Quash The Magazine Beauty Myth

Glossy magazines are the guilty – or not so guilty – pleasure of hundreds of thousands of women. And, offering a few hours of easy and interesting entertainment, it’s hardly surprising that we keep buying and enjoying them. The shelves of newsagents and supermarkets are bursting with everything from high-fashion mags to gossip rags or cookery titles in an aim to quench the thirst for the beauty-tips, healthy eating plans, celebrity news and fun stories that make up the typical woman’s magazine.

While there are hundreds of different titles, with some of them very genre specific, there are certain trends that can be easily identified within the genre of ‘women’s mags’. For example, many magazines are devoted to helping woman make the best of themselves – from offering diet and health advice to fashion guides for people of all shapes and sizes. However, it’s important to make sure you remember that while these magazines provide great entertainment and some interesting tips and tricks, there are times when you’re better trusting your own judgement.

In recent years, there has been a definite and growing feeling that the types of beauty shown in magazines has a direct affect on the way women feel about themselves, and sometimes it can be more self-image damaging than confidence boosting. The continued use of skinny models and air brushed celebrities means that the women you look at in magazines are quite often not even real women – let alone representative of the average woman on the street.

This means that it’s very important for readers to be aware of the fact that the pictures they are seeing of beautifully made up and slim models aren’t likely to be easy for them to achieve in their own lives. This becomes an even more crucial idea to reinforce when the readers are young. Many pre-teens and girls are keen to move on to reading magazines aimed at older audiences when they are really too young for the content. However, because things such as fashion magazines don’t tend to feature explicit images, they can easily be sold to youngsters without a second thought.

So, not only should you remember to vet magazines for information that could damage your own self esteem, you should be especially conscious of making sure no negative feelings are passed on to your younger contemporaries.

Luckily, the trend for using unrealistic ideal of beauty in fashion shoots and magazines has suffered from a huge backlash in recent years, and could be on the decrease – meaning it’ll be easier for you to enjoy all the positive beauty tips, fashion advice and entertaining stories these magazines can provide.