No one needs to tell Cosmopolitan twice that sex sells. It is, after all, the number one women’s magazine with a total readership of almost three million, about two million of which comes from newsstand sales.
Cosmo doesn’t pretend to be sophisticated like its competitors, but it takes its naughty content to a non-frivolous level. Instead of spending their energy predicting the hottest new thing, or more accurately, the sexiest new thing, they strive to give their fun, fearless female readers the why behind sexiness. From tackling problems in the bedroom and providing endless tips on what attracts the opposite sex, Cosmo’s pages abound with explanation from Ph.D.s in psychology, anthropology, and medicine.
Unlike any other major women’s magazines, Cosmo doesn’t stop with sex and relationships. Its style and beauty features are far from smutty, educating its readers through fresh angles, solid reporting, and a smattering of academic studies to back up its points.
Anyone who follows seasonal makeup, for example, knows bold lips are a perennial fall favorite. Lucky’s November issue put the emphasis on new, sheer renditions of blackberry lipcolor and Allure used reds on their models for their August feature on lipstick’s recent comeback. Instead of reporting the new spin of a predictable trend, Cosmo got into the nitty gritty of how to pull off a crimson mouth and what message it sends to those around you. The feature opens with a one-two punch of quotes; “The color makes you look so sexy and dangerous at the same time,” from makeup expert Pat McGrath, immediately followed by “Voluptuous, dark red lips signal to men that a woman is in her prime and full of energy,” from relationship expert Scott Kudia, Ph.D. The main body of the article outlines three steps to perfect application with tips from two makeup artists and Lancome’s national artistic director. A sidebar describes how to sexily apply lipstick in public to grab a man’s attention with advice from psychologist Michael Cunningham: “If a woman looks like she’s enjoying perfecting her pout and the feeling of her lips pressed against the lipstick-instead of just swiping it on haphazardly- it signals to a guy on a subconscious level that she’s eager to be kissed.”
Sex is never far down on Cosmo’s agenda, but America doesn’t seem to mind. Circulation numbers show the publication’s reputation is solid with readers, and the editors could probably call themselves experts with little argument. But even as they put enthusiasm and energy into their raunchy content, as illustrated by the magazine’s perpetual articles on spicing up the bedroom, they approach reporting practices with the same (although presumably professional) resolve as their array of accredited sources illustrates. It’s clearly not for nothing that Cosmo is the number one women’s magazine in the US, though more tasteful publications like Lucky would hate to admit they should take this page from Cosmo’s book. But with the kind of circulation numbers Cosmo can boast, who can argue that smut can’t be smart?
–Aleta Burchyski
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