Glamour's Stupids-worthy hints include not driving while reading the newspaper (or brushing your teeth), and not putting popcorn inside your vagina. According to the ever-obvious "dos and don'ts" section, you should also not expose your buttcheeks to public view. And woe betide the woman who tries to be "perfect" — she might end up falling down the stairs and breaking her daughter's leg, like Morning Joe co-host Mika Brzezinski. Using Brezinski's accident as a cautionary tale about "doing too much too soon" seems like a stretch, but if editors couldn't generalize individual women's experiences into prescriptive "tips for all women, ladymags wouldn't exist — and neither would Cover Lies.

In the January 2010 issue of Cosmo, sex therapist Dr. Ian Kerner reveals: "The bad economy is leaving a lot of guys without jobs, so they sit at home, bored, and start masturbating more often." Ladies should really police their man's masturbation habits more closely, since there's a good chance he's developing a "solo-sex problem" and will soon be unable to climax during intercourse because "a man's hand can provide a lot more friction than a vagina." So now in addition to other women, we have to fight our boyfriend's right hand to keep his attention?

Luckily, the magazine offers some tips for taking control of a relationship, including a four-page article on a wild new move called "girl on top." Or, you could,

Show him who's in charge with a flick of your wrist. Instead of just unbuckling his belt, grab the buckle and pull it fiercely from the loops. Then add a little flourish by snapping it like a whip before tossing it aside.

There are also 50 "fun ways to fire up your love," but we don't recommend you "gift him with a coloring book featuring you naked" or "emblazon a close-up of your bra-covered boobs and his boxer-clad package on mugs," unless you're willing to risk his mom accidentally pouring her tea into a boob cup when she visits. (Helpfully, Cosmo does include an article on "When You Want To Bitch-Slap His Mom.")

There's one woman who is exempt from all of Cosmo's relationship advice this month: Jason Mojica's girlfriend. When asked to describe what sex feels like for a man, the first thought that popped into her boyfriend's head was: "It feels as though my penis has come home, but after a home-makeover show has remade my home into the most amazing home ever." Lady, chronic masturbation is the least of your worries.

(Click to enlarge.)

Onee-kei is about looking pulled together - cute, but still practical - and features combinations of clothes to wear to the office or after hours. S Cawaii, Vivi, JJ, Classy, and Glamorous are Japanese magazines that reflect the current trends. Other titles, like Kera or Pretty Style reflect different versions of the same thing. As with most fashion magazines, however, all the titles adjust depending on the dominant trends.


These magazines have one major difference from their American and British counterparts - though Elle, Vogue Nippon, and the other usual suspects all have Japanese versions of their magazine - these glossies are really just look books... page after page of how to put together stylish outfits, a little advice on hair and makeup, and some small sections (food and lifestyle) near the very end. As you can see, many of the pages revolve around a theme, and different ways to play to a trend.


(They also feature handheld gaming systems as a fashion accessories. And run ads with women playing games. I love this.)


Clothes geared toward the office are more functional, but planning a striking outfit for going out is apparently the fashion equivalent to preparing for war. (I'm also wondering what's beneath the orange jacket - perhaps the tiniest LBD on the planet?)


The day wear and casual items are often basic - simple tops, jeans, shoes, many of which readers can obtain state-side. But it's the pairings (and attitude of the models) that keeps it fascinating.


Models are rarely seen jumping, and are often posed in sexy or goofy positions, in a variety of locations around town. This shot leans artistic - however, S Cawaii is also known for having its models give sexyface on one page and then stick out their tongues in a teasing gesture in the next.


Looking through the merchandise can get frustrating. I would love to rock that Sesame Street cardigan.


Domani magazine is on the edge of onee-kei style - it typically features professional career women of means (ads for high end brands are dominant), and women who are in their 20s, 30, and 40s. Despite being out of the general age range for onee-kei (which generally stops in the mid-twenties), the glossy still has the same visual aesthetic, just more work (and luxury) focused.


Domani demonstrates how a look can go from casual to pulled together with simple accessories, or perhaps a change of shoe. This is helpful to those of us inclined to be non creative with our daily wardrobes. Especially, if you're like me and unemployment/working from home/working in a casual environment means you tend to forget how to dress when you need to go somewhere.


The look books often take a trend - like the no collar jacket, and provide ideas on multiple ways to incorporate the style.


