another "how to touch his junk" story.

Women's Magazines Fare Poorly in Latest Circulation Figures [NY Times]
The Delicate Balance [AdWeek]
ABC: Fashion Titles Hardest Hit for Single-Copy Sales [MediaWeek]

Earlier: The Real Reason Women's Magazines Suck
September Ladymags: "Looking Thin"
September Glossies: Same Sh*t, Different Year

While you might not think that any publisher would gravitate towards a title that manages to evoke both narcissism and the cardiovascular system, in fact there are two: the quarterly "that combines the innocence of art with the modernity of the world," and this one.

The ladymag Vain is aimed at women ages 18 to 38, seeks to provide smart and socially-conscious content, and will launch in print this fall. It also seems to have been conceived by a team of White House press secretaries skilled in saying a lot while revealing nothing. Can it succeed where Jane and Missbehave foundered and in a time when established print mags go deeper into the red every day? Well, it's hard to say. Clearly, they're hoping to capture the ethos in a different way - not by being the cool girls on the block, but by mixing traditional content with a more empowering (and certainly more earnest) bent...and by baffling its readers. Its description is infuriatingly vague - "VAIN Magazine debuts as the premiere source for the everyday woman" - but even having said this, a few things confused us even more. Take, for instance, this sentence: "Catering to issues all about you, this magazine for ages 18-38 is the place for empowerment, inspiration, venting and tips that will guide you on your path toward perfection." Wait, what? What happened to "flawed?" I guess it's about fixing rather than celebrating? Maybe the next sentence will clear things up! Oh, wait. "The magazine highlights celebrities, career professionals, the latest trends in beauty, fashion, lifestyle, and delivers expert advice on everything the VAIN woman desires to know."

Founder Rachelle Gauthier has an extensive publishing and fashion background. Here's what she told MediaBistro: "VAIN, the women's magazine all about you, takes pride in versatility of our readers...She may be an artist, a sports enthusiast, an educator, a philanthropist, an entrepreneur, or even an emerging designer. And despite her desires or struggles, VAIN will fill her with images and words that will keep her striving for more." Said images and words, according to their website, include interviews with M.I.A. and Lindsay Robinson, videos, liquor talk, and, technology reviews. There's an emphasis on woman-centric activism, but no shortage of beauty-and-fashion - although as yet, "your man" has not made an appearance. For their launch, the mag is rolling out a bunch of events designed, as their publicist explained it to MediaBistro, "to encourage individuals to start taking pride not only in their appearance, but also their community...Partnering with foundations is a way for the VAIN reader to find balance and invest time and money in things/projects outside herself." All this is very well - but still pretty vague. "Explains" the publisher in the press release, "I wanted to create a publication that celebrated uncelebrated women and provide a platform for young females to find inspiration...We're all VAIN in some capacity. We take pride in our appearance, profession, education, health, community and environment, and we invest time and money."

Is there a place for a smart fashion magazine today? Definitely. And could it be Vain? Depending on what the hell they're talking about, we shall see.

Indulge Yourself With The Launch Of Vain -A New Chic Magazine All About You [FPR]
Vain (The Women's Magazine)
Vain (The Arts Quarterly)
VAIN, A Magazine For Women, Launches [MediaBistro]

Suraya Singh , says the Independent, developed a desire to see a "a classy erotica magazine that women like her would be happy to buy," when she found herself paging through a succession of interchangeably vapid ladymags during her lunch breaks while"working for an education quango." Men's mags, she observed, didn't seem to have a problem mixing the erotic and the frivolous; why shouldn't a woman's? So, she founded the self-funded quarterly Filament. As the website says, Filament is all about "images of men made for the female gaze," intelligent writing, and doesn't include "fashion and cosmetics, diets, or celebrity gossip."

Marketed as "the thinking woman's crumpet", the first issue features a semi-naked man in a praying position on its cover. Inside, artistic photoshoots of scantily clad male models are juxtaposed next to erotic short stories and erudite articles on off-beat topics such as the merits of being a geek. And if you tire of the sex, there's always a recipe for spicy celeriac bake to keep you busy.

