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things i learned from this month’s cosmo

You guys! It’s time to learn things from Cosmo! How exciting! Exclamation point!

1. Let’s get things started with a new and probably one-time-only feature: the in-depth analysis of the cover:

the hot issue!

The Hot Issue, eh? I wonder if this means that Cosmo will finally start talking about sex.

125 sex moves

Do you think guys still like blowjobs?

hit on all the time!

Oh, I really love annoying my friends, for one thing. For another thing, do they really mean all the time? Because that’s not such a good idea. “You want to know what my sign is? My sign is STOP TRYING TO FOLLOW ME INTO THE LADIES’ ROOM.”

orgasm whisperer

Are orgasms like dogs and you have to be their pack leader?

sex extras

His sex style miraculously reveals that he likes sex.

blow a job

Really, Cosmo? Blow a Job Interview? Did you really do that? I know what you mean, and all, and maybe this is just further proof that I am still actually 12, but really? Did you really? To what lows won’t you stoop?

gyno

Aside from the fact that I always initially read “gyno” as “gyro” and then am momentarily confused about what lunch has to do with it, I have a serious question: does anyone really call her gynecologist her gyno?

katy perry

I figured I should include this since it’s on the cover and all (also Katy Perry is this month’s cover model) but I couldn’t possibly care less about whose balls Katy Perry is grabbing.

After all of that, you may be thinking that I don’t know what in-depth analysis means, and… okay, fine.

2. The after-lunch quickie is a trend on the rise, but by “after-lunch quickie” Cosmo means “the Fling chocolate bar” so… yeah, not really interesting, then.

3. Strawberries, blueberries, peaches, avocados, and tomatoes have beauty benefits. I’m not going to write them all out (I mean, it’s right there in Cosmo if you want to read it) but basically, each has benefits for hair and skin, so yay, etc.

4. Cosmo polled 6,000 guys between the ages of 18-35 about sex. I guess this is the 125 Sex Moves article from the front cover? This is again a matter of false advertising. What this is is a list of options these guys had to choose from and the percentages of men who chose each answer. Some of these things aren’t, as the front cover puts it, “techniques that send them over the edge” because a) some of them aren’t techniques, b) some of them are about things guys DON’T like, and c) based on percentages, some of the options are not particularly popular. It’s not like they asked 125 questions, because I counted (well if I’m learning then I have to do my due diligence) and really, all the multiple-choice options (plus the things where men over 30 and men under 30 differed in opinion) totaled 125. Why you gotta be such a liar, Cosmo? Dang. Anyway, some highlights:

When you meet a woman for the first time, what grabs your attention?
A hot body – 61.6%
Seductive eyes – 27.1%
Gorgeous hair – 10.2%
A sexy voice – 1.1%

(See what I mean? None of these things are sex techniques. Also based on their own numbers, having a sexy voice doesn’t exactly seem to be sending guys over the edge in droves, does it?)

What’s something a woman may do in bed that totally turns you off?
Stay totally silent – 41.8%
Act self-conscious about her body – 37.5%
Tell me I am not doing a move correctly 14.7%
Be really bossy and dominant – 6%

What’s the one thing that would boost your usual sex routine?
Getting it on more often – 30.4%
Switching up the schedule and doing it at different times – 29.1%
Trying a new position – 20.8%
Engaging in more oral – 19.7%

(So, less than 20% of guys want more blow jobs? What does it all mean?)

Which sex scenario seems like the most fun?
Doing it in broad daylight – 46.8%
Getting dirty in the shower – 38.1%
Boinking with music blasting – 15.1%

What postaction move instantly kills your romantic mood?
Completely ignoring me – 35.6%
When she announces that she wants to talk – 28.6%
Getting up to fix the sheets we just messed up – 18.3%
Running into the bathroom to clean up – 17.6%
(35.4% of guys over the age 30 said the biggest mood killer is when a chick wants to talk after sex.)

Yeah. So there’s that. There are more, of course, but you know, that’s enough.

