6 ms·

Yes, but if women want to read about technology they can buy a technology magazine. How much of Men's magazines column inches are given to tech?

tomchristie 13y ago
> How much of Men's magazines column inches are given to tech? As a rule, shit loads.
eonil 13y ago
Currently, tech magazines for men is nothing fun to women. In majority, women want artistic fun rather then numerical fun. Again, in majority, women has no interest on benchmark number stuffs, and more interested in which app look more beautiful. Such as "Best sexy looking app top 10" rather than "World fastest super-computer top 10". In other words, their behavior has not been changed. Only the medium has been changed. It was fashion and beauty stuffs before, and now it just expanded to electronics.
- homeomorphic 13y ago
  1950 called. They want their worldview back.
  - omonra 13y ago
    Judging from the OP, he's right and you're living in lala-land. Ie - it could be a case of major conspiracy on the part of publishers (who are all women btw) to keep their readers away from tech. Or they could simply be giving their readers what they want.
    - im3w1l 13y ago
      Or there could be an unfilled niche.
      - PeterisP 13y ago
        If (masses of) women really had a need like that, they'd buy the current tech magazines - it wouldn't fit the niche perfectly, but it would at least partly fulfill that need. They don't. Which is evidence that there is no such unfilled niche.
        halostatue 13y ago
        Or, much more likely, they aren't interested in the male focus of said tech magazines. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6738657 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6738657 for a quick look at the covers of the tech magazine T3. Are you saying the average woman would really want to read a tech magazine with that sort of focus? We're not talking CACM here; we're talking tech magazines that, for the longest time, celebrated conference booth babes.
        PeterisP 13y ago
        If what you say is true, then all the world's women with the desire for reading tech would flock to the few tech magazines that have less of "that sort of focus", they exist. This would cause these "non-booth-babed" magazines to have a disproportionally large amount of women buyers, which they would see immediately... but it's not happening. Reality is that which doesn't go away if you disbelieve or dislike it.
        halostatue 13y ago
        Reality being that which doesn't go away if you dislike it, I recommend you look carefully at those supposed tech magazines with “less” of the young male focus that you claim exist. You'll find that they don't, really, outside of quasi-academic magazines like CACM. Even there, it's hard. How many women are on staff? How many of the articles are written by women? How much do the articles focus on metrics, measurements, and numbers as opposed to usability? I really like reading AnandTech, but as a tech magazine that isn't interested in booth babes, it is still deeply focussed on the male interest and experience with tech, as the masthead (http://www.anandtech.com/home/about http://www.anandtech.com/home/about) with it's conspicuous lack of women on staff indicates. Reality being that which doesn't go away if you dislike it, the reality is that there are no mainstream tech/gear magazines—online or print—that don't use a hypothetical young male as the primary audience for that magazine, doing a disservice to both those young men and the young women who might be interested but aren't interested in the editorial slant involved. Reality being that which doesn't go away if you dislike it, you're a guy—as am I—and we don't actually get to say that something we like is not sexist in its nature. There are things that I will read that I know are sexist (and not care that they are because I want to read them anyway), but I don't get to pretend that they aren't sexist just because I like them. Reality, indeed.
- girvo 13y ago
  Depends. And in my experience, that's all pretty bollocks.
ColinWright 13y ago
My wife reports to me that if she wants to buy a copy of Android Magazine she has to shoulder aside men who are much larger than she, and fish among the magazines about fishing, cars, "Lad's Mags" (ugh (her words)), and similar things. "Not fun" (direct quotation).
- girvo 13y ago
  Exactly. Hell, I (as a upper middle class young male) get annoyed when trying to find a tech magazine on the shelves. Hidden amongst a dozen other things, and usually a terrible selection. Sigh... Not that it matters, my favourite magazine (Atomic MPC) that I subbed to for 5 years folded into PC Authority :(
- PeterisP 13y ago
  Ok, so that's a message to retailers that they might get more sales by rearranging magazines on their shelves - how do we get this message to them?
tommorris 13y ago
Have a look at the front covers of T3 magazine some time... https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=t3+magazine&tbm=isch https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=t3+magazine&tbm=isch There's a theme there.
- revelation 13y ago
  That's a tech magazine, even if the cover doesn't imply that...
  - tommorris 13y ago
    I know it's a tech magazine. I'm just somewhat flummoxed what the attractive busty woman on the front of every magazine has to do with iPhones or whatever.
    - delian66 13y ago
      The theory is that seeing them close together, will cause an association in the (assumed male) reader's mind, between the qualities of the attractive sexy model and the product, so that when the reader sees the product in the future, he will be attracted to it on a subconscious level, and thus more likely to buy it ... or in other words, "sex sells".
nicholassmith 13y ago
A reasonably large amount, ranging from cool toys to the latest apps and random websites they've come across. Add on a lot of technology magazines may as well be men's magazines due to the content focus, tonality and usage of scantily clad women caressing the latest tech products.
halostatue 13y ago
Or I could buy Playboy. The tech and music coverage in there is very good. Despite being a “men's” magazine in the most direct sense, the breadth of coverage (music, movies—both new releases and home video, video games, automotive tech, men's fashion, and technology in general, plus the politics, interviews, reporting, and fiction) is generally good. GQ also has fairly good broad-based coverage. A couple of other magazines that aren't strictly men’s magazines but have a male editorial slant do much the same (VF and Rolling Stone). Men's magazines tend to cover far broader interests than women's magazines. Tech magazines, on the other hand, almost exclusively cater to a young male audience.