Spicy celeriac bake aside, this is hardly a novel notion; the article describes successful women's porn as "a holy grail" of print media; Playgirl and Penthouse's For Women were, Singh feels, just about repackaging a gay male aesthetic rather than trying to figure out What Women Want, while Cosmo and their ilk treat sex alternately as something naughty or cherry-flavored. "Erotica," meanwhile, has often carried the tinge of "lovah"-inflected purple prose and horrifyingly cheesy images of Joy of Sex-style earnest shenanigans. Singh decided to take it to the streets, and her focus-testing showed that rather than Playgirl-style beefcakes, her target demo was more interested in "toned men with oval-shaped, often quite feminine faces," and she recruited models who met these criteria off the street. (Judging from the images on the website, we dig dudes who look like a cross between Donovan and Russell Brand.) So far, there's no full-frontal, but Singh isn't ruling it out.

But even if she nails the formula (whatever that is), "the thinking woman" can't help but wonder whether a print mag is really a practical concern: whatever the new openness towards female sexuality, surely the internet is a more likely target than a quarterly? As any hardcore mag can tell you, there's not much need for anyone to "buy erotica" nowadays. Perhaps hard-copy helps reinforce the idea of respectable, arty "erotica" as opposed to covert porn, but it seems like a large number of intelligent female sex writers and aggregation sites have already taken pretty large strides towards achieving Singh's goal - and with the web's bounty of media at their fingertips, no less. Of course, it's true you can't exactly read Literate Perversions on your lunch break - and Filament will, obviously, fill this void.

Can an ex-civil servant finally persuade women to buy erotica? [Independent]

That's not hypothetical; as you may be aware, as of March 1st, the Brit will be following in Elle editor Anne Slowey's footsteps (one hopes a bit more steadily) with Marie Claire's reality entree, Running With Heels, on the Style network. The show follows approved reality formula, trailing three hapless interns getting into Prada-lovin' scrapes under Coles' critical gaze.

While Coles has been, inevitably, compared to fellow Brititrix Anna Wintour, watching her lecture or reading her recent interview, it's clear that she's another animal entirely: she may be steely, but icy she's not. Unlike Anna, Coles made her bones as a beat reporter; one can hardly see Wintour dispatching Greta van Susteren with Coles' brisk aplomb. As a result, she's a reality-perfect mix of hard-boiled journalist and fashionista. Coles may claim that fashion is actually about "keeping hundreds of thousands of people employed," but she also tells the Guardian that "if I'm having a bad day, there's nothing more fun than going into the closet and just inhaling the colour of next season's Oscar de la Renta or feeling the tailoring of a Calvin Klein suit." We are poised to love or hate at video editors' whims, but either way, it looks like this is a woman we need on our radar.

Reality Show To Anoint New British Fashion Queen of NY [Guardian]
Women's Mag Goes Reality TV [Breitbart]
CJR Audio: Joanna Coles On The Reporter's Life [CJR]

Related: 'Marie Claire' Editor Joanna Coles Has Huge Handwriting, Frontal Lobe

According to a new tell-all, Jennifer Scanlon's Bad Girls Go Everywhere, Hearst bigwigs had long been eager to get the famously thin editor, who took Cosmo from a genteel ladies' mag to the Man-ual we know and love-hate, out of the head chair after her numbers slipped. When they finally forced the issue in '96, it was due to the following:

When asked if sexual harassment existed at Cosmo in the wake of Anita Hill's testimony that Supreme Court pick Clarence Thomas had harassed her for years, Brown cheekily responded: "I certainly hope so. The problem is that we don't have enough men to go around for harassing."

-She referred to Oregon Sen. Bob Packwood, accused by 10 women of making unwanted sexual advances, as "poor old Senator Packwood," and scolded one journo, "My darling, would you please remember that he was one of the congressmen who supported legal abortion. He was one of us, so we have to forgive him for being a jerk."

