Dear Editors of Maxim Magazine,
I came across your magazine the other day and noticed something I hadn’t before. Right below the title of your magazine, on the cover, are the words, “Your life made better.” Now, I thought about this for a while and decided I couldn’t come up with a way that Maxim magazine betters anyone’s life.
What draws most people to your magazine, it seems, is the plethora of (conventionally) attractive and mostly-nude women within its pages. I’m afraid the only potential benefit I see here is that your magazine then becomes a means for men to yank their pud. There are by far more negative effects than positive of your magazine. I am, I think, quite safe in stating that the emphasis your magazine places on an ideal—and impossible to attain—beauty standard is not beneficial to the
women of the world. Rather, your magazine is another instrument for oppression, as it reinforces these body image ideals. As women struggle to attain these impossible ideals, many become anorexic or bulimic. It’s no coincidence these conditions affect women at much higher rates than men. Your magazine, along with countless other forms of media, is, essentially, killing these women.
Now, I’m sure you’ve heard all of that before. With this knowledge, though, you, the editors of this widely popular magazine, can do something to live up to your claim that Maxim betters people’s lives. I challenge you to go against the status quo. It doesn’t have to be wildly radical, but do something different. I dare you to feature larger models in your magazine. I urge you to start showing off women’s intelligence or hard work rather than broadcasting them as pieces of meat to be inspected and drooled over. I have my doubts you’ll follow through, but who knows, you might surprise me. Let’s see if you have the “balls” to do this. I am very much looking forward to your response.
Sincerely,
Derek Warwick
Update: I should have clarified that I did, in fact, e-mail them this letter since that wasn’t made very clear.
Posted by Derek
