...The first to exploit this cosmetics fixation [among women] were just women's fashion magazines that, more often than we would like to believe, use teenaged models and made them look like eroticized adults. Now there is a whole array of teen magazines that do the same, only with more teenage-directed articles and ads. Seventeen, Teen Vogue, YM, Jane, Teen People, Twist, Right On, Girl's Life, Cosmo Girl, and Elle Girl are distinctive in their focus and appearance, and in these the teen models are represented as teenagers. Page after page, they promote the need to buy products that promise to deliver the hope and dream of flawless beauty ("Look like a model or an actress or a pop star"). Sandwiched between pages of advertisements and fashion layouts, there are the token articles giving lip service to "girl power," or "taking control of your life," while offering detailed lists of "How to make him ask you out," "How to get him to ask you out again," or "Apply the most beautiful makeup possible." Such lightly sprinkled references to self-actualization are easy to ignore when salient pictorials are far more striking--and get proportionally more space.
Statistics about content say it all. Appearance-related products--toiletries and makeup--account for 61% of all ads and layouts in teen-oriented magazines, while clothing takes up only 20% of the advertising pages. In stark contrast, only 9% of advertisements targeted toward males are appearance-related (with 4% for toiletries and 5% for clothing), and there are no related "fashion" magazines for teenage boys (Source: The Henry J. Kaiser Family Foundation).
The true blog in this site, here are some sites I frequent.
Melissa likes to keep informed via CNN. However, I've always visited the New York Times. Sections I turn to first are Dining, Travel, Health, and Advertising. Forbes keeps me abreast of business' concerns. The Economist has two weekly newsletters on political and business events which keeps me from being an ignoramus even when I am caught up in the minutiae of life. Although in print I never miss the
New Yorker's The Talk of the Town, online I prefer the
Atlantic.
Guilty pleasures. I am a big fan of the WB's dramedy series, Gilmore Girls, now in its second season. My dad is taping the shows
for me while I am in Taiwan. In between videotaped installments of the show, I keep up by reading the scripts and looking at screen captures from GilmoreGirls.net, the best fan site. I am so glad that there are dedicated fans who have this kind of time on their hands who enable me to get my weekly Gilmore Girls fix. The characters are complex, the dialogue fast-paced, funny, and filled with references to literature and pop culture, and the interaction between mothers and daughters at times poignant and reminiscent of my own relationship with my mother.
Fup, the store cat at Powells, is a character I still don't understand, but I always enjoy reading about him in their bi-weekly newsletter. Visiting the bookstore is dangerous, since I often end up making a purchase...