-She ran a piece titled "Reassuring News About AIDS" reporting that women whose lovers were neither homosexual, bisexual or intravenous drug users faced little risk. Brown said, "We spent such a long time getting sexual equality for women, and just when we're beginning to enjoy ourselves, somebody's got to come along and say sex kills."

Although the sting was lessened by a raft of cards, flowers and checks, it's still got to have been a humiliation for a woman who made her name on a sassiness that eventually spelled her end. Helen Gurley Brown revolutionized women's magazines with a frank, flirty attitude towards female sexuality; the kittenish bachelorette persona made her genuinely progressive positions much easier for the general public to swallow. Yet as the feminist movement progressed and evolved, Cosmopolitan stayed the same — an almost-quaint reminder of early-women's lib that celebrates a nominal "liberation" on very old-fashioned terms, and has become a feminist bete noire.

In today's HuffPo, however, Betsy Perry, a former Cosmo staffer, defends Brown as a strong, warm woman who may have been of an earlier generation but had the sense to know it:

There wasn't a staff member who didn't adore her and while we did question some of her stands on relevant issues, her take on them was always with a twist. Because of my television background, she knew enough to ask me to do some of the tougher talk shows, on subjects where her judgment might be questioned — date rape, AIDS, silicone implants. There was always her side to the story too and try as she would, she just didn't understand why a guy wouldn't take no for an answer....but we pitched in to help out in those sticky times...Helen loves men and she made me love and like them too; she taught us how to get one IF we wanted one. I learned to soften the tough side of me; the art of flirting, deflecting sexual harassment comments with humor, exercising - which she did every day with her little dumb bells, and learning to listen without passing judgment. Fun had come back into my life thanks to her.

"Fun" of course, is the operative word: is it enough? As Perry finishes, as breezily as her mentor might, "Who cares about the incidental boo boos along the way? You'll never find a Cosmo girl who hasn't learned to get what she wants using a few tricks learned between the pages of her bible." But, as a self-styles icon of female empowerment, albeit an early version thereof, did Brown have that luxury? Or, in the age she'd helped usher in, was this kind of irresponsibility unacceptable? And what, ultimately, is her legacy: an open attitude towards sexuality or a bunch of college girls putting rouge on their nipples — or are they the same thing? Helen Gurley Brown, to the end, has held to the gospels of "skinny is God" and while we don't see that Cosmo has changed much in the years since her ouster, it's easy to see why that level of evangelism would be problematic in an increasingly secular society.

HOW COSMO QUEEN GOT BOOTED [New York Post]
A Former Cosmo Girl Defends Her Beloved Mentor Helen Gurley Brown [Huffington Post]

Earlier: Helen Gurley Brown Still Alive & Kicking; Still Hates Her Muffin-Top

Okay, granted they have to start with, "At Vogue, we are in the business of defining change. We are sensitive to and knowledgeable about the constant flux in which, as cultural and social beings, we (and especially women) find ourselves. It's what we do." And yes, it segues into a somewhat irrelevant list of the labels Michelle has sported. But after that, it gets downright... crunchy. "In the matter of iconicity and cultural authority, the Obamas have no need to look backward. On the contrary...It's hard to believe that it's been almost 50 years since the country felt so inspired, so happy to look ahead." Sorry, we have to go there — that's change we can maybe believe in.

Vogue Celebrates Barack Obama [Style.com]

The "quiz" itself is a slightly-wordier version of what we expect from questionnaires that promise general answers for extremely personal and specific life situations. Here's one of the 10 questions:

Lust and love are as different as night and day. If your partner only wants to see you in the wee hours of night, it's lust. If this person wants to spend the more precious daylight hours on weekends with you, you're heading towards the real-deal love, baby! If not, suggest some afternoon activities to explore doing together, so you can get to know each other beyond Dinner 101 Conversations and their accompanying after-dinner-treats — so you can suss out for sure if it's love or lust.

