A Cosmopolitan Woman=A Skinny Woman?

The definition of cosmopolitan is: "a person who has lived and travelled in many countries, especially one who is free of national prejudices; having interest in or familiar with many parts of the world; sophisticated or urbane; or composed of people or elements from all parts of the world or many different spheres."  I admit, I often pick up a copy of the highest selling women's magazine since 1972 in the US in the airport, on my way to the pool or beach, or even sometimes for empty, entertainment.  However, if you think about the definition of Cosmo's title, does this title really fit the publication?  Not really when every sexualized and racy cover boasts sex tips, how to look good, celebrity profile, and weight loss tips.  


If you google "cosmo + weight," you will get links to "10 best dieting tips" and "Best way to loose weight in a week...quick!" With an increasing younger audience, are these articles perpetuating our obsession with the social image of what a woman should look like?  What society's idea of the perfect weight is?  Some of the tips Cosmo tells readers are:

Losing pounds doesn't have to be torture (we're looking at you, cayenne-pepper cleanse). Adopt at least three of these behaviors — they're simple to integrate into your day-to-day routine, and all are enthusiastically backed by nutritionists — and you'll be thinner and healthier in days. (Plus, the weight will stay off.)

1. SNACK, BUT SMARTLY

Grazing between meals used to be on the weight-loss hit list. But nutritionists now know that it's better to satisfy a craving with healthy grub than ignore it and risk a junk-food binge later. The best picks are filling, protein-packed snacks, such as one stick of string cheese, a tablespoon of peanut butter on a piece of fruit, or a medium-size bowl of edamame.

3. STEP ON THE SCALE DAILY

If your regular weight increases several days in a row, it's a red flag letting you know you need to cut back a little or beef up your workouts slightly.

5. REACH FOR YOUR CELL

Next time your mind gets stuck on a certain food, call a friend and redirect your brain by asking how her day's going. Research shows that cravings only last about 5 minutes, so by the time you hang up, the urge to devour junk will have subsided.

10. VISUALIZE YOURSELF THIN

When you feel your willpower breaking, conjure up a mental picture of yourself when you looked and felt slim. The visual motivation keeps you focused on your goal weight and reminds you that it is attainable, since you've achieved it before.

To me, these tips seem exactly what people with disordered eating do: avoid food, visualize being thinner (remember "Thinspo"?), and obsessively tracking one's weight.  One blog analyzes Cosmo magazine stating that the magazine is objectification of women through a male's point of view.  The blogger talks about eating disorders as one of the components of this.  She states:

“The Natural, Healthy Girl”: Normalizing Unnatural Beauty and Health Ideals

It’s no surprise that every cover I analyzed featured full-body depictions of very thin, big-breasted, seemingly flawless, young white women in low-cut, tight, short, revealing clothing and long, flowing hair. In a clear example of making unnatural beauty and health ideals appear normal, the April 2008 cover featured Marisa Miller, who came to fame through her notorious topless debut as the cover model for the 2008 SI Swimsuit Issue. The buxom blond is positioned with her back arched and chest protruding, along with the headline “Flatten Your Belly! Marisa’s tips make it easy.”

Strikingly similar to Shape and Self’s representations of healthy bodies and practices, the April 2008 Cosmo included a “fitness special” featuring cover model Marisa Miller in a full-page photo posed on a bed, back arched, chest pushed out, wearing only a top and a come-hither look. Readers are reminded twice that Miller has a body “women dream of and mean dream about,” 

along with the prominently featured quote: “I always wanted to represent the natural, healthy girl, and I didn’t care if it was cool or trendy to look like you hadn’t eaten in two weeks.”With eight tear-out cards displaying the scantily clad supermodel in various workout positions and repetitive reminders about how easy her “stay-slim” plan is, readers are presented with another highly sexualized and normalized view of thinness as “fitness.”

Interestingly, the first cover I analyzed from April 2006 featured then 19-year-old Lindsay Lohan, who, at that time, was in the midst of a media firestorm regarding her sudden and extreme weight loss. Vanity Fair reported the year before that Lohan admitted to “making herself sick in order to lose weight,” which she denied in her interview with Cosmo. In the inside feature story about her, Lohan was quoted as saying she lost all the weight by “not eating right,” but that she wanted to maintain her weight loss, since she liked the way she looked and felt. “I’m healthy. I don’t diet. I eat what I want to eat … and I’m stressed a lot when I’m working, so that keeps me thin,” she explained. In conjunction with images of thin (often extremely thin) women in sexualized poses, messages like “Marisa’s Supereasy Fitness Plan” and Lindsay Lohan’s claims of sudden, extreme weight loss with no effort serve to normalize an unrealistic standard of idealized beauty that is constantly represented as natural, attainable and “Supereasy.”

The rest of her article (found here) goes very in-depth about society's idea of the male fantasy of the ideal woman.  I thought it was a pretty interesting article, as well as her other articles about media and woman's role and image in society.  


What do you think about magazines like Cosmo that constantly portray thin, sexy women on the covers and tell you weight loss tips?  Should teens be reading this?  Do you think it influences disordered eating?  






References


http://www.thefreedictionary.com/cosmopolitan


http://www.cosmopolitan.com/advice/health/10-best-weight-loss-tips-ever-0809-2


Lindsay Kite (2011). “Cosmo Magazine: A Case Study in Objectification Through the Male Gaze.” Beauty Redefined: beautyredefined.net/cosmo-magazine-a-case-study-in-objectification.htm. Published March 5, 2011.