City Journal recently published my feature on women’s magazines from 1963 and today, called “Journey through the check-out racks.” Women’s lives, and what women expect from their magazines, have all changed a great deal in 50 years, though not always in the ways we imagine. While the piece is on the long-ish side (about 3500 words) I enjoyed writing it, and I hope you’ll enjoy reading it over this 4th of July long weekend!
I enjoyed reading the article. It was surprising to me to see that range and depth of reading material available within those magazines, especially compared to magazines now. I wonder whether lots of women read those magazines the way I read the ones available now. I don’t normally read them, but when I do, I find the advertisements funny, the pictures interesting, and I’m constantly thinking, “The editors must be convinced that I am an idiot with some attention disorder.”
I was curious though. In the article you mentioned that GH had 5.5 million readership and LHJ had 7 million out of the 50 million women between ages 18-64. Do you have an idea about what those numbers are now?