Since February is really January in Magazine-Land my monthly magazine were joined by the resolution inspired addition of Cosmo Body – a health and fitness magazine which was surprisingly good. More on that later. One thing though – no freebies again! Oh well.
Company February 2014 
February was Company’s Paris edition with French themed features. Mostly standard stuff but what was particularly interesting was this feature on European countries including France which have quotas for women at board level. This is working in France which now has target of women making up 40% of the boardroom. I’m not sure I entirely agree with quotas. They do fix the problem, but do they change attitudes or just further entrench them? I’m unconvinced that this is the way the UK should go.
Cosmopolitan February 2014 
Cosmo celebrated Facebook’s 10th birthday. Facebook has changed so much about how we interact with each other, brands and companies, but I can’t help feeling like it’s on its way out. Anyone else over Facebook?
Glamour February 2014 
With the unbelievable news that The Hunger Games: Catching Fire was the first film to top the US Box Office with a lead female protagonist in FORTY YEARS, Glamour discussed the Bechdel Test. This test determines how gender equal a film is by asking three questions: Does the film have two women in it? Who talk to each other? About something other than men? It’s surprising how many films fall down when you apply this to them.
I love that Glamour featured a female scientist in it’s monthly career progression column.
Cosmopolitan Body No.5 
Cosmo Body offered plenty of #Fitspiration. It has a mixture of recipes, fitness and exercise tips and general health and wellbeing articles. I found it helpful and not patronising.
I particularly liked this article which discussed the implication that a drastic change in your appearance can have on your mental wellbeing. Losing (or gaining) weight is not just a superficial change and it is good to see a fitness magazine exploring this.
Marie Claire February 2014 
I was really interested in this article which looked at the trend in hip-hop and other music genres to have dancers which fit a certain body type. Are videos which focus on women twerking exploitative or empowering? The dancers seemed to have the same argument – they are being paid good money so they must be being empowered. But in my mind, it’s too simplistic to think that money=power, especially for women in the entertainment industry.
I also really enjoyed the peek into Jimmy Nelson’s new photo book Before they Pass, Away, a look into tribal cultures.
What magazines have you been reading this month?
