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Spin Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness --- and Liberalism --- to the Women of America [Hardcover]

Myrna Blyth
3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)


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Book Description

March 1, 2004 0312312873 978-0312312879 1st
Blowing the whistle on a job she herself did for over ten years at Ladies Home Journal as editor-in-chief, Blyth reveals the almost institutionalized selling of a liberal/do-gooders message to women through chararacterizing women themselves as victims. Playing on women's compassion and ability to be hooked into "uplifting" stories with a moral or happy ending, American media has convinced the most well-educated, rich and healthy audience in history that they are miserable. She dissects why:

--liberal celebrities' messages aren't scrutinized and in fact presented with a halo of approval
--middle class American women have been sold stress as the new scourge of modern life
--media paints a negative picture of women's lives today, at exactly the moment when women have more money, privlege and choices than ever before
--the club of liberal women who run magazines and television shows have an outsize and lock-step affect on what we "know" about the major issues of the day
--the incestuous relationship between celebrities and media has corrupted journalism
--magazines rarely tell stories about the majority of women whose conservative views don't mesh with their own


Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

"The story that began as an exciting movement for equal rights and morphed into a wonderful celebration of opportunity today has become a depressing, discouraging gains-means-pain tale of woe sold to women readers as the grim new reality of their lives," writes Blyth, editor-in-chief of Ladies' Home Journal from 1981 to 2002 and former publishing director of More, in this juicy insider's look into the $7-billion-a-year industry of women's magazines. These glossy rags, she says, peddle the message that women are the unhappy victims of a stress-filled world: they are too fat and too wrinkled, prone to disease, and overworked by their jobs and families. And, according to Blythe in this mea culpa, all the fear-mongering is underlined by the subtle, liberal message that more government will alleviate women's problems. The media divas who run what she calls this "Girls' club," from Harper's Bazaar editor Glenda Bailey to Katie Couric, are out of touch with middle-class American women, Blyth charges: they command the print and broadcast worlds from their sleek Manhattan offices, pay indulgently for an army of domestic help at home and, even worse, vote overwhelmingly Democratic. If her conclusion is a stretch and her critique of colleagues often catty and vituperative, many of Blyth's jabs at women's media seem to have merit. She challenges what she sees as the assumption by much of the media that all women think alike and are interested only in diet, fashion, sex appeal or stress relief. Whether this superficial content is the fault of liberals or conservativesâ€"or whether it's the market simply feeding demandâ€"remains less clear.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist

Blyth admits that, as editor in chief of Ladies' Home Journal, she helped create "the negative message of victimization and unhappiness that bombards women," complete with attention-grabbing headlines about weight problems or sexual dysfunction. But she is not taking the blame by herself: "I am certain that there is a liberal tilt in the media aimed especially at women"; that tilt, Blyth argues, helps make modern women unhappy. She explains that women's magazines (and TV) have a vested interest in female discontent because an unhappy woman is more likely to spend a few bucks in search of a panacea for her psychological, sexual, or physical ills. Further, Blyth bashes the Left on grounds that the Spin Sisters (her name for the female media elite) need women to think of themselves as victims if they are going to look for help from a liberal government. Blyth may not convince many liberals to change their politics, but she is an engaging writer, and she effectively makes the case that for many women--thanks to more education, better health, and independence--this is the best of times. Ilene Cooper
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 352 pages
  • Publisher: St. Martin's Press; 1st edition (March 1, 2004)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0312312873
  • ISBN-13: 978-0312312879
  • Product Dimensions: 9.3 x 6.2 x 1.2 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
  • Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (55 customer reviews)
  • Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,638,800 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews
56 of 63 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars Finally! April 11, 2004
Format:Hardcover
Finally somebdody says it out loud: Most women's magazines sell misery. About 10 years ago it dawned on me that reading my favorite magazines was well, depressing. All the articles were either about losing weight, (You arent' good enough as you are) or were about sex (You aren't good enough) or how to get a man,keep a man, change a man (Men are the enemy but you can tame one through clever manipulation)or seemed to be pushing some new crisis. They painted a picture of American women that makes us look dumb, helpless and under constant attack. The lifestyle magazines were bad but the fashion mags were even worse. And they all seemed to be pushing a political agenda.

Today I still read a lot of magazines but the Vogues, the Allures, Redbooks and Good Housekeepings don't cross my doorstep. Martha Blyth was actually part of the women's mag industry for many years. She took part in slinging the women's mag slop and admits it. The book is very good and explains completely why women's magazines are so dreary and how the readers are being manipulated.

