New Woman? I Preferred The Old (New Woman)

Name: t4mof

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Product:	New Woman
Date:	17/06/04 (59 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: It passed ½ an hour

Disadvantages: Not what it used to be

Paul (the hubby) was travelling back down the M1 when I received a phone call from him.

?I need a drink but I?ve only got my credit card. Do you want a magazine??

?Yeah OK ? you know the kind I like ? She, New Woman, Eve, something like that?

Well being a man who knows his place and not wanting to make the wrong decision he bought all 3 for me.

New Woman used to be by far my favourite magazine. It was always the one I would choose off a newsagent?s shelf as it had a nice balance of humour and real life stories that I was interested in reading. In fact I used to read it like a book from cover to cover, folding over the corner of the page I had reached so I didn?t miss a single word.

However, it?s had a bit of a revamp. The New Woman headline on the front cover has been changed from a sophisticated two colour affair to a tacky looking multicoloured style and unfortunately the rest of the magazine seems to have followed suit.

The contents are split up into 8 sections ? Cover Stories, What A Girl Wants, Fast Fixes, Features, Fashion & Beauty, Health, Holiday & Homes and Regulars.

~ ~ ~ Cover Stories ~ ~ ~

As you might guess this gives a rundown of the stories that made it onto the front cover ? the ones that probably made you pick up the magazine in the first place. There were some interesting features highlighted including ?I was the Camden Rippers next victim? and ?Trapped in a car wreck and about to give birth.? Cover girl for this issue (March 2004) was Jennifer Aniston and inside there is an interview with her finding out what she plans to do now Friends has finished. To be fair, the above three articles were well written and made for an enjoyable read. T
he trouble is that?s where the interest for me finished.

~ ~ ~ What A Girl Wants ~ ~ ~

This is an addition to the magazine since I last read a copy and quite frankly I don?t know why they bothered. It looks like it has replaced a section that used to be called ?You?re Great You Are? which featured the inspirational stories of four women. This new section is much more frivolous and is basically several pages of fashion, make-up, fashion, make-up, fashion? you get the idea. Pages and pages of photos of fashion and make-up with very little to read has never interested me and unfortunately it seems to be the way this magazine has gone.

~ ~ ~ Fast Fixes ~ ~ ~

This part features readers problems and is split into 9 question and answer sections ? astro, beauty, cash, diet, fashion, homes, love, men and work ? although only about six of these are chosen each issue. The problem letters appear to have taken somewhat of a back seat too. There are actually only 12 problems answered which is more than a lot of magazines squeeze onto a problem page but these 12 letters are answered over a space of 12 pages. The rest of the space is filled with adverts, ?fun? facts, celebrity gossip and the like. And the ?astro? problem is a question about whether the reader (a Taurus) will ever get on with her new boss (an Aries). I always thought part of the reason for problem pages was to help others in similar situations but when I read that, my immediate reaction was ?Who cares??

Following on from the much slimmed down problem pages is Celebrity Spy, another new addition since I last read New Woman. If you enjoy magazines such as Now and Closer then this is the kind of section that would interest you. But I feel that if that?s the kind of thing you want to read about then you?d buy that type of mag
azine. In New Woman it was another 11 pages that I merely skimmed. There was practically nothing worth reading in the section and the majority of the ?journalism? was made up with photos.

~ ~ ~ Features ~ ~ ~

Finally we get onto something worth reading ? the articles. These included the cover stories mentioned earlier and 2 or 3 other interesting reports. The features in this issue included How To Get A Whopping Pay Rise, How Normal Is Your Sex Life? and What It Feels To Be A Playboy Playmate. These made for OK reading but I couldn?t help feeling like I was reading sensationalist tabloid type journalism.

~ ~ ~ Fashion & Beauty ~ ~ ~

The next nearly 60 pages were devoted to my least favourite part of any magazine ? fashion and beauty. I?ve never been interested in looking at page after page of clothes I wouldn?t buy even if money was no object. Now I know this is probably a personal thing and there are loads of you out there that love the fashion pages in magazines but they always have and always will bore me rigid. And again there are plenty of magazines out there which are devoted to fashion and beauty. I?ve always bought New Woman for the quality of articles so this really disappointed me.

~ ~ ~ Health ~ ~ ~

The health section was quite small and didn?t really feature anything new or different that I hadn?t read before ? did you know smoking is bad for you? apparently!

~ ~ ~ Holiday & Homes ~ ~ ~

The last section featured short breaks and reports of holidays taken by the readers. This issue highlighted holidays that had changed the lives of several women and was quite an interesting read. The ?Homes? part consisted of 2 pages of photos of shoddy items that probably woul
dn?t make it through the front door of most people?s homes.

~ ~ ~ Regulars ~ ~ ~

These are dotted throughout the magazine and include the letters page, Cringe ? a letters page which details embarrassing moments sent in by readers. These used to be funny but in this issue I found some of them a little far-fetched which took away the humour. Also there's the stars for the month and a page called ?Out Of The Closet? which shows various celebs in little black dresses. Again at the back of New Woman there used to be ?The Interesting Bit At The Back? which did exactly what it said on the tin! Now they?ve gone for the cheaper, tackier option of printing well used photos of celebrities.

~ ~ ~ Overall ~ ~ ~

As you may have guessed I was disappointed with this issue of New Woman. I don?t know whether it?s the changes that have been made to the magazine or whether I?ve changed in what I want from a magazine. I suspect it?s a bit of both. But on more than one occasion in the past I have been close to subscribing to New Woman as it really was one of my favourites. To be honest I was relieved to get to the end of this issue.

My general impression is that they?ve lost direction and are not sure what kind of audience they want to appeal to. They have tried to mix elements of lots of other magazines available and the end result is a mish-mash of not very appealing reading. It certainly won?t be my first choice of magazine in the future. Both She and Eve, which Paul also bought, had far more to offer and I?d much rather spend my hard earned cash on either of those.

~ ~ ~ Details ~ ~ ~

New Woman
Price: £2.70 monthly
Web: www.newwoman.co.uk
Audience: late teens to mid 20s
Availability: widely avai
lable in most newsagents and can be found among the women?s monthly glossies.

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