Real-deal love, baby! The HuffPo has spoken, as all-knowing and calmly confident as Cosmo on its sagest day. Other pearlies: Does he make you your best you? Also: good looks fade. None of them wrong, per se - cliches do tended to be rooted in some essential truth - but all in all, a baffling little document. The love/lust divide may be the Greatest Mystery Of Our Age (albeit not a confusion anyone I know has really been prey to - falling in love with bad people is more of an issue) but a greater mystery is...Christmas-appropriate though it may be, why the hell is this on HuffPo?

Karen Salmansohn is a popular pop-psych writer, and it's not remarkable that she should contribute to the blog, but as a famous LOLCat once said - srsly? This is just the latest in a series of very odd posts on the liberal catchall. True, Arianna Huffington's baby has always been an eclectic assemblage of serious-minded opinion, celebrity bloviating, entertainment and the occasional outlier - it's this which renders it an idiosyncratic and often essential read. But in the last few months we've seen tabloidy critiques of middle-aged epidermi, catty makeup commentary and now, guides to one's (presumably left-leaning and gender-unspecific) Man. It's not that there's anything wrong with an answer-life's-questions quiz, but the assumption behind this kind of thing in a teen or fashion mag is that it's a young population eager for answers, not precisely the sort of intellectual curiosity we would have thought the HuffPo credited their readership with. Unless there's been a great outcry from the masses (and Oprah) for a way to distinguish between Lust and Love - in which case we stand corrected. And possibly basing a marriage on Lust. Quiz: Are You In Lust Or Love? [Huffington Post]

She asks members who support her campaign to pledge to buy at least two copies of the magazine, if the objective is met. Writes Ondrey:

Everybody that joins this campaign fights the 'bad body image' hysteria sweeping the nation. Each person signed up commits to buying at least two copies of the first magazine that publishes an issue where at least the feature photo shoot and cover does not have any airbrushing. Why at least two? The issue would double in sales, making this campaign attractive to the publishers. You can give the extra copy to a friend who doesn’t know her own beauty. Spread the word that the standards for beauty we are not always what we see in the mainstream media.

Will a major magazine have the ovaries to do such a thing? Probably not. But it can't hurt to ask. It can't hurt to let it be known that the demand is there. That women around the world know they're being lied to and are sick of it. I joined — it only took a minute — and it will be interesting to monitor this campaign's progress.

Show Our Beauty: A Challenge to Women's Magazines [The Point]
Earlier: Here's Our Winner! 'Redbook' Shatters Our 'Faith' In Well, Not Publishing, But Maybe God

Heldman states that self-objectification can lead to all or some of the following in women: depression, low self-esteem, less faith in their own capabilities, which leads to diminished success in life, low political efficacy, disgust and shame about their bodies... the list goes on. (To me, the most interesting side-effect is "low political efficacy", which is just a fancy way of saying that women who objectify themselves do not believe that they can create change, and thus rarely or never get involved with politics.)

Dr. Heldman, bless her soul, tries listing ways to combat self-objectification, but most of them seem fairly implausible, particularly if you're a television and movie lover. A "radical, personal solution is to actively avoid media to self-objectify, which, unfortunately is that vast majority of movies, television programs and women's magazines," Heldman writes. "My research with college age women indicates that the less women consume media, the less they self-objectify, particularly if they avoid fashion magazines. [Emphasis ours.] By shutting out media, girls and women can create mental and emotional space for true self-exploration." I guess the only solution is for women to make our own un-self-objectifying media to combat the other kind. Tina Fey and Diablo Cody? We are looking at you.

Self-Objectification — Seeing Ourselves Through Others Eyes — Impairs Women's Body Image, Mental Health, Motor Skills, And Even Sex Lives [Ms.]

Earlier: Memo To Women's Magazine Editors: White Women Hate Themselves After Reading Your Magazines