I want to begin by sharing with you an article from RedBook that I feel has surprising value: http://lifestyle.msn.com/relationships/article.aspx?cp-documentid=26582537 It discusses how bringing back kissing – real kissing – can reignite a flagging relationship. “Surprising” because, well, I find that Cosmo and RedBook articles in general don’t offer value. For the most part, these magazine play deeply into the stereotypes and insecurities of women, men, relationships, sex and consumerism. Their message is not designed to offer an opeh-hearted feminine perspective, but a carefully-crafted media strategy designed to make their readership more insecure, and thus more willing to buy the things advertised in their magazine. Both RedBook and Cosmo are very intelligent and crafty at what they do, which is to attract and keep a female readership and get that readership to buy a lot of things. And they succeed brilliantly at that. But consumerism isn’t driven by healthy egos, it’s driven by unhealthy egos that seek to fill a void through material things, things such as clothing, jewelry, perfume, electronics… and “a man.” They play deeply and very callously into the “battle of the sexes,” in a way that a men’s magazine would be labeled “chauvinistic,” because, well, the message [...]
