Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Why, yes I do read women's magazines

I'm a man. Really. I have a full beard, I love football, and I'm interested in mechanics, carpentry and other masculine stuff. My magazines include Popular Science, National Geographic, This Old House, and other virile reads. Note that I use the term "interested". I don't claim to have any skill in such topics. I also read Good Housekeeping, Family Circle, and Better Homes and Gardens. I readily admit that. That's because I also like reading about decorating, organizing, and cleaning tips. Again, I don't claim to be good at that either. Only that they interest me.

That being said, I understand marketing to a specific sex. Despite the latest trends, women do still make up the majority of the "family" magazine market. Few men read Good Housekeeping. Even fewer openly in public. I also read a ton of parenting magazines. The following is what actually annoys me. The marketing of "Parenting" magazines. You know, Parents, Parenting, American Baby, Today's Parent, etc. I can read the entire magazine, and without fail, this is the layout, time and time again:

60% - dedicated to child raising using the mother's unique perspective.
20%- solely dedicated to the mother's health and beauty (aren't there enough magazines just for that? Why do I have to read/skip 30 pages about the mother's skin care in a magazine about parents raising children?
17%- legitimately involving the perspective of both sexes.
3%- dedicated to the man's unique perspective.

Now some would say, "Keith, you can get stuff out of it even if it's focused on the woman." Yes, yes I can. And I do. I wouldn't continue reading them if I didn't. However, if society expects men to continue to be more involved with direct, day-to-day care of their children (as they should be), can I have a good parenting magazine that gives a little more balance to who the reader might be? I don't need 15 ways to get rid of the baby fat...

1 comment:

Jennifer said...

I have to say that I definitely appreciate the fact that my husband reads these magazines, and as the wife of a SAHD, I, too, would appreciate more non-gender-specific parenting articles in said magazines.