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57 of 67 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars Had to share... March 6, 2004
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover
I just received Spin Sisters via amazon.com. After reading the first chapter and laughing out loud five times, I jumped online this morning to order the book for my mother, sister, two sisters-in-law and my best friend. I love the humor and the sneak peek into the media world. This book is juicy, pithy, fun and infuriating all at the same time. Trust me, you'll LOVE it!
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49 of 59 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars A fun gossipy read with info ever woman needs...... March 21, 2004
By A Customer
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Verified Purchase
Blyth puts words to why I quit reading most Women's magazines some years ago. And, yes, she affirms our very strong opinions that the Katies, and the Dianes, and the ones whose names we don't know in magazines are all Liberal and spin like crazy....not that most of us hadn't already suspected that. All you have to do is take a look at the New York Social Diary web site and see them all schmooze with the Liberal elite of NY including Hillary Clinton. Read how they make heros of the certain Liberal women but generally ignore those on the other side of the political spectrum.

I still read "More Magazine" (but may soon stop if Hillary's on the cover again); Blyth started More but is no long involved apparently. However, Blyth was for many years editor of Ladies Home Journal and admits to some of the same offenses she finds in others, except she is not a Liberal.

She also points out how they paint women as stress-filled and proceed to tell stories guaranteed to make you lose sleep, even though the examples given are less likely to happen to most of us than an alien spacecraft landing on our roof. There are many, many revealing instances here of how they sucker women into their programs, and their magazines with bad news, scary stories.

Perhaps you've noticed how Barbara Walters likes to make people cry; how many magazine shows get in close on personal stories of loss or illness...some have admitted they want to make you care and to care enough to keep tuning in. And they will make into a mountain a molehill tidbit from the Health mavens, but then wonder why you are "stressed". (Oh no. This child was poisoned by a potato!....etc.)

You'll enjoy reading about the lunch crowd at Michael's in New York...the sisterhood gets the best tables and pig out on their Cobb salads after sessions with their $750 dollar workouts.....
How much Katie pays for hair dos, their million-dollar apartments, their homes "in the Hamptons" and just how "like the average woman" they aren't. Which would be okay, except Blyth makes the case that they want us to think the opposite.

Read it, Ladies, and enjoy a good gossipy, informative read, and then start questioning the stuff you read in the rags and see on the [television].

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Most Recent Customer Reviews
5.0 out of 5 stars Guaranteed to make you angry! How female editors betray women
Blyth strips off the sexy lies Cosmo and Vogue are filled with to reveal the ugly truth: that women who claim to be feminists, who vote and think and declaim feminist propaganda,... Read more
Published 8 months ago by Jeri Nevermind
4.0 out of 5 stars spin sisters
I read Spin Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness and Liberalism to the Women of America by Myrna Blyth. Read more
Published on September 27, 2009 by D. E. W. Turner
5.0 out of 5 stars Spin Sisters is a great read! Informative, Authoritative
Spin Sisters is delightful reading. This book is important for all women to read as most do not know how much they are being played by the media. Read more
Published on October 10, 2008 by John Damion
1.0 out of 5 stars Utter Crap
These are the ravings of a very paranoid person. Women who read this book, I suspect, are pretty miserable. Looking for a way to place blame are we, ladies? Read more
Published on September 25, 2008 by Frances Penn
4.0 out of 5 stars The Underside of Women's Magazines/Media
Blyth has a true inside scoop as 1) she was the editor of Ladies Home Journal for twenty years, 2) she was founding editor of MORE, and 3) she used to be a "spin sister" i.e. Read more
Published on May 9, 2007 by Miss Peabody
4.0 out of 5 stars Very Interesting
This book is quite insightful...although it's not telling me too much of what I didn't already suspect. Read more
Published on March 8, 2007 by Julie Snow
2.0 out of 5 stars Pot Calling the Kettle Black
Objective? The reviewer that called this book 'objective and factual' wasn't reading the same book I read. Factual perhaps, but objective...no way. Read more
Published on December 29, 2006 by Snail Sister
5.0 out of 5 stars Sing It Sister!
Finally, a woman writer, attempting to help women! Regardless of her political preferences, one can not ignore the convicing arguments establishing how so many liberal democrat... Read more
Published on June 9, 2006 by Objective Book Review
5.0 out of 5 stars Not Only Informative But Hilarious
Have you had the experience of reading in public, laughing out loud and getting stares of those who think you must be losing your marbles? This is one of those books. Read more
Published on July 11, 2005 by Blessedbybooks
5.0 out of 5 stars Eye Opener For Naive Conservative
Wow. And I thought I could trust Glamour to guide my political views. Well, not really, but this book gave me a new perspective on all forms of media. Read more
Published on June 5, 2005 by Jill A. Taylor
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