The Attributes Women
Curves, full, silky hair, flat stomach, tight thighs, big lips, toned arms, perfect skin, beautiful, and sexual: These are only a few of the attributes women, including teenagers and young adults, are expected to have in today’s society. Although it has always been said that true beauty lies within, people in today’s world are completely contradicting this common belief. Unfortunately, today’s media, specifically Cosmopolitan magazine, has taken over the role of showing women how they need to look and showing men what their ideal woman should look like. Cosmopolitan magazine primarily depicts women as skinny, sexual, and aggressive people, causing all women to believe they need to look like the woman on the cover and do all of the things written throughout the magazine if they want to be beautiful.
The main themes of Cosmopolitan magazine are that being overweight and/or in public without make up and designer clothing is unacceptable and frowned upon by the magazine and everyone around them. The other main theme is that women should not be reserved. If they are not open about their sexuality and extremely outgoing with men, they will not be desirable and most importantly, will not be accepted by both men and women in society today. According to the magazine, one must be pretty, sexual, and skinny at all times. These are becoming the desired every day features of women.
Cosmopolitan is the best selling magazine in its category. It has 58 international editions, is published in 34 languages, and is distributed in over 100 countries. Because of its popularity in so many countries, Cosmopolitan has become one of the most dynamic brands worldwide. (C. Kanare) The power of advertising in Cosmopolitan magazine easily molds, shapes, and changes the public’s belief of what a perfect woman looks and acts like. The editors of this magazine fill it with information on how to be beautiful through not only one’s looks, but through one’s personality as well. Cosmopolitan specifically shows females how to dress, how to apply fearless makeup, how to smell appealing, how to be passionate, how to be irresistible to men, etc. This magazine attempts to show females how to be what they think is beautiful and sexy.
Cosmopolitan shapes the ideals and beliefs of many women today. It not only reinforces females’ infatuation with sex and beauty, it causes almost every woman to live with a great amount of insecurities. According to Cosmopolitan, if a woman follows all of the sex and beauty tips found throughout the magazine, they will be accepted socially in today’s society. Women think that if they don’t look like the lady on the cover and the women in the ads or act as being told in the many articles, they have no chance in finding a man or beginning any sexual relationships.
This magazine has an extremely negative effect on women and their self-image. The overall message of this magazine is that women