Accessories are often given full focus, like the studded leggings that make a plain dark gray top and denim shorts more visually stimulating.


The moderate but unusual pairings are a good reminder to try being less conservative with both clothes and accessories: A leopard print shoe would work with a variety of looks.


Another reason to love J-fashion mags? The freebies, which are often bundled into the magazine. (I am currently wearing the star socks shown.) Over the years S Cawaii has also gifted me a tote bag which says "I heart Moussy" and a small red pouch with black skulls on it that I use as a makeup bag.


"Thou shalt be fly" is the onee-kei philosophy when it comes to fingernails - they are often an artistic extension of your outfit. Interested in recreating these in the U.S.? It will be tough, I warn you. But if you really like these nail designs, the best way to get them (and keep costs down, lest you find yourself with a $100 manicure) follow on the next slide.


(1) Embrace the two finger design. Pick whichever art you like the most and ask for that on two fingers, with a more basic complementing design. (2) Bring a picture and look for a nail tech who is interested in learning the design. (I sometimes sweeten the deal by offering to let them see all the designs in the book. Scanning color copies also works.) (3) Have your own tools on hand - most places do not stock much beyond colors and rhinestones. Nail accessories can be found in specialty stores, online, and in craft stores (some of the designs you see on nails are actually stencils or small charms. (4) Tip well.


With a little patience and skill, some designs are achievable at home, with some effort.


While some magazines prefer to dazzle with designers, S Cawaii lets you know there is no shame in going faux. They even announce the "fake wool coat" the model is wearing.


Sure, these glossies focus a lot on attainable fashion, but they occasionally build in fantastic images. The nod to Alice in Wonderland is fabulous, yet the elements of the outfit are surprisingly wearable.


This isn't my style at all, but it's cute.


Unfortunately, as time goes on, the onee-kei magazines are absorbing more and more American style. Paris Hilton, Nicole Ritchie, Kate Moss, Lindsay Lohan and Lauren Conrad are taking up page space (in keeping with onee gal style, which places a heavy focus on celebrity) and twelve dollars is a lot to pay for fashion I see for free.

In an interview with BlackBook, Lois's basic beef is that magazines are trying too hard to make their inside pages look like the Internet, and that editors refuse to take chances on "ideas" covers, like the ones he was famous for at Esquire. And he has a point: As magazine's audiences inevitably become smaller with shrinking newsstand and hard-to-sustain subscription models, now is the time to take chances. Doubling down on what print can do with its visual real estate is a start.

We were curious, though, about how and how much Vogue has changed since Liberman's heyday — he oversaw Vogue's look from the early 40s to the early 60s, and then was editorial director of Conde Nast from 1962 to 1994. It is indeed hard to imagine Vogue doing something like this again (from March 1944, with a somber tone befitting wartime, and a Red Cross shoutout):

Or this famous exercise in restraint:

It seems unfair to compare an era of illustration to a photo-obsessed age, so we dipped into the 1960s. It's fair to say that this Irving Penn pop art cover from 1965 is a far cry from what Vogue does today:

But actually, at least when it comes to covers, you could argue that Vogue has often stayed true to form.

The blonde gamine:

The fresh-faced blonde:

The blonde with interesting choice of headgear:

The "I Have No Fucking Clue What This Is Supposed to Be":

Legacy: Protected.

Legendary Magazine Designer George Lois's Last Round [BlackBook]
Related: Vintage Fashion Magazines
Vogue Archives [On Sugar]

The 47-year-old divorcée says:

"I got interested in the subject of the body because it's really a mother's reflection… It's the closeness I have to adolescents that drove me to become interested in these subjects."

And:

If someone wants to make life a success, wants to feel good in their skin, wants to be part of society, one has to be thin or skinny, and then it's not enough - one will have his body transformed with software that alters the image, so we enter a standardized and brainwashed world, and those who aren't part of it are excluded from society.

Ms. Boyer recently saw a magazine headline which read: "Be who you are!" Then, on the back cover? An "obviously" Photoshopped picture of a teenager. "The pictures contradict the message," she says. She feels there's a "schizophrenia" between "the representation of an ideal world, a very thin, tanned and white-toothed woman without wrinkles," and "the plebe who has health problems, who doesn't necessarily have white teeth, has wrinkles and puts on weight."

