Mag Hags

Dig out your Union Jack tea-towel dresses, girls! This time, Lucy is leading the way through a magazine that’s channeling all the Girl-Powered benign anarchy of Spice World: The Movie. It’s New Woman, September 1997. There’s a ‘how-to’ for spying on your boyfriend, bafflingly horny ads and – in depressingly 90s style – a feature about how you can weigh 10st and still be technically obese (check the time stamps if you’d rather sit this one out). Then, stick around for the guide to disaster-free dinner parties that is less Ottolenghi and Instagram tablescaping, more homemade margs and snogging the downstairs neighbour in the loo.Want more of these mags?Sign up for the Mag Hags newsletter. See the features we talk about in the show, marvel at the amazing adverts, enjoy vintage fashion, beauty, and lifestyle tips, and get access to loads of other bonus bits. Plus episode transcripts straight to your inbox. Go to maghags.substack.comLINKSRead: Men are from Mars, Women are from Venus by John GrayRead: Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen FieldingCHAPTERS03:09 – Introduction to New Woman September 199706:50 – Being in our Girl Power era12:52 – It’s good to stalk: A completely normal feature about spying on your boyfriend 19:51 – Let’s talk about men for a minute 25:04 – *An ad break from 1997*27:43 – [Content warning] ‘Three of these women are technically obese’: We come to our first body image feature. Do skip ahead if you’d rather not listen 41:45 – Fashion and beauty tips from 199744:04 – How to throw a disaster-free dinner party: spoiler! It involves a lot of booze…52:29 – What's hot and what's not in 1997 --Mag Hags is written and hosted by Lucy Douglas and Franki Cookney.Editing and audio production by Franki Cookney.Our theme music is Look Where That Got You, Mattie Maguire. Additional music: Leotard Haul, Dez Moran. Both courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com.

The Mag Hags are back and cooking with gas! This episode Franki and Lucy ponder on some cutting edge household appliances – cordless iron, anyone? Because, yes, Franki is guiding us on a tour through Good Housekeeping, March 1988. There’s Ovaltine innuendo, shoulder-revealing fashion, and a self-help book extract suggesting that Lucy could be a threat to Franki’s marriage. Plus, a questionable beauty feature calls for back-up, so Franki speaks to award-winning beauty editor and author Anita Bhagwandas. Want more of these mags?Sign up for the Mag Hags newsletter. See the features we talk about in the show, marvel at the amazing adverts, enjoy vintage fashion, beauty, and lifestyle tips, and get access to loads of other bonus bits. Plus episode transcripts straight to your inbox. Go to maghags.substack.comLINKSRead: Pessimist’s Archive: an archive of historical, technology pessimism https://pessimistsarchive.org/ Read: Ugly: Giving us back our beauty standards by Anita Bhagwandas CHAPTERS05:06 – What’s on the cover of Good Housekeeping March 1988 15:04 – The enemy within: Is TV bringing about the moral downfall of society?25:55 – *An ad break from 1988*28:37 – Examining the English vs American vs French approach to beauty… with problematic results35:15 – Anita Bhagwandas shares her take with the Mag Hags 48:24 – Fashion and beauty tips from 198850:40 – Don’t take your love life lying down: Self-help guru Paul Pearsall reveals why your friendships are ruining your marriage58:41 – What's hot and what's not in 1988 --Mag Hags is written and hosted by Lucy Douglas and Franki Cookney.Editing and audio production by Franki Cookney.Our theme music is Look Where That Got You, Mattie Maguire. Additional music: Leotard Haul, Dez Moran. Both courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com.

Lucy and Franki are back with more dispatches from vintage women’s glossies. This week, Lucy is heading to Honey magazine March 1976 – but it’s less Patti Smith and Sex! on the Kings Road, more women named Sue and unequal division of household labour. We also meet the last of debutantes, contemplate a bath-time workout, and witness a disastrous PR campaign for British Rail. Meanwhile Franki is underwhelmed by “Strip Monopoly”. And the Mag Hags ponder: did the editorial staff of mid-70s Honey realise they were selling the bucolic lesbian dream? Want more of these magazines?Sign up for the Mag Hags newsletter. See the features we talk about, marvel at the amazing adverts, enjoy vintage fashion, beauty, and lifestyle tips, and get access to loads of other bonus bits. Plus episode transcripts straight to your inbox. Go to maghags.substack.comCHAPTERS04:43 – Intro to Honey March 197611:18 – Weekending: Five women tell us what their average 1976 weekend looks like31:35 – *An ad break from 1976*35:04 – Is selfishness a sin or a necessity? Therapy speak, 1976-style 45:53 – Fashion and beauty tips from 197647:16 – How lovely to be beautiful? Honey tackles the immutable question: is being hot bad, actually?51:25 – A brainwave for bathtime: a workout how-to that is absolute perfection, 10/10, no notes52:35 – What's hot and what's not in 1976LINKSRead: ‘Having it all: Love, success, sex, money, even if you’re starting with nothing’ by Helen Gurley BrownRead: Helen Gurley Brown obituary by Sali HughesPodcast: The Rest is History – Britain in 1974Read: From balls to Bridgerton: a brief history of debutantes and the social season --Mag Hags is written and hosted by Lucy Douglas and Franki Cookney.Editing and audio production by Franki Cookney.Our theme music is Look Where That Got You, Mattie Maguire. Additional music: Leotard Haul, Dez Moran. Both courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com.

Welcome to the very first episode of Mag Hags, the podcast that every modern woman should know.Join Franki and Lucy as they dive into the glossy archives of women’s magazines to find out what's still hot, and what's definitely not. And where else to begin than the OG of having it all: Cosmopolitan.Franki has travelled back in time to October 1982, when The Pill turned 21 and publishers were just cottoning on to the idea that women buy books.Elsewhere, a hapless man gets some Thatcherite therapy and the Mag Hags get some dinner inspo from a truly astonishing advertiser.Plus, Lucy reveals her daddy issues about His Majesty King Charles III.Want more of these magazines?Sign up for the Mag Hags newsletter. See the features we talk about, marvel at the amazing adverts, enjoy vintage fashion, beauty, and lifestyle tips, and get access to loads of other bonus bits. Plus episode transcripts straight to your inbox. Go to maghags.substack.comCHAPTERS07:09 – Intro to Cosmo October 198209:33 – Girl Bossing vs Having It All10:29 – The pill that promised so much: A review of 21 years of oral contraceptives written by someone who's never taken them26:47 – *An ad break from 1982*30:09 – Talking It Out : A Cosmo "counselling" session that reads more like a scolding38:13 – Tactful sex tactics: Can you use the word "fondle" without laughing42:28 – Fashion and beauty tips from 198244:42 – Frills or Thrills: Trashy paperbacks are having a moment. Is it good, steamy fun or patronising frivolity?48:37 – What's hot and what's not in 1982LINKSResearch: On coils and ectopic pregnancies: Safety, efficacy and patient acceptability of the contraceptive and non-contraceptive uses of the LNG-IUS | International Journal of Women’s Health, 2009Read: On Erin Pizzey: Feminism’s Purity Wars by Helen Lewis | The Atlantic, Feb 2020--Mag Hags is written and hosted by Lucy Douglas and Franki Cookney.Editing and audio production by Franki Cookney.Our theme music is Look Where That Got You, Mattie Maguire. Additional music: Leotard Haul, Dez Moran. Both courtesy of www.epidemicsound.com.