I Am That Person Who Writes Letters to the Editor

[shaenon]

Dear Newsweek Editors,

Over the past weeks, I've watched in dismay as the debate over the Affordable Care Act turned into an attack on women's health, right-wing pundits railed against birth control, politicians defended draconian anti-abortion laws by comparing pregnant women to breeding livestock, Republicans united to block the Violence Against

Comments

[lysystratae]

In Newsweek??? Gahhhg

[jeffreycwells]

On behalf of Wisconsin, or at least on behalf of the part of Wisconsin who thinks that Walker is acting like an unholy lizard / weasel hybrid fresh from a Vaseline bath, I apologize.

[rowena742]

Ever since Tina Brown took over Newsweek, it's basically become a British tabloid. I am not impressed, either.

[mikailborg]

The Newsweek cover has been inspired by the recent hit novel "50 Shades of Grey", detailing a woman's journey into a BDSM relationship. Both the novel and the article have in common that no one ever got around to asking actual kinky people what their thoughts and motivations were, because that would be hard.

[shaenon]

The annoying thing is, if they absolutely had to do a cover story on "Fifty Shades of Grey," there are so many other angles they could have gone for. They could have talked about the growing self-publishing and ebook market, and the book's roots in fanfiction (which is the angle Entertainment Weekly took for its "Fifty Shades" cover story, and yes, every damn magazine has been doing "Fifty Shades" coverage). They could have talked about "mom porn" and the lucrative world of porn for women. They could have talked about the modern kink scene.

Instead they hired a prominent anti-feminist to spit out an unresearched op-ed about how women secretly want to live on the planet Gor. No friggin' work went into this thing. (It's especially sad watching Roiphe try to spin "Fifty Shades" as part of a strange and unprecedented new trend in erotic fantasy. Doesn't every decade have its own BDSM novel/movie that finds mainstream success?)

[mikailborg]

Right, cause "Exit to Eden" and "The Secretary" never happened. (Now, the latter's a movie that got some things right...)

[jaderabbit]

I haven't read _Fifty Shades of Grey_, but it was a remarkably poorly-written article. I didn't look at the byline; just assumed it was written by an intern.

[jered]

I agree with you, but do be aware that the cover choice is there solely to attract newsstand impulse buys. In areas where Newsweek (and Time) are subscription driven, the inside content is the same but the covers are not as sensationalistic. This explains the periodic outrage where we see the international cover with something newsworthy, and the US cover being celebrity gossip (or worse).

But really, I find The Economist has better US coverage in it's tiny US-centric section than Time and Newsweek combined.

[shaenon]

Oh, sure, I know how the game's played. You can tell it's a low-circulation month because you get either naked lady back or Jesus. It's the article attached to the cover (okay, and the creepy ass headline: "The Secret Life of Working Women: Why Surrender Is a Feminist Dream") that bugs me.

[jaderabbit]

I wonder if they sent a different cover to subscribers. Sometimes mags do that.