Boyer is facing lots of opposition; in the Times piece, Anne-Florence Schmitt, editor of Madame Figaro, argues: "Michelangelo painted idealized bodies, so the idea of idealized beauty was already there… It's a fake debate." Christine Leiritz, editor of French Marie Claire, exclaims: "Our readers are not idiots… especially when they see those celebrities who are 50 and look 23. Of course they're all retouched."

Still, Boyer worries about the effects, especially on children — and she was also the one who tried to make "extreme dieting" a crime.

"Children look a lot at the Internet… even if you're close by, even if you're attentive, even if you love them a lot, that's not enough to protect them. Especially when they target them, because pro-ana blogs are aimed at young girls in particular, they give them perverse advice, like, ‘Lie to your mother, say you're going to eat at a friend's house, cut your hair so you don't have to say that you're losing it.'"

All this is not to say that Boyer hates magazines:

"I buy tons of women's magazines. I love fashion and I love life… But it seems to me that as a matter of professional ethics, you have to warn people that the image of the body has been modified… Do you think you have to lie in order to dream? We must treat the public as adults, and I think it's a true feminist battle. I don't understand why women's magazines aren't rallying to it."

Point, Shoot, Retouch And Label? [NY Times]

Earlier: Quotes From The Players In The Great Photoshop Debate
More Experts Call For Disclaimers On Photoshopped Ads
France Proposes "Health Warning" Label On Photoshopped Images
France's Attempt To Ban "Inciting Thinness" Incites Jeers From Some
La Merde Et La Mode

In "No Way Out?" Rachael Combe explores the "scientifically, mathematically, and economically proven" notion that women are "kinda bummed out." She proposes several reasons for this, one of which is that we're all disappointed in the way the women's movement panned out. You see, now that women have more choices, "it has opened our eyes to new ways we might fail." Also, according to Combe, while women and men are logging in equal hours of housework, men actually enjoy it. Furthermore, now that we have this feminism-given right to complain, "misery has become a badge of honor" sending women in a downward spiral of unhappiness. Combe concludes that women can increase happiness by giving back to the community. While this is a noble notion, it seems kind of lost when the pages surrounding her article are inundated with all sorts of other "choices", namely expensive shit to buy, thin models, and gift suggestions that are unlikely to make anyone feel festive. For example, does your mom like to travel? Give her this super-useful, $50 leaning tower of Pisa replica. Does your friend like to eat food? How about a salad plate that looks like a lettuce leaf? Or a $2,730 pearl choker with gigantic strawberry charms? Below, the other "gifts" Elle is bestowing upon us this season.

Natalie Portman on Marie Claire

Representative Quote:

She got to spend three months in France when she was 11, shooting The Professional, and on her days off her mother would take her to Monet's house in Giverny and encourage her to come home and paint a version of what she'd seen. When she traveled to Japan for the premiere of The Professional, her parents insisted on a week off to explore the country. Portman shrugs: "OK, so I didn't really go to high school parties," she says, "and yeah, I didn't touch pot till I was in my 20s. I didn't get flat-out drunk until I went to college. But I think that's a good thing in many ways."

Most Immediately Annoying Cover Line:

"Diet Or Exercise: Which Sheds The Pounds Faster?"

Largest Number On The Cover, And What It Refers To:

275. Which is either the number of brain cells you will shed reading "WHAT'S SO BAD ABOUT BONKING THE BOSS?", or the number of Fabulous Finds To Start The New Year you, mere female, will need to get him in a bonking mood.

Britney Spears on Elle

Elle's Lady Gaga cover might be getting all the attention — but the January issue is actually hitting newsstands with a second cover, featuring Spears and her sons. Golf claps for Britney, everyone! Last time she tried to do an Elle shoot, something terrible happened.

Representative Quote:

Elle's Spears profile is not yet online, so let's nab another quote from Marie Claire.

A little-known fact about Portman is that for her very first acting job — as an off-Broadway understudy — she replaced Britney Spears. Needless to say, their paths have diverged wildly since then

Most Immediately Annoying Cover Line:

"DO YOU EXERCISE TO EAT? HERE'S A BETTER WAY."

Largest Number On The Cover, And What It Refers To:

175. The speed, in miles per hour, which this magazine might reach if you dropped it off a very tall building. Which would be more educational than reading about the BEST NEW SHOES, JACKETS, AND BAGS.

