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MAGAZINES
Cosmo Has Run Same Story Every Month For 27 Years
WASHINGTON (CAP) - Cosmopolitan magazine has been rewriting the same cover story every month since 1986, according to a new study out of the Pew Research Center.
"The headline and some of the text may change slightly, but for all intents and purposes it's the same story," said Dr. Francis Spitznagel, chief researcher for the center. "For instance, one story may refer to the vadge, another to the va-jay-jay. But they're all essentially the same story about naughty sex techniques that will drive him wild."
The findings have drawn criticism from some in the journalism community, who say the practice is unethical.
"This is a black eye the industry simply does not need," said Roderick Singleton of the Poynter Institute for Media Studies. "If we weren't so busy trying to figure out how to keep all the newspapers from going out of business, we would be all over the sex techniques."
According to the Pew study, every issue of Cosmo since 1986 has offered basically the same tips to its readers, such as "kiss the soft patch of skin under his ear" and "brush your teeth with mint toothpaste" before putting a part of his body into your mouth.
"They change the part or parts of his body each month, which is how they get away with running the same story every time," said Spitznagel. "They seem very methodical about it - they'll cycle through 16 or 17 different parts that they claim will respond positively to mint toothpaste, then start again at the beginning.
"It's not that there's no creativity involved," said Spitznagel. "Some of these parts are definitely not ones that usually get used in the same sentence as toothpaste. At least not at my dentist."
For her part, Cosmo editor-in-chief Joanna Coles - author of How To Set His Thighs and 16 or 17 of His Other Parts on Fire - is unapologetic about the practice.
"First off, there are plenty of other things in the magazine, like the celebrity makeup tips," she said, admitting however that those tips too are basically the same each month, just with a different celebrity who looks like a transvestite.
But she also said that it would be difficult for anybody to feature sex tips every month for so many years without there being some duplication.
"There are only so many crazy-hot sex moves that will drive him wild while giving you your own feel-good va-jay-jay explosions," she said. "Because let's face it, what most of us really want to do is just lie there until it's time for a latte."
This isn't the first time the magazine has come under fire, with both Barack Obama and John McCain calling its cover "tasteless and offensive" during the presidential campaign in 2008. And some, like Darlene Fortenski of Mothers Against Everything (MAE), have suggested that rather than duplicate the same tips every month, the magazine start a feature that teaches young women how to make good choices.
"Not every girl wants to be a man's lucky sex bitch," she noted, adding that the term "lucky sex bitch" printed in 72-point type is not an easy one to explain to a 7-year-old on line at the supermarket. "Why not, Be his good-choice gal?" suggested Fortenski, who admitted that she didn't read Cosmo, although she once picked up a copy of Glamour in her doctor's office "and felt flush for a week."
Meanwhile, studies on the topic will continue at the Pew Center, thanks to a team of dedicated researchers. "We haven't had this much interest in a study since the one we did on superheroine breast size," noted Spitznagel. "Only this one was a little different, because some of the women in Cosmo are sort of real."
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