Who’s stealing Maxim’s audience? According to the Atlantic, we are.
Alexander Nazaryan of The Atlantic reports that perennially problematic men’s magazine Maxim is seeing a steady slide in sales, and the “Sex Sports Beer Gadgets Clothes Fitness” publication is currently going begging for a buyer at a tenth of its expected value.
The reasons why, according to Nazaryan? Internet access, changing styles and mores, and this:
And a deeper change was afoot, too: Men actually began to think more deeply about what it meant to be men. Part of that was due to a decreased social tolerance for sexual aggression, combined with a growing recognition for how popular culture fosters the very same. Social tropes like the metrosexual – remember that? – were a tacit approval of homosexual style and a rejection of the beefcake machismo proffered by Maxim and its ilk. Meanwhile, sites like The Good Men Project, founded in 2009, have offered a rejoinder to Maxim, with men now writing about male issues beyond whether Bar Rafaeli is hotter than Irina Shayk.
What I’ve been saying ever since I became editor-in-chief of the Good Men Project is this: If you’re a woman who wants to stay mired in outdated gender roles and old nonsense, there are plenty of magazines willing to sell you the latest face cream. Similarly, if you’re a man and you feel you’re best represented by a bunch of square, sexist clichés, you can totally read the “Lad Mags”. But if you’re a man and you believe that your life is about more than beer, boobs, and bros… well, that’s what we’re here for.
Photo from Maxim, presented under fair use.