What’s wrong with you?
There’s a product for that
Hello, and welcome to Mag Hags - the culture and history newsletter that every modern woman should know. Join us as we dive even deeper into the glossy archives of women’s magazines to find out what's still hot and what's definitely not.
Mag Hags is an independently produced podcast and we set this newsletter up as a way for our listeners to support us. Come and discuss the features we talk about in the show, marvel at the adverts, enjoy vintage fashion, beauty and lifestyle tips, and get access to loads of other bonus bits. Plus episode transcripts straight to your inbox.
In 1992, Britain was, economically, on its arse.
Which makes it all the more intriguing that this issue of Cosmopolitan is more than 300 pages, bursting at the seams with ads selling everything from makeup to milk. That is, I think, indicative of where we are in the history of women’s lives in general and women’s magazines in particular. Have you listened to the episode yet?
Boom and bust
This freshly empowered labour force is smashing glass ceilings and enjoying careers their mothers couldn’t have dreamed of – so they’ll need to spend their disposable income on tights that will withstand climbing the corporate ladder, or multivitamins to keep them energised for smashing the patriarchy, or new suits to reflect the job they want.
But the scales of capitalism are unrelenting and absolute, and what is gained must inevitably be paid for. That newly acquired wealth must keep feeding the machine. And what more effective way to part women from their money than to diagnose a problem they didn’t know they had, and then present them with a product to fix it?