tomchristie 13y ago

> How much of Men's magazines column inches are given to tech? As a rule, shit loads.

eonil 13y ago

Currently, tech magazines for men is nothing fun to women. In majority, women want artistic fun rather then numerical fun. Again, in majority, women has no interest on benchmark number stuffs, and more interested in which app look more beautiful. Such as "Best sexy looking app top 10" rather than "World fastest super-computer top 10". In other words, their behavior has not been changed. Only the medium has been changed. It was fashion and beauty stuffs before, and now it just expanded to electronics.

homeomorphic 13y ago
1950 called. They want their worldview back.
- omonra 13y ago
  Judging from the OP, he's right and you're living in lala-land. Ie - it could be a case of major conspiracy on the part of publishers (who are all women btw) to keep their readers away from tech. Or they could simply be giving their readers what they want.
  - im3w1l 13y ago
    Or there could be an unfilled niche.
    - PeterisP 13y ago
      If (masses of) women really had a need like that, they'd buy the current tech magazines - it wouldn't fit the niche perfectly, but it would at least partly fulfill that need. They don't. Which is evidence that there is no such unfilled niche.
      - halostatue 13y ago
        Or, much more likely, they aren't interested in the male focus of said tech magazines. See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6738657 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=6738657 for a quick look at the covers of the tech magazine T3. Are you saying the average woman would really want to read a tech magazine with that sort of focus? We're not talking CACM here; we're talking tech magazines that, for the longest time, celebrated conference booth babes.
        PeterisP 13y ago
        If what you say is true, then all the world's women with the desire for reading tech would flock to the few tech magazines that have less of "that sort of focus", they exist. This would cause these "non-booth-babed" magazines to have a disproportionally large amount of women buyers, which they would see immediately... but it's not happening. Reality is that which doesn't go away if you disbelieve or dislike it.
        halostatue 13y ago
        Reality being that which doesn't go away if you dislike it, I recommend you look carefully at those supposed tech magazines with “less” of the young male focus that you claim exist. You'll find that they don't, really, outside of quasi-academic magazines like CACM. Even there, it's hard. How many women are on staff? How many of the articles are written by women? How much do the articles focus on metrics, measurements, and numbers as opposed to usability? I really like reading AnandTech, but as a tech magazine that isn't interested in booth babes, it is still deeply focussed on the male interest and experience with tech, as the masthead (http://www.anandtech.com/home/about http://www.anandtech.com/home/about) with it's conspicuous lack of women on staff indicates. Reality being that which doesn't go away if you dislike it, the reality is that there are no mainstream tech/gear magazines—online or print—that don't use a hypothetical young male as the primary audience for that magazine, doing a disservice to both those young men and the young women who might be interested but aren't interested in the editorial slant involved. Reality being that which doesn't go away if you dislike it, you're a guy—as am I—and we don't actually get to say that something we like is not sexist in its nature. There are things that I will read that I know are sexist (and not care that they are because I want to read them anyway), but I don't get to pretend that they aren't sexist just because I like them. Reality, indeed.
girvo 13y ago
Depends. And in my experience, that's all pretty bollocks.

ColinWright 13y ago

My wife reports to me that if she wants to buy a copy of Android Magazine she has to shoulder aside men who are much larger than she, and fish among the magazines about fishing, cars, "Lad's Mags" (ugh (her words)), and similar things. "Not fun" (direct quotation).

girvo 13y ago
Exactly. Hell, I (as a upper middle class young male) get annoyed when trying to find a tech magazine on the shelves. Hidden amongst a dozen other things, and usually a terrible selection. Sigh... Not that it matters, my favourite magazine (Atomic MPC) that I subbed to for 5 years folded into PC Authority :(
PeterisP 13y ago
Ok, so that's a message to retailers that they might get more sales by rearranging magazines on their shelves - how do we get this message to them?

tommorris 13y ago

Have a look at the front covers of T3 magazine some time... https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=t3+magazine&tbm=isch https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=t3+magazine&tbm=isch There's a theme there.

revelation 13y ago
That's a tech magazine, even if the cover doesn't imply that...
- tommorris 13y ago
  I know it's a tech magazine. I'm just somewhat flummoxed what the attractive busty woman on the front of every magazine has to do with iPhones or whatever.
  - delian66 13y ago
    The theory is that seeing them close together, will cause an association in the (assumed male) reader's mind, between the qualities of the attractive sexy model and the product, so that when the reader sees the product in the future, he will be attracted to it on a subconscious level, and thus more likely to buy it ... or in other words, "sex sells".

nicholassmith 13y ago

A reasonably large amount, ranging from cool toys to the latest apps and random websites they've come across. Add on a lot of technology magazines may as well be men's magazines due to the content focus, tonality and usage of scantily clad women caressing the latest tech products.

halostatue 13y ago

Or I could buy Playboy. The tech and music coverage in there is very good. Despite being a “men's” magazine in the most direct sense, the breadth of coverage (music, movies—both new releases and home video, video games, automotive tech, men's fashion, and technology in general, plus the politics, interviews, reporting, and fiction) is generally good. GQ also has fairly good broad-based coverage. A couple of other magazines that aren't strictly men’s magazines but have a male editorial slant do much the same (VF and Rolling Stone). Men's magazines tend to cover far broader interests than women's magazines. Tech magazines, on the other hand, almost exclusively cater to a young male audience.