Cosmopolitan Celebrates 40 Years of Setting Women's Movement Back 40 Years

New York, N.Y. - Cosmopolitan, the influential American lifestyle magazine, has announced its plan to spend the month of December celebrating forty years of setting the women's movement back forty years.

"What's interesting is that although Cosmo's been in existence since 1886, we didn't really begin inflicting irreparable damage to the state of modern feminism until, oh, about the late sixties," says Editor-in-Chief Kate White. "Prior to that, it was mostly a boring literary journal. And we all know that's not going to get your man hot under the collar!"

Back when Cosmopolitan began its identity shift four decades ago, it was breezily setting the women's movement back into the 1920s with articles such as 'Marrying Rich: It's Like College For Smart Girls' and 'It's Not Really Debt - It's Just Credit Cards, Silly!'

And now, with forty years of female-centric history under its belt, the magazine plans to commemorate its storied legacy with an anniversary issue, available this month in thirty-two languages throughout one hundred-plus countries. Despite the common perception that Cosmopolitan is exclusively American in cultural reach, seventy-five percent of the nations that carry the publication are actually Second and Third World countries.

White finds such statistics heartening. "The fact that we're giving eighteen-year-old girls in Equatorial Guinea the confidence to spend their fifty-cents-a-week salary on the right kind of eyeliner... that's something all women can feel proud of."

As the editor of a back catalogue spanning hundreds of issues, White is philosophical about Cosmopolitan's longevity. "Although forty is extremely ancient by any conceivable standards of femininity, you're only as old as you look. And that makes Cosmo only as old as the heavily airbrushed, Photoshop-enhanced eighteen to twenty-three-year-old women who grace our cover each month. That's very empowering."

White, however, does acknowledge the magazine has been dispensing its anachronistic insights to readers for some time now. "It seems like just yesterday we published 'Small Dogs: Not Just For America's Purses Anymore,' and 'Anorexics: Are They On To Something?' But can you believe those pieces first hit newsstands way back in 1991? Wow, time sure flies."

White believes Cosmopolitan's staying power stems from the fact that women - whose opinions the magazine has calculatingly sculpted from a formative age - can relate to what's in between its covers.

"Whether they're seeking fashion and lifestyle tips, sex and dating advice, or answers to harder-hitting issues like make-up do's and don'ts, our readers know Cosmo has all the right answers. Through basic sociological erosion, they've gradually regressed into complete reliance on our publication, and really, that's the ultimate compliment. Girl power!"

Despite Cosmopolitan's success, White has no plans for the magazine to rest on its laurels. "If you think about it, fifty years into the future we'll be setting the women's movement back to the year 2018, which is a full ten years from now. That's pretty cutting-edge."

White adds, "So when it comes to taking all the hard-won advances our gender has fought for and knocking a few decades off them, Cosmo is actually way ahead of its time."

Comments

[YeahDonkey]

I have a one year old daughter, if all my fellow progressives could destroy this rag before she starts to read.....it would be much appreciated.

[gemiwing]

Obviously you're skipping over the articles that show the power of their cutting-edge journalism. Did you not find 1989 Vol 2, 8 'Quantum mechanics and you- a study of the wedgie' insightful? Did the glory of '101 ways to please your man using String Theory' (2001 Vol 1, 10) pass you by? There is so much there to advance the future of the womens' movement! We should be proud to tote around their five pound publication that touts not only 'When Hairclips Attack' but the true investigative journalism of 'Herion- what the fear pushers don't want you to know!'.

To suggest any less would be un-American.
And anti-being nice to babies.

[joebiz]

Cosmo is the best selling magazine on college campuses. Is that a good thing?

[clashcitysupermarket]

You should work for The Onion for a couple of years.

[clashcitysupermarket]

Cheers - I think this is the best article I've ever read on the Huffington Post. Probably the best article I've read this month.

[Steven Shehori - Huffpost Blogger]

Wow, thanks for the high praise, Clashcity. Funny enough, the Onion actually approached me about a job last fall, and gave me an open invite to meet them in NYC. Then out of the blue they went all Ike Turner on me and revoked the offer. Perhaps they stopped taking their Thorazine? That's the thing with psychotropics -- they need to be taken daily for optimal effectiveness.

[hellerious]

It's definitely THEIR loss.

[rjmiller]

It was probably after they realized they had lost a ton of cash on the ill-conceived "The Onion Movie".

[Emerald1943]

"hard hitting issues like make-up do's and don'ts"........you have got to be kidding me!!!

I knew there was a reason that I have never nor will I ever buy this rag! What a joke!

[Filegirl]

Ugh, you aren't kidding. I always feel sorry for the women on those covers. They inevitably have some article title like "12 Sex Tricks You Can Do With a Hair Scrunchie!" right next to their head.

[JTaverner]

Will they finally figure out a way to "please your man"

[Bart Motes - Huffpost Blogger]

'Small Dogs: Not Just For America's Purses Anymore,'

HA! I lolled. I lolled indeed.