Lady Gaga on Elle

Representative Quote:

"I get all the symptoms of a pregnant woman. I get headaches, I get tired, I get blurred vision sometimes during a really intense session with [her creative team] the Haus."

WHEN WILL YOU PEOPLE UNDERSTAND THAT THIS WOMAN IS JUST PREGNANT WITH CREATIVITY?!

Most Immediately Annoying Cover Line:

See above.

Largest Number On The Cover, And What It Refers To:

See above.

Sarah Jessica Parker on Glamour

Representative Quote:

SJP: I still will not wear turtlenecks.

GLAMOUR: Why not?

SJP: I feel like I'm having a panic attack in them. I'm so short that the little bit of height I have is taken and consumed by the turtleneck. My son won't wear them, either!

Most Immediately Annoying Cover Line:

"SO TRUE! Why The Happiest Women Aren't Perfect."

Largest Number On The Cover, And What It Refers To:

50. Could that be the number of Your Most Private Questions that you could Answer, right now, by reading Wikipedia.

Scarlett Johanson on UK Harper's Bazaar

Representative Quote:

This comes from the mouth of Bono, who is interviewed alongside Johanson, because she wears (PRODUCT) RED clothing in the accompanying fashion shoot:

"I don't give a shit how things look anymore. I just want to get the results, get the cheque signed. If it takes me looking like a totally unhip white messiah, I don't care. You do whatever it takes to get people what they need to survive. For me, it was coming home that was the hardest. Coming back to my privileged life. I used to find that really difficult. It's hard when you find yourself in such a harsh juxtaposition with somebody who's fighting for their life. It used to make me feel more awkward than it does now, being this rich rock star next to a starving African."

Most Immediately Annoying Cover Line:

Strangely, none. (The standard beauty and fashion stories look exceptionally inoffensive, or unexceptionally offensive.) Although as hard as it is to take a half dozen pages of Johanson nursing a bad case of sexyface in leopard print clothing, it's pretty odd that the cover implies she and Bono would bond over a serious consideration of music.

Largest Number On The Cover, And What It Refers To:

2010, which is the year you might finally itemize your charitable donations for tax purposes, and briefly consider writing off the cost of Johanson's Tom Waits album. Since listening to it was clearly an act of charity on your part.

Kate Hudson on US Harper's Bazaar

Representative Quote:

"With a hot new movie and major-league man, Kate Hudson seems anything but normal. But the bubbly blonde is just like the rest of us (with fancier clothes, of course)."

Major League! Get it? Get it? No, she really doesn't say anything about A-Rod:

Isn't she moving fast? "People don't know where I'm moving," she counters good-naturedly. "They're just reading psychobabble in these [tabloid] magazines." Even when confronted with the evidence — a picture of her kissing A-Rod — she gamely holds her ground. "There's a guy that's shooting probably 60 frames a minute. That was a sideswipe on the cheek. That wasn't even a kiss." So she's not in love with this guy? "I quickly kissed the cheek," she maintains. "And I remember one of the headlines the next day said, MAKEOUT SESSION. What is wrong with people?

Hahaha, she didn't actually specify "tabloid" magazines.

Most Immediately Annoying Cover Line:

Harper's Bazaar on this side of the pond is totally deficient in this category, too. "Get Gorgeous Hair" — much as our credulity doesn't stretch to believing such a thing could ever result from the use of ridiculously priced products — just doesn't raise my hackles.

Largest Number On The Cover, And What It Refers To:

562. Either New Ideas to Update Your Look (again!), or Things You Might Make If You Treated This Issue Like An Origami Project.

If Jonathan Saunders's eight-benjamin tee (it has, like, colors) isn't quite twee enough for you, you can shell out just $70 for a wifebeater that says some bullshit about an "imposter chicken" who drives a bus. The same annoying hipster who enjoys this gift might like a class on pickling things in Brooklyn (can Vena Cava's designer Chuck Taylors be pickled? What about that wooden iPod dock by Vers?). Or perhaps a volunteer vacation — because nothing says "happy holidays" like forced WWOOFing. And for your "overstressed and undersexed" friend, why not a free checkup for adrenal fatigue — a vague and ill-defined condition best cured by the innovative treatment of getting enough sleep. Sadly not included in December Vogue is the much-needed pull-out greeting card: "Merry Christmas! I'm concerned about your glands!"

