Some might argue that a person cannot judge a magazine by its cover. However a critical gaze at the cover of the November issue of Cosmopolitan magazine proves that the cover is not only an indication of the contents of the magazine, but also demonstrates the cover model image forced onto women in American society. By just glancing at the cover, one would see a model holding a Cosmo magazine in her right arm. But a more critical eye would see that the model looks emaciated and vulnerable; that her fuchsia vest looks as if it were made for Secretary Barbie; that her blue jeans look as if they were painted on, and barely hung on to her nonexistent hipbones; that although in her right arm she holds the magazine, her left hand rests suggestively on her slightly bent, cracked open leg. Slapped on the front cover, the titles of featured articles for "intellectually" stimulating reading scream for girls to not only read these articles, but to base their lives on these articles, and thus mimic society's ideals: "Be His Best Ever," "His Moan Zoans," "Cosmo's Guide to Dating Mucho Men," "Vote these Dudes Nude," "Ask the Cosmo Kitty," and "Helen Gurley Brown's I'm Wild Again." Although the magazine's depiction of women as weak, stupid, and sub-servient disgusts me, what disgusts me further is the reality that these artificial and repulsive images are commonplace in the mass media, and that women have accepted these images as truths.
             In fact, not only are these images common in popular culture, but mass distribution and consumerism feed the machines that create these deceiving images and disempowering messages, ignoring their negative effects on women as they cause negative body images, stereotypes, and sexism. Cosmo magazine as well as many other women's, teen and men's magazines are guilty of defamation of the female character with the...