When not swapping recipes or trading yeast infection horror stories, the ladies of In These Times have been gabbing and clucking about the latest innovation in women's publishing: Four Weeks Magazine:
Four Weeks is a free, monthly online lifestyle magazine for women that introduces something new: it's the first magazine to be specifically tailored to each week of a woman's monthly hormone cycle.
This means we don't simply recommend the best undiscovered and quintessential products and travel destinations that help make a woman's life fuller, easier and more fun. We go one step further. We recommend only those products and places that a woman will enjoy and need most during each week of her monthly hormone cycle.
That's why Four Weeks magazine is made up of four mini-magazines. Each represents one of the four weeks of a woman's monthly hormone cycle and the distinct moods that her hormones have her feeling during those weeks.
OK, I like bath bombs and "beautiful bangles" as much as the next chick, but I thought maybe they needed to expand their product base, like so:
Week 1--feeling chipper? Buy yourself a new vibrator
Week 2--adventurous and erotic? Have an anonymous encounter!
Week 3--feeling a little vulnerable? Build yourself a bomb shelter and hop in!
Week 4--filled with rage and pain? We've got the weapon for ya…
Honestly, this whole line of thinking just feels like reverse sexism to me. But then again, the founder of Four Weeks should know all about that; she's the former managing editor of Playgirl magazine. Viva la difference!
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Jessica Clark is a writer, editor and researcher, with more than 15 years of experience spanning commercial, educational, independent and public media production. Currently she is the Research Director for American University’s Center for Social Media. She also writes a monthly column for PBS’ MediaShift on new directions in public media. She is the author, with Tracy Van Slyke, of Beyond the Echo Chamber: Reshaping Politics Through Networked Progressive Media (2010, New Press).