Memo to Details (and anyone else who needs telling): Not all Jews are white. Or "Caucasian," imprecise term that it is.

Type: Editorial Print (18+ only)
Client: DETAILS MAGAZINE
Shoot Date: Thursday Oct 22nd
Photographer: TBD
Shoot Location: NYC or Brooklyn
Pay: 250 Plus 10% (editorial rate)
Partial nude (breast covered) but on-set nudity required.

DESCRIPTION: Editorial piece celebrating the return of the Jewish
Woman a sex symbol.

(Female will be topless on set, nipple covered in final printed piece)

BREAKDOWN: Female Caucasian, 18-30, (Jewish or Israeli descent),
strong natural sex appeal, very comfortable with body on closed set.

TO SUBMIT: Submit face and any body shots. A current snap shot is also
appreciated make sure you include your measurements.

SUBMIT TO:

Submit (at) impossiblecasting (dot) com

SUBJECT: DETAILS STORY/YOUR NAME

Please include in your email that you are over 18 and you understand the requirements.

Those requirements include the following:



Earlier: On Details, Hot Jewish Girls, and Sloppy, Knee-Jerk Misogyny

At base a men's fashion magazine, Details is supposedly for a younger and even more status-conscious thirtysomething to GQ's bigger tent and Maxim's still-laddish sensibility (the latter is shrinking in reach, though its cultural contribution seems to live on). Details has lived many lives, but in editor-in-chief Dan Peres' most recent incarnation, the preference for a waif-like, unfratty male physique and an aging gay-or-not debate has been offset by proving "virility" in the crudest, oldest way: misogyny.

In article after article, Details seems to want to prove its heterosexual bonafides with porn-y photoshoots that flaunt misogyny in the guise of edgy humor. Its trend pieces' underlying social commentary is more often than not "your girlfriend/wife/one night stand is trying to trick you." In this imagining, sex and relationships are a minefield of lies and power plays, in which women are often seductive harpies who
cannot be trusted, and in which all too often, their sole goal is to encroach on male freedom. (Details' recently relaunched website actually has a sub-section called "Dating + Cheating." Unfortunately, their online archive doesn't go very far back). So yeah, why not treat women like garbage?

All of this, is of course, intentional provocation — inciting supposedly humorless feminists is part of being a real dude, right?

Another Details standby is to find a sexual niche and inflate it into purported social commentary — "Mandingos" anyone? The magazine's latest sexual trend story — "Why American Men Are Lusting After Women Of The Tribe... It Seems That America Can't Get Enough Smoking-Hot Semitic Tush Lately" — is no exception. It's a pretext for a package of "JILFS" (guess) that include photos of and interviews with starlets whose appeal hasn't historically hinged on their rabbinical status (Mila Kunis, Emmy Rossum, recent convert Isla Fisher).

No matter what, when it comes to sex, Details' version of edgy counterintuitiveness can be numbingly familiar:

Cheerleaders. Five-inch heels. Big, natural boobs. Those are merely the most obvious sexual fixations most men have, but there's another undeniable one: ladies of the tribe.

Undeniable! First off, I actually don't object in principle to celebrating Jewesses, notwithstanding the landmine that is the creepy ethnic fetish. And yeah, the whole objectifying thing. But why do such a sloppy, superficial job with the piece? Philip Roth — he of the iconically tortured and self-hating sexuality — as an example of Jews being "comparatively cool about sex," lumped in with Erica Jong? Throwing in a reference to the Apatow crew without mentioning that their films' romantic interests are often blonde, decidedly un-Jewish types like Leslie Mann and Katherine Heigl? (Missing the chance, by the way, to note that Roth and Apatow have a lot in common when it comes to shiksa obsessions that leave allegedly "smoking-hot" Jewish women out of the story). Not to mention crafting mostly-incomprehensible, stereotype-perpetuating sentences like this one:

"Recently, however, the Fran Drescher rep has given way to a more smoldering image. Think cultural mutts like Rachel Weisz, Emmanuelle Chriqui, and Rachel Bilson-women who have little in common beyond sultriness and Star of David necklaces."

Huh? Does Rachel Weisz (who has spoken articulately about being a Jewish woman in Hollywood) count as a mutt because she's from England? Or Emmanuelle Chriqui because her parents are from Morocco? And if they have little in common, what exactly are we talking about here?

