Cosmopolitan and the Archetype of the “Fun, Fearless Female”

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Women will do just about anything to feel good about themselves. Everything from painstakingly fixing their hair, makeup, and outfits daily, to dieting and exercising constantly, to paying exorbitant prices for psychological counseling, luxurious vacations, or plastic surgery treatments; they do just to try to make peace with themselves, to get a little closer to that rare feeling of happiness. Compared to these outlandish options, buying a $4.00 magazine seems like a great fix for a day when you’re down. Young adult and adult women (ages 18-39, roughly) today face a struggle that did not exist for previous generations. In their article explaining this phenomenon, Kathleen Hart and Maureen Kenny claim that “changed cultural norms simultaneously emphasize traditional feminine gender-role characteristics such as being beautiful and being a good mother, and traditional masculine gender-role characteristics such as achievement in the workplace, self-reliance and separation from parents” and that as a result, “girls may also be experiencing conflict regarding cultural expectations for success in multiple, and sometimes contradictory, roles” (Hart and Kenny web). The manufacturers of Cosmopolitan magazine create an image of a modern day “Superwoman” who excels in all of these roles—the manifestation of Cosmo‘s slogan, “fun, fearless, female”. They prey on the common insecurities, fears, hopes, desires, and dreams that women have by promising to pick up the slack where women fall short with tips, info, and advice. Success stories of “ordinary” women who have reconciled the discrepancies of their femininity to find not only professional but also domestic fulfillment also convince women that with the magazine’s help, they can accomplish th...

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...man Ideal and Other Risk Factors for Eating Disturbances in Adolescent Girls." ERIC – World’s Largest Digital Library of Education Literature. Apr. 1997. Web. 9 Apr. 2011. .

Hinshaw, Stephen P., and Rachel Kranz. The Triple Bind: Saving Our Teenage Girls from Today's Pressures and Conflicting Expectations. New York: Ballantine Trade Paperbacks, 2009. Print.

Knoll, Jessica. "Why Men in Love Are Dragging Their Feet." Cosmopolitan Mar. 2011: 112-15. Print.

Knoll, Jessica. "Why Men in Love Are Dragging Their Feet." Cosmopolitan Mar. 2011: 112-15. Print.

Lee, Annabelle. "“Salary Wars”." Cosmopolitan Oct. 2010: 264-66. Print.

Miller, Korin. "“The One Time to Always Tell Him ‘I Love You’." Cosmopolitan Nov. 2010: 110-13. Print.

Prato, Alison. ""Katy Perry"" Cosmopolitan Nov. 2010: 35-38. Print.

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