What’s wrong with this picture?

[Meow Mix]

Who knows whether this is a fair characterization of these particular zines, but it is food for thought.

 

[lewisnotmiller]

I'd be interested to know their relative levels of readership.
Boys I knew might buy sports or car magazines when they were young (and I had some aircraft ones or something) but I don't remember ANYONE having something life the one on the right.
Whereas my sister had a stack somewhat similar to the one on the left.

 

[SomeRandom]

In fairness, the demographics of young girls do tend to skew towards fashion. Whereas younger boys may gravitate towards outdoor activities.
Granted I think both are going to be niche anyway. Since there’s far more variety for both demographics these days. Hell as a little one my friend and I religiously collected this James Bond magazine collection (some celebration for an anniversary.) Both of us are females so I mean, buy whichever magazine you want. A little boy wants to buy one advertised for females. Good for him, go for it. And if people give him crap, tell him to pretend to be looking at the chicks lol

 

[Meow Mix]

In fairness, the demographics of young girls do tend to skew towards fashion. Whereas younger boys may gravitate towards outdoor activities.
Granted I think both are going to be niche anyway. Since there’s far more variety for both demographics these days. Hell as a little one my friend and I religiously collected this James Bond magazine collection (some celebration for an anniversary.) Both of us are females so I mean, buy whichever magazine you want. A little boy wants to buy one advertised for females. Good for him, go for it. And if people give him crap, tell him to pretend to be looking at the chicks lol

Therein lies the rub though: perhaps young girls are more interested in fashion and therefore fashion magazines because of the way society raises little girls. I know how I was raised, and it probably wasn't like how I would have been raised if I were a boy. I don't blame my parents directly, I do blame the way society says it's acceptable to raise boys and girls to value different things.

 

[Meow Mix]

I'd be interested to know their relative levels of readership.
Boys I knew might buy sports or car magazines when they were young (and I had some aircraft ones or something) but I don't remember ANYONE having something life the one on the right.
Whereas my sister had a stack somewhat similar to the one on the left.

I found the Boy's Life magazine: September 2016

Research ongoing. I'm technically ****ing off from my homework right now. Whoops. I'm so bad.

 

[Meow Mix]

I did find this excellent image of what Girl's Life magazine COULD be (I confirmed that most of their issues are of similar scope as the OP)

 

[lewisnotmiller]

I did find this excellent image of what Girl's Life magazine COULD be (I confirmed that most of their issues are of similar scope as the OP)

I'd be waaay happier if my daughter's were reading your version that the other.

To be fair, I don't think either of them are likely to read the real version. We shall see though. One is now...(pause for dramatic effect)...a TEENAGER!

 

[SomeRandom]

Therein lies the rub though: perhaps young girls are more interested in fashion and therefore fashion magazines because of the way society raises little girls. I know how I was raised, and it probably wasn't like how I would have been raised if I were a boy. I don't blame my parents directly, I do blame the way society says it's acceptable to raise boys and girls to value different things.

Well of course, the nature vs nurture argument comes into play. But I think whilst it does shape young minds, it’s not the be all and end all either. I knew young boys who despite their upbringing liked fashion. I would prefer society becomes more “androgynous” in its approach to child rearing. And given the discussions in third wave feminism, it does look like that’s where we’re heading in the future

 

[Meow Mix]

Well of course, the nature vs nurture argument comes into play. But I think whilst it does shape young minds, it’s not the be all and end all either. I knew young boys who despite their upbringing liked fashion. I would prefer society becomes more “androgynous” in its approach to child rearing. And given the discussions in third wave feminism, it does look like that’s where we’re heading in the future

I hear ya. I'm not saying let's nix the fashion in magazines, or even necessarily that this magazine is a problem (maybe there are less superficial girl magazines, and this just makes for a good visual representation of this problem). It's like the Bechdel Test in a way. I'm just hoping that girls get the same encouragement to think big as boys do.

 

[ChristineM]

I must have been a real odd girl, no magazines intil mid teens then..

 

[SomeRandom]

I hear ya. I'm not saying let's nix the fashion in magazines, or even necessarily that this magazine is a problem (maybe there are less superficial girl magazines, and this just makes for a good visual representation of this problem). It's like the Bechdel Test in a way. I'm just hoping that girls get the same encouragement to think big as boys do.

I think society is making strides towards this. You know I remember seeing all sorts of kids books geared towards celebrating women pioneers in various fields spring up a few years back. I’m seeing more variety than when even I was a kid. We will stumble but I remain optomistic

 

[9-10ths_Penguin]

Therein lies the rub though: perhaps young girls are more interested in fashion and therefore fashion magazines because of the way society raises little girls. I know how I was raised, and it probably wasn't like how I would have been raised if I were a boy. I don't blame my parents directly, I do blame the way society says it's acceptable to raise boys and girls to value different things.

I don't remember my parents getting gendered magazines for my sister or me. Both of us mostly read Owl or Chickadee.

Edit: though by the time my sister was a teen, she'd buy pop culture magazines aimed at girls with her own money.

One thing I've noticed, though: lots of (IMO necessary) initiatives to encourage girls to go into traditionally male-dominated fields - for instance - but relatively few aimed at increasing the acceptance of men in traditionally female-dominated fields.

I have trouble deciding how much of this is because it's the women who have been more disadvantaged by gender roles, and how much of it is based on a different layer of sexism that suggests it's more acceptable for a woman to want to be "like a man" than it is for a man to want to be "like a woman."