5. There’s an article called “He’s Perfect, But…” which is about the little habits that drive you crazy, and it comes with advice about how to get him to break said habits. One really stood out to me, the one in which he’s perfect, but he chews with his mouth open. Cosmo says, and I quote: “The fix: Whip out your cell and claim you just want to make a cute video of your dinner. Record several seconds of his chewing, then show him the clip, with his face in close-up mode — after the meal is over. Guys are very visual, and seeing his poor table manners onscreen will send him the message.” Seriously. I mean, can’t you just say, “Close your mouth,” and save yourself all the trouble? Or would the direct approach be too painful for him to bear? I honestly don’t think I would be able to make a video of someone chewing with his mouth open because that — along with the related problem of talking with half-masticated food in your mouth, and I swear, there is nothing in the world anybody has to say that is so important that they can’t take a second and swallow the food they’ve been chewing first, my GOD — is just painfully gross. So while I am impressed with Cosmo for teaching women how to take the passive-aggressive approach every time, I think there are times when it’s just better to say what’s bothering you and be done with it, no cleverness required.

6. How to get hit on all! the! time! Woo! First of all, if you want to get hit on all the time then you need to dress to thrill. How do you do that? You wear solid colors because that means you’re powerful and trustworthy. You should make subtle adjustments of your clothing — “we’re talking straightening out a wrinkled skirt, not meticulously lint-brushing your entire outfit.” Try dangling your stilettos from your toes instead of keeping them on your whole foot all the time because what are you uptight or something? (I suggest only trying that when you’re seated.) Show off your shoulders since they “plant one thought in a dude’s brain: boobs.” Apparently if you slightly hunch forward, it will somehow subconsciously make men think of you cradling a baby, which is hot. So, based on this, my suggestion would be that if you really need to do laundry and you don’t have any clean tank tops or anything, then be sure to take an infant with you to the bar. SIZZLE!

We’re not done. Oh no. If you want to get hit on all the time, you need to be relaxed. You should lean on the bar with one arm. You should look up at people instead of down at them, which would be difficult if you were really tall, but if you’re not tall, then that’s kind of how it works naturally, isn’t it? And if you’re shy, then you should stand in the middle of a group of people, because that will make you seem popular. I remember reading somewhere — probably Cosmo, let’s face it — that a guy won’t approach a woman who is surrounded by her friends because he doesn’t want to take the chance of being rejected in front of all of them, so now I’m so confused.

They also say, if you want to get hit on all the time, you need to show off your vulnerable side by not covering your throat, and exposing your wrists and demonstrating trust by leaving your purse between you and a guy — “Leaving your purse between you and a guy subtly demonstrates that you’re willing to allow him near something valuable to you. (While Freud said that a woman’s purse represents her genitals, we simply believe that it contains all your makeup, and that stuff’s freakin’ expensive.)”

And finally, if you want to get hit on all the time, subtly beckon him over. “Your belly button should be pointed toward whatever it is you’re interested in,” Cosmo says, and I don’t really know how to point my belly button at anything because it is an innie. Anyway, you should also point your feet and knees toward the guy you want to hit on you. Taken all together, I think perhaps they mean you should face the person. OH! That makes more sense. Also, if you’re sitting with your hands in your lap you should “make a subtle okay sign with your index finger and thumb.” And then, when you make eye contact, you should give a knowing smirk, or “you can open your mouth a little bit (picture the way women look in romantic comedies when they see a hot guy for the first time). Your open mouth makes him think of… well, use your imagination.”

So there you go.

7. The Orgasm Whisperer! Lube! Okay!

8. Five ways not to get hired — you twittered about your interview after it was over, you wore too much perfume, you were over-friendly, you spoke negatively about your former boss, or you talked too much. I think most of these things are pretty straightforward, really, but I am not convinced that mentioning online that you think your interview went well is a kiss of death, even though apparently it signals to employers that people have no idea what discretion is. Maybe I’m being willfully wrong, because I have an online presence and I do write occasionally about my job hunt because it’s a part of my life. But honestly, if that’s enough not to get me hired, then oh well. The truth of the matter is that I’m an adult. I’m smart and I’m capable. I know what confidentiality is and I know how to maintain it. And if a potential employer looks me up and finds me and subsequently believes that I am untrustworthy because I am on Twitter and I have a blog, then so be it. That says more about that person than it does about me, anyhow. So I guess my point is that I know what the boundaries are, and there has never been a time when I haven’t respected them. If I write about a job interview on the internet and that negates everything that’s positive about me in the eyes of the people who have the power to hire me, then I don’t want to work for them anyway. I have applications floating around right now (though people so rarely even acknowledge that they received them) and I suppose I could be shooting myself in the foot with this paragraph, with this entire post, but the truth is that I’m applying for work in good faith and I’m not going to hide from anybody in the process.

