Equality in Canada - Cosmopolitan Magazine

2523 Words11 Pages
I found myself thinking sociologically when I realized that equality in Canada has been changing over time, evidenced by the covers of the popular magazine, “The Cosmopolitan.” This magazine was first published in 1886, and is now printed in 35 languages and distributed in over 110 countries. On the cover of each magazine since its creation, there has been a photograph of a woman, along with headlines of articles to grab the reader’s attention. Over time, the photos of the women have been changing from what started out to be professional and fully clothed older women, to current issues in which we often see teenage celebrities wearing minimal amounts of clothing. These changes are attributed to the changing of the target readers of the magazine. The articles featured on the cover started out to be about book reviews, current news, and/or political events. Today the articles are about pleasing one’s man, how to lose weight, and how to have great sex. The changes observed on the covers speaks to the fact that society as a whole has been continuously changing, thus the creators of the magazine are simply keeping up with the demand of their readers. As Canadian women observe the covers of magazines, such as Cosmopolitan changing, one may start to wonder what has happened in society to create such a demand for seeing women presented this way, and why the consumers of this magazine wish to see such a skewed version of reality . This paper will examine how the covers of Cosmopolitan magazine have continuously changed over time, in terms of both the portrayal of gender and sexuality of the women on the cover, the articles featured on the cover, and how have these influenced the demographics of their readership . ~2~ These changes allow one to have a better understanding of the social norms for women, and how they have changed over time. These social norms create

More about Equality in Canada - Cosmopolitan Magazine

Open Document