In college, I took a course that used Vogue and Glamour as it's main texts. It talked about dissecting an article, on reacting to articles, and reading the overall tone or intended audience of an issue. Needless to say, I adored that course. In it, I received one of my highest grades in my college career. But it also changed the way I looked at magazines.
A few months ago, I opened my monthly edition of Cosmopolitan and felt absolutely nothing. None of the articles pertained to me. I am currently living with the love of my life, so the Tinder article was rendered useless to me. I was already sick of both Clinton and Trump, so the Editor's column about how great Hillary is didn't appeal to me in any way. I had already purchased 7 of the 10 "Top 10 under $10" beauty products, one of my favorite sections. I looked at those beloved glossy pages and felt nothing. This issue, as my college degree taught me (this knowledge was not worth what I paid for it by the way) was geared toward a Democratic, sex crazed, Pinterest deprived, single female... and I didn't fit those prerequisites.
Since cancelling my monthly subscription, I have bought an issue of Cosmo on occasion. A great deal of the articles do not pertain to me... but there is an energy that only Cosmo has in each page. It's hard not to buy into the 'girl power energy' that is spread across each page. But still, I am a moderately conservative, not single, 20-something... and no matter what articles I read that dispute those things I believe in, those things are part of who I am. I'll keep being me but thank you for the occasional enlightening insight Cosmo.