9. A daringly low-cut jumpsuit is apparently one of the new sexy must-haves. I wish people would stop trying to push jumpsuits like they look good, because they don’t.

10. Finally this month, Cosmo treats us to a bunch of last-minute beauty tricks that stylists use on celebrities. I really don’t believe that it’s possible to use clear tape to hold my hair in place — it’s not really made to stick to hair — and I wouldn’t want to, anyway, because, um, I don’t like ripping out my hair. I said “hair” too much. Hair hair hair.



11 responses to “things i learned from this month’s cosmo”

  1. I saw the latest issue the other day in the grocery store and was hoping you’d summarize it for me. Thanks. Even an old married guy like me wouldn’t be caught dead reading Cosmo in the grocery check-out line. Again, thanks. It’s nice to know these things, even if they have almost nothing to do with me.

  2. Okay, not wanting to nitpick (or at least not wanting to be seen as nitpicking), but am I the only person to see the problem with this: “He’s Perfect, But…”

    How can there be a ‘but’ if he’s perfect? Maybe they meant to write “He’s Better Than That Other Guy You Dated That One Time, But…”?

    And for the record (there is a record, right?), I just want to say that if I saw a woman slightly hunched over in a bar, I’d probably think she was about to be spectacularly ill. But maybe I’ve been hanging out in the wrong bars.

  3. Thank you for making me cry today.
    That is all.

  4. Brett — Yeah, reading Cosmo for others is my public service.

    Greg — Well, there can’t actually be a “but” in conjunction with perfection, it’s true. Though I suppose we could talk about how nobody is really perfect in the ideal sense and therefore any perfection found in a romantic partner is entirely subjective and therefore open to the examination of flaws, but that doesn’t really sound like that interesting of a conversation, so let’s not. Also, dude, Cosmo says that the association with boobs and therefore fertility and therefore being a babymama is subconscious, so even though you may believe that if you saw a woman slightly hunched over in a bar you’d think she was about to be ill, what you’d really be thinking about is how hot she is and how much you want to chat her up, though you’d be completely unaware of it, I guess. It’s okay. Cosmo obviously is never wrong.

    Mel — Um… you’re welcome?

  5. I don’t buy the fact that only 20% of men want more blow jobs. That’s absurd. And regardless of what her body looks like, if she walks over to introduce herself with a voice lower than mine and the line, ‘Hi, I’m Bob’, then that’s an immediate deal breaker.

    As for getting hit on all the time, I think an excellent way to not get hit on is to act like a nervous wreck in the process of sending every possible non-verbal queue that Cosmo seems to think men look for when scouring the globe for hittable women (that doesn’t right). Also, babies don’t ever enter my mind when I see a woman in a bar, unless she’s holding a baby, at which point the letters WTF start flying through my head.

  6. We still like blowjobs.

  7. Sir — Are you really trying to tell me that women holding babies in bars are not hot? You know, I remember reading an article once a really long time ago wherein a couple of women tried a bunch of the tips that Cosmo gave them in order to appear more appealing to men, and I think the conclusion was that men just ignored them or thought they were weird.

    Peter — Ah. Thanks for clearing that up.

  8. Definitely, we still like blowjobs! And I can’t believe how Cosmo, over the years, has tried to make women delusional with the thought that some of these “tips” would ever really work! Now, I admit, I am sucker for shoulders, but they are not the reason I am thinkin boobs!!! I am thinkin boobs, because usually, WOMEN HAVE BOOBS!!! Now, if your boobs are showing because your blouse/top has fallen off your shoulders, then maybe I can correlate the two!
    And yeah, if I am at a bar and some chick starts pointing her belly at me, I am definitely going to try to move out the way… that thing could be loaded!
    Thanks Jamelah for your in depth review and insight… maybe you should apply @ Cosmo, then they might get some REAL articles with useful information for women!

  9. I feel like the tips for getting hit on are also the tips for getting your purse stolen.

  10. Most young women I know refer to their gyno as their gyno or their “OBGYN”. What kind of formal people do you hang out with that use the full term “gynecologist”?

  11. My 20 year old boyfriend and I have been going out for a year and 5 months now. And we have been having sex since the first week of the second month since he asked me out. We have searched for sex moves to spice things up and to make us want to make love more often. What should I do?Please email me with any questions or advice or moves we could use. Thanks, Maddy.

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