Complex guide

Yesterday I ran into a whole pile of magazines. They call them beauty magazines, but I guess the opposite word would fit just as well... I personally see most of the content as a very cruel advertising for the beauty industry. When 90% of the clothes are more expensive than most women afford or are willing to spend, and more than half (when at least a third is perfume advertising, which I love) consists of diet advice, plastic surgery and other beauty procedures, what is the use of the few articles that tell you to believe in yourself? They just make you feel bad. Aaa, your weight is ok? Well, we can find some other defect for you. Maybe your breasts are too small. See, one way or another you NEED surgery. Who cares you're 15? You need eye cream and for sure your legs are blasting with cellulite. Then they put photos of stupid bimboes who apparently are the idols of the new generation. Poor generation, who looks up to anorexics and surgery-addicts. Most of the real fashion icons were appreciated for the how genuinely they express interesting personalities in their looks. My personal favorites are Katharine Hepburn (not Audrey, she was just a black and white Barbie), Nathalie Wood (almost as beautiful as Carmina Ordonez :P, some might know what I'm speaking about), Allie McGraw (mixture of college and hippie, great hair), Sarah Jessica-Parker (some might hate me for this) or the new-comer Sienna Miller. And the most depressive part is that after these magazines encourage and greet you for being an independent woman (one of their favorite words), they write articles on relationships. And here Cosmo is not too far from what I used to read when I was 14... rules and rules and attempts to translate the male mind and body for helpless "independent" women. But what pissed me off most was an article in Elle (and Elle was for me a fashion magazine and had nothing to do with the swamp of girly magazines) that was apparently about how a woman learned to be alone. Well, after the initial bullshit with 'now I have time for all the things I left aside when I was in a relationship', we get the same discourse of 'he's out there... you just have to wait... no, better put yourself out there... always get a Brazilian wax, just to feel sexy and then... read more girly magazines to learn about how men work'. I feel offended. And I now understand why most men hate this kind of press. I like men. They are my best friends (no offense, girls), my best teachers, my best lovers (and only ones :P). I don't think any frustrated lady should write about men as if they had remote controls. And I don't approve articles that teach you how to 'manipulate' your boyfriend. It's nonsense and all that control is illusory, they know the game and play it because it's fun, you're not some wonderful hypnosis masters just because you can give good head. Playboy doesn't write about how to make your girlfriend less jealous, so why should Glamour write about how to make your boyfriend more romantic? I think women will stop being so frustrated about their relationships when they can accept that men are different and they are just fine the way they are. And enjoy this. We have become more successful, more educated, more independent (I can't believe I'm using this word), but not wiser. Actually, I guess we are a bit more stupid when it comes to our social behavior, rounded by contradictions... a tradition that makes marriage compulsory in your meaningful life as a woman and an emancipation that gives you the choice. Maybe we girls should just put the magazines in a drawer and go out for a coffee with a male friend. And just listen, be there with a friend and not a gendered person.