i'm getting REALLY REALLY sick of magazines "especially for women", magazines for "women musicians", etc...i'm now seeing that they are doing us more HARM than good. Yes, I know this comes from ME, the person who, for a couple years, ran a site called "estrogen music". haha. My opinions are changing. Estrogen Music was definitely one-sided, representing women as a minority in music. However, i feel slightly consoled by the fact that there's the difference: Estrogen Music didn't have a column on cosmetics, or a fashion tips page, or any of that pandering-to-women crap. We talked about music and musicians and the business for what it was, and didn't try to make it seem like we were superior, or like we were "different because we're women", or like women needed "special treatment". What i was trying to do was create a site where women could discuss music and display their music in a professional atmosphere. We talked about music in terms of the MUSIC, AS musicians.

This rant is coming from a trip to the mailbox today, where i found waiting for me a premier issue of a new magazine designed for female entrepreneurs. I won't name the magazine here, because i'm not advertising it. At first glance it looked clean, simple, and businesslike, which would be fitting to any business magazine. Then i saw the bouquet of flowers. And a spelling error on the COVER. And the pink pastel borders on the pages inside. Fuck. I'm REALLY sick of these overhyped salespitches to women that they need a magazine that is all "girly" in order for it to serve them equally. That's not equal. Can we please have have a magazine that simply cuts through all the analytical self help hype about women and age old stories of inequality, and take a radical step forward and actually BE equal by discussing topics of real entrepreneurial interest? Instead of selling the "hear me roar" hype, start a new trend by actually being a business magazine, not a cosmo-ripoff that has the odd column about business suits. Give me something that talks equally about women and men in business, or in fact doesn't even discuss gender, instead of painting everything into an overhyped "yay women" stance. Hey, for easy starters, if you're a magazine about business, DON'T have a section on FASHION. DUH!!! Don't talk down to us, don't treat us like some special interest group. That's what we moved away from years ago and your approach is actually trying to peg us at a point miles behind where we actually ARE.


oy.