Maxim vs. Cosmo: A Social Construction

I write this because it's come up a few times in the past few days. Has it ever occurred to anyone that Maxim is about making men happy and Cosmo is about...making men happy? Oh yes, on the cover of Maxim is a hot girl and headlines like "Sexy Photos of ____", "Steamy Interview With ___" and "Gadgets that are fun to play with." This makes perfect sense for a men's magazine. Cosmo, alternatively, has a hot girl on the cover and headlines like "How to Please your Man", "___ Spills Her Sex Secrets", and "How to Give Head Like a Pro". If these aren't exact quotes, they accurately reflect many headlines and much of the material inside. Now, I will admit that these aren't the only things inside of the magazine's but I must say, I've never seen a Maxim article on how to "please" a woman, just how to get one. Many females have argued that Cosmo has a lot of stuff that girls like and that a lot of the sex talk is how they can assure their own orgasm. This is only in accrodance with my argument. First, the headlines on the cover are indicative of what is supposed to catch the eye of the target audience. Hence, if there are headlines concerning how to please your mate on one and headlines about what sound system to buy on the other, there is a subtle message which both informs us of, and reinforces a convention of what the genders are supposed to care about. This is regardless of actual content. Second, I appreciate just how much time Cosmo devotes to getting their readers off but, in reality, shouldn't Maxim take care of that? It doesn't, of course (at least not as much as Cosmo does), but if Cosmo spends a lot of time and energy telling women how to "drive your man crazy" shouldn't Maxim spend a comensurate amount of time telling men how to perform well? Maybe. Some may argue that these magazines cater to the true interests of their readership, I'm of the opinion that they perpetuate and appeal to a mere social construction. I'm watching TV while I write this so if it's not elequent I hope it is, at least, thought provoking. Leave a comment if you think it is, my blog space is so desperately lonely.