I know, I know, it’s been awhile since I’ve done a Women’s Mag Watch. Forgive me. But I had a chance to read through a good chunk of the stack of magazines in my office today, so I?m back with an analysis of the March issue of Glamour (Liv Tyler on the cover):
Page 209 has a short (too short in my book) interview with Laura Sessions Stepp on her book Unhooked. As always, Stepp does a good job of laying out the downside to the hook-up culture:
“As these young women find out, it’s harder than they think not to become emotionally involved. One girl told me she started off at Duke University thinking that freedom meant taking any guy you want to bed- but that she hadn’t considered the morning after. It’s hard not to get upset when you find out a guy you’ve been hooking up with is sleeping with another girl, even if you’re not supposed to care. Some can handle it; others are emotionally exhausted.”
As for potential long-term consequences:
“Hookup culture breeds cynicism and a lack of trust between the sexes. I worry about the implications for marriage: Dating someone seriously is like practicing for a long-term relationship. Will young people have the skills to sustain a marriage and make it better, or will they just say, ‘This isn’t worth it,’ and leave?”
You are hereby advised the skip the Jane Fonda interview on the following page (as if I really have to tell you that) and fast forward to the interview with Meredith Vieira on page 214:
Question: “So, 30 years ago you were criticized for leaving a job at 60 Minutes after you had your second child. Last year Elizabeth Vargas at ABC News was criticized for doing the same thing. Seems the more things change, the more they stay the same.
MV: “It’s true. Much has been made about Nancy Pelosi being the first female Speaker of the House and that Hillary Rodham Clinton, if she runs, could become the first female president. I think we are our own worst enemy when we attach significance to “first woman” this or that. It should be irrelevant whether you are a woman.”
Word.