Few women have time to sit down and read articles on celebrity friendships, make-up, or travels of the First Lady. Women have their own lives, and do not need to read vicarious stories involving other women whose lives may be more boring than their own.
Few live in such isolation that they must live out dreams through the stories of others.
The days of learning to be "one of the gang" through magazines are long gone. Mags once gave identity to American women of the middle class, forming several generations into conformists regarding dress, recipes and decorating the spare room.
Those women who work read journals regarding their careers. They read news sources online, yes, but also read more specific articles for information, not for entertainment.
What the ladies' mags seem not to understand is that women are way more intelligent than the editorial or feature staffs.
This transition is not simply about whether the Net is making print obsolete. This transition reveals the dated manipulation of women's lives via advertising and other's opinions.
The younger generations simply want to do their own thing and not be told what to buy and what to wear.
I would like to see the demise of most women's mags, as these are merely brain-washing engines for continuing consumerism.
If a woman does research online and goes directly to a source for clothes or shoes or recipes, skipping the flipping through pages stage, why not?
Women do not need Ladies' Home Journal.