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MissAttitude
Freelance Writer, Blogger and Adjunct Professor
I'm a professional woman in my 30s who's spent the last 13 years working in TV news. I love shoes, shopping and blogging. I also have an advice column. In the name of full disclosure I have to admit I don’t have a background in psychology, unless you count that one college course freshman year ...
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Do men read women's magazines?

Tuesday, May, 20, 2008

I was recently reading Cosmo.. or maybe it was Allure.. hmmm.. no Cosmo..  Anyway, I was reading an article about tips to flirting.  It said a woman should gently touch a man's arm during conversation to show she's interested.  Not exactly brain surgery, but I could have sworn I'd read it in more than one women's magazine in the past few months.  And to be honest I didn't think a lot about it, until this weekend.

I was at a party with one of my friends, and I'm not exaggerating when I say at least six guys touched my arm at some point that night while they were talking to me.  After the first few times I began to wonder, are me reading these magazines too?  Is that where they're getting their dating advice? 

I even pointed this fact out to my friend and she laughed and thought the idea was  definitely blog worthy.  So last night, at book club after we were done discussing the book (because we actually do that), I told some of the girls.  I just knew they'd be just as amused.

But the first thing one of them said was "What were you wearing?"  When I answered, she said it wasn't a surprise men were touching my arm.  This is the dress:
<span class=thedress.jpg" src="http://www.skirt.com/files/xinha_images/4106/thedress.jpg" width="260" style="width: 260px; height: 298px" />

But I guarantee you, I don't quite look like that in this dress.  Plus, I'm short so it's longer on me.  Definitely to my knees.  And you guessed it, I'm not thin like that or leggy.  But, I do admit I fill out the top pretty well.  Nonetheless, I still think the coincidence is peculiar.

For most of the party I was just sitting on a bar stool at the bar.  I wasn't doing anything to attract any of the men's attention.  Just being myself, talking to my friend and some of the people at the party.  Well, maybe that was the key, not that they'd read the article too.  Maybe by not being interested I seemed more interesting.  Wait, I'm sure that's a tip in one of those articles too, right?  So if the men read that, did they just think I was playing hard to get?  And how do I find out if men's new dating techniques are to use our own weapons against us? 

I'm not sure many of the men talking to me that night would admit to reading Cosmo, even I asked and they did.  In fact, one so entertainingly told all of the women standing around he'd hook up with all of us, but wouldn't marry a single one of us.  He said, "I love myself too much."  Touché.

Stylishly yours,
Miss Attitude

www.missattitude.us

 


margaret
margaret
Posted Tue, 05/20/2008 - 09:21
it sounds like your friends' advice is to wear sweatpants out at night, but my advice would be to go a bar with less ego-driven men ;)
Angelia
Angelia
Posted Tue, 05/20/2008 - 10:18
Sounds more like your friends were just curious how to get some action too!! btw....can you send the dress my way when your done with it? ~Ang
TrippHuntress
TrippHuntress
Posted Tue, 05/20/2008 - 10:26
I think that a man would never admit to reading a woman's magazine unless he was trying to pick the woman up! He especially wouldn't say it in front of another man! As for you, I would venture to guess that you had some confidence in you that made the men want to touch you in some way. It could have been your body language (even on a bar stool) or a comliment you received that could have exuded what you were portraying. I bet that dress did look good, so don't sell yourself short!! (no pun intended!)
cmckesson
cmckesson
Posted Fri, 06/13/2008 - 18:37
You suggest that men would be embarrassed to admit to reading a woman's magazine. To this I can only lament that you need to meet a better class of men! After all, I am here reading Skirt! blogs, and am not in the least embarrassed to be doing so. Really, I'm left rather tongue-tied at trying to imagine how insecure a fella would have to be to find such a thing embarrassing. Thanks for listening. Chris
MissAttitude
MissAttitude
Posted Tue, 05/20/2008 - 13:37
What an unexpected boost of confidence today:) Thanks for reading and I appreciate your comments. BTW - the dress is on sale at New York & Company for $28. It's a bargain and it's comfy!
Stylishly yours,
Miss Attitude
www.missattitude.us