The rest of the piece grafts together some references to porn featuring Jewish women (I invite you to find a subset of the population that porn has not at one point or another fetishized), a self-published calendar, and yes, a Fleshbot poll of proclivities that placed "Jewish women" just under "freckles." The author cites Joanna Angel as the sole example of porn stars who "actively embrace" their Jewishness because she describes herself as having a "Jewish nose," but then quotes her saying she's rejected roles in Jewish-themed movies.

Just performing this close reading is starting to make me feel stupider – I suspect I've spent more time on it than the author and editors spent on the piece. But that's Jewish girls for you – whiny and demanding, if occasionally good for some Star of David-shaped pasties when all other trend story options have been exhausted. But really, although there have been serious pieces snuck in here and there (and I actually thought this one raised good, and even, dare I say it, feminist points) one wonders why Details bothers with words at all.

Update: We got the interior images accompanying the story.

The Rise Of The Hot Jewish Girl [Details]

Related: Did Your Girlfriend Trick You Into Fatherhood? [Details]
The Return Of The Office Affair [Details]
Look Who's Sleeping With Your Wife [Details]
Everyone Else is Cheating-So Why Aren't You? [Details]

Earlier: Men's Magazine Treats Women Like Garbage, Furniture

If your pal X'ortel needs advice on covering up those scales, she should look no further than Allure's "Starry Night" feature, which advocates tinted moisturizer on the cleavage and not one but two types of makeup on the legs. But where Allure truly shines is the social sphere — essential tips on activities most humanoids take for granted. Devoted followers will remember the immortal "How To Take A Shower," but the December issue expands on the seemingly-simple-activities theme by offering advice on how to talk to people. For instance, aspiring humans should try to relate current events back to fellow partygoers' lives. Allure's example: the Jaycee Dugard kidnapping. Charming! But X'ortel might not want to take her cue from alleged human Kirsten Dunst, whose insight after a recent cross-country road trip was, "wow, America is so poor." Celebrities, like aliens, want to seem down-to-earth, and Dunst is, as we say here, doin it rong.

For one thing, putting a hastily-snapped, haphazardly lit runway shot on a major magazine cover (especially one that prides itself on premium photography) would test even the most transformative powers of Photoshop. And really, why bother? They actually shot Moore, the gallery of photos indicates the actress is indeed extremely slim and toned — even if not to the full extent of the post-production wizardry. And for everything else, of course, there's retouching.

Demi Moore's Body Replaced By W Magazine [Pop Culture Madness]

Earlier: The Curious Case of Demi Moore's Left Hip
Photographer Bets $5000 On Demi Moore W Cover

Photographer Anthony Citrano, who pointed out the hip chop to Boing Boing, issued a throwdown on Twitter, elaborating,

Whether or not her hip was botched, I do not believe for a moment that the image Demi posted yesterday is the original shot.

If she's aware of that - and I expect she is - it's irresponsible (and silly) of her to make that assertion.

So, I'll see her move and raise her $5,000: if the shot she posted yesterday is really the unretouched original, I will donate $5,000 to a charity of her choosing.

So far, Moore hasn't responded. Yesterday, though, she was happy to chat about her shape:

Ouch. Well, if Moore had read the story, she'd probably have found a plausible defense for the shot which, if it was over-Photoshopped, wouldn't be her fault anyway, as Citrano also notes.

... Moore is thinner than expected, which emphasizes the prominent bone structure that still photographs so well but also gives her a slightly gaunt appearance in person. Her chopstick legs are sheathed in skinny dark jeans, and her oversize cashmere sweatshirt looks as if it could have been borrowed from husband Ashton Kutcher's side of the closet.

So should we chalk it up to the chopsticks? Only the original photo could settle it.

Demi Claims Missing Hipflesh Is For Real. [Boing Boing]
Demi Goddess [W]

Related: Anthony Citrano Photography

Earlier: The Curious Case of Demi Moore's Left Hip

MEOUCH!!!! OH NOES! DIS MODDLE HAZ NO CAPSHUN!!!!! USE TEH AMAZIN ROFLBOT! AN POST SUGGGESSHUNS IN TEH COMMINTZ!!!!

