I’m obsessed with the media industry, so I found this article in the New York Post to be really fascinating. Jane magazine folded earlier this summer, and Jane subcribers will be receiving issues of Glamour for the rest of the subscription year in lieu of Jane. And Jane staffers are PISSED. They told the New York Post that Glamour is insulting to women and informs them of their imperfections as opposed to embracing them. One Jane staffer even told the Post that when she were being courted by Glamour to join their staff, a Glamour editor told the Jane staffer to come up with a list of ideas that would work for Jane, but to “dumb them down” to be appropriate for Glamour readers. Ouch!

Personally, I really like Glamour and read it religiously. I think they do a good job covering issues that affect women around the world–like sex trafficking, purity pledges, and the oppression of women in the Middle East. They do cover women’s magazine basics, like diets and fitness and beauty… but I don’t think they really claim to be a super-feminist magazine, so I personally don’t see that as a problem.

(Although, I did have a beef with this month’s issue that has an article about getting rid of your “muffin top.” What drives me CRAZY is that “muffin top” has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with indulging in a Cinnabon at the mall; designers have been cutting their pants lower and tighter which naturally means that you are going to have a little bit of flesh bulging (after all, how are low riders supposed to say up if they have nothing to cling to?) Muffin top is a new phenomenon because, as far as I know, pants haven’t ever been made to fit on or below women’s hip bones. AND, in the photo that Glamour used to illustrate the story, there is a stick-thin woman with absolutely NO muffin top pinching a tiny piece of fat on her waist. Like, seriously?)

Anywayyy, I think Glamour writes for the “middle America” woman who is savvy and intellectually curious, but also wants a little bit of brain candy. And, I think Glamour does a good job secretely feeding feminist ideas (see above linked articles) to women who might not be open to reading Ariel Levy’s latest feminist-minded feature in New York magazine or something.