Racy Redbook

When one thinks of racy articles and bedroom tips, Redbook isn't the first magazine to come to mind. But a writer at a Christian website finds recent reading in the July issue of the women's magazine a little too titillating to take:

I've referred in the past to modern-day women's magazines as a bellweather of cultural decline, but I think it's worth repeating. Sitting in a doctor's waiting room leafing through magazines, as I was recently, can end up being an eye-opening experience. And even if you can handle it ... or just decide to stop reading ... imagine your young teenage daughter picking up that innocent-looking women's magazine. What behavior will she end up believing society condones?

When I was a child, I remember looking through the magazines my mother had around the house. I don't think she ever gave a second thought to what I might come across, nor should she have. My, how things have changed.

But back to Redbook's July issue ...

In a section titled "Handbook: Your Sex Life," there are 56 suggestions for how to "feel sexy in a flash!" Here's the subheading: "Whether you've got a free hour and a hot partner in crime to share it with or just a precious few moments to yourself, it's a snap to unleash your inner vixen with these steamy to-do's."

...

I contacted the PR person at Redbook asking whether they'd like to make any comment about my contention that women's magazines have shifted dramatically toward more graphic adult-oriented material, and that so much of it is non-kid-friendly. After inquiring where this column would appear, she pulled up the website while I waited. I can honestly and without exaggeration say that her voice dripped with disdain when she asked if this were some kind of "Christian activist website." I explained that it was, indeed, a Christian website ... and I was, indeed, a Christian. As of this writing, I haven't heard back. Sex, titillation, and yawning at immoral behavior have always sold magazines. But they used to be the kind that came in brown wrappers, not the kind that sit on kitchen tables and in doctors' waiting rooms. So beware of wolves in sheep's clothing -- or in this case, vulgarity and immorality all wrapped up as "great news and information you need," to quote Redbook's editor-in-chief.

Have women's magazines--even the not-so-sexy ones like Redbook--gotten more and more salacious with time? Has it gotten so bad that you wouldn't allow your young ones to flip through an issue? Or is this writer's concern much ado about nothing?

The estimable Mr. Magazine recently noted that Redbook subscribers got a different cover than readers who bought their July issue on the newsstand. Single copy buyers got a "sex tip" from the ever-perky Kelly Ripa, but subscribers got a "love tip." Perhaps Redbook is sexing up their image after all. I've heard that sells.

Comments

[Kat Coble]

When I worked in publishing marketing four years ago, the overall sexiness of Redbook was a hot (ha!) topic indeed.

Most of the women at my company spent a lot of lunch hours talking about how quasi-pornographic it had gotten. (Oddly enough, I think only one of them actually CANCELLED their subscription.)

I personally decided I'd stop leaving it out for company to read in the guest bathroom, and I definitely wouldn't allow any kids in my house to stumble across it. It's very graphic...in fact, some of the articles remind me a little bit of some web "erotica" I've,er, happened upon.

[Petra Fulton]

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