Earlier:
Vogue Taunts Us With LOL-Worthy Horse
LOLVogue: I Purmd Mai Hare
LOLVogue: I Can Haz Locayshun Shewt? (Plus Contest!)
October's LOLVogue Contest: We Have A Winner
LOLVogue: Teh Billee Goatz Gruff (And Contest!)
LOLVogue: Sumwon Elss Kleanz Up (Plus Contest!)
LOLVogue: I Can Haz Wind Tunnel?
LOLVogue: All Dat Glitterz Iz Mah Pantz
LOLVogue: Superhero Photo Shoot Gets Super Stoopid
French LOLVogue: I Can Has My Close-Up?
I Can Has Jeetann? C'est LOLVogue En Faux Français
LOLVogue: Teh Hare Toss & Teh Bunnee Hop
LOLVogue: Tard Moddles & Bahlinceeyagga
Bon Joor, C'est Paris LOLVogue Encore!
LOLVogue: Sheez Over Ayteen, I Sware
LOLVogue: Hungry Moddles & Rorschach Tests
LOLVogue: Carbs, Botox & Pink-Eye
LOLVogue: Good Help Is Hard To Find
Mon Dieu! C'est French LOLVogue: Shoulders, Champagne and Cigarettes
LOLVogue: Starving Models & Marionettes
LOL'Vogue': Scarves, Silverware & Scooters

Related: LOLLost: Srsly, Guiz, Dis Izland Is Weeerd

On the Today show this morning, a Newsweek editor, Dan Klaidman, defended the magazine's choice of a Runner's World photo to illustrate its two stories critiquing Palin as a political figure. He basically stuck to the magazine's talking points, arguing that the picture did "illustrate the themes of the cover story," which is to say, that Sarah Palin lacks gravitas and exploits her all-American image.

And some female critics agree. As Lindsay Beyerstein writes:

The bottom line is that Palin's a clown. She doesn't get a pass because her chosen clown persona is stereotypically feminine.

She caricatures herself. Day in and day out. Good for Newsweek for pointing and laughing.

The story is about why Sarah Palin is a problem for the GOP. The picture answers the question. She's a problem because she's a freak with no judgment who regularly makes a spectacle of herself.

So does this "freak" matter as anything other than as a momentary soap opera for politics junkies? On Today, Tina Brown put forward a theory that's growing in steam (and that liberals fervently wish to be the case): "[Palin is] really not remotely interested in politics as far as I could see... She really was quite happy to play as a celebrity talk show guest, and she did a fabulous job at that." And yesterday, Ana Marie Cox told Rachel Maddow that McCain staffers believe Palin has no intention of running for office, adding, "This is as famous and politically credible that she's going to be."

But NBC Washington Bureau chief Mark Whitaker — who, as former editor in chief of Newsweek, used to be Klaidman's boss — calls bullshit both on the dismissal of Palin's political future and the hypocritical handwringing among his own about how much she's being covered:

The widespread suggestion in some of the media commentary that she simply isn't qualified enough to be considered a viable presidential candidate is ridiculous....Call it sexism or what you will, but why should the media only compare ambitious women to impressive men, when so many ambitious but underwhelming men get so far in this world?

Media debate about why Palin is getting all this attention is also pretty laughable. Cable and network news producers cover her on television to boost ratings, print editors put her on their front pages and magazine covers to sell newsstand copies, and then everyone turns around and tsk-tsk's: "What's all the fuss? Is she good for the GOP? Is she good for America?"

That would be, more or less, the headline Newsweek itself went for. Except they went ahead and said that the answer is no, she's bad for both.

Update: Politico's Ben Smith takes the pulse of the presidents of various feminist organizations on the Newsweek cover. Their response is basically to shrug. White House Project president Marie Wilson: "It's much more complicated than sexism... What the [Republican] Party was selling, and people were buying — and what the candidate colluded [in] — is what shows up in that Newsweek picture." And Terri O'Neill, the president of the National Organization for Women, says that while Palin has been at times a victim of sexism, this cover isn't an example of it. She adds, "Women's right's organizations are really clear that we're struggling for the rights of ordinary women...Sarah Palin is not with us on that."

Palin Calls Newsweek Cover Sexist [Today Show]
Where Coverage of "Going Rogue" Goes Wrong [MSNBC]
The Truth Hurts: Palin's Newsweek Cover [Majikthise]

Earlier: Sarah Palin Gets Her Criticism of Newsweek Cover Right