I completely agree with several other posters...I can't stand Julia Roberts either. It's at least partly b/c she's the poster girl for vapid rom-coms which is a genre that I loathe and partly b/c she is an incredibly mediocre talent for the amount of attention she gets (she doesn't come close to the likes of Cate Blanchett, or Kate Winslet, or Julianne Moore, for example. Why aren't these actresses as beloved as "America's Sweetheart" apparently is?)

I also have terrible memories of watching My Best Friend's Wedding in a high school class (no, I don't know why) and hearing literally every girl in the room squeal every time she was on screen "Oh my God, she's so pretty!" "Look at how pretty she is!" "I can't believe how pretty she is!" while I sat there thinking it was one of the dumbest movies I'd ever seen. Nails on a chalkboard!

Well, no offense to the gay and lesbian folks out there who are fighting for the right to marry, but I for one have no idea why our culture is so ridiculously obsessed with everything marriage and wedding oriented. You'd think that snagging a groom (or bride) was the only thing that made life worth living. In fact, sometimes I have no idea why marriage even still exists, as it seems a hopelessly outdated institution. Granted, I'm agnostic, so the religious overtones of marriage mean absolutely nothing to me.

That said, I think everything related to wedding culture (including bachelor/bachelorette parties) is completely silly and ridiculous, so banning them anywhere makes me happy. But that's just my opinion.

I meant that banning bachelor/bachelorette parties makes me happy, just to be clear.

"Which tends to obscure the fact that from the time Brown took over the magazine, up to and passed her retirement, Cosmo has remained the Number 1 selling magazine for women on college campuses. You can't stay much more relevant than that, no matter what Miller wants to claim. It's top position has never been shaken. More college women read and respond to Cosmo than Jezabel. Why not an article on the out-of-touch nature of Jezebel and the continuing relevence of Cosmo?"

Oh dude, dude, dude, eek! Cosmo is NOT relevant. It's a joke magazine. Nobody takes it seriously, including college women. When I was a grad assistant teaching comp classes, I used the magazine in some lessons, and when I would bring my copies out, the entire class would snicker and roll their eyes, including all the women. And this is the Bible Belt, not some liberal feminist wonderland.

I have no idea why it's such a top selling magazine, but I suspect that it has to do with the kitsch factor and many women buying it ironically-oh time for my smut reading. Also it's incredibly vapid and brainless, so it's easy to look at when you're running on the treadmill or waiting nervously in a doctor's waiting room. Cosmo is not relevant in any shape or form to actual women's lives and to suggest so is insulting to all involved.

In defense of Laura Miller: I'm fairly certain that she herself is not stating that HGB is an emaciated "bobblehead", but rather that that is the image that current young women have of her, as she cites an entry from Jezebel. You made it sound like Miller's needlessly insulting her personal appearance, and I'm pretty sure that's not the case. She's referring to what others think of HGB, not what she necessarily thinks about her.

And:

@Christopher whateveryear: Agenda? What agenda? I just said that nobody takes Cosmo seriously, which seems to just be a simple fact. I'm a 26 year old woman, and I've never met a woman in my life that took it seriously. Everybody I know just has a good giggle over the ridiculous sex advice and the stupid "articles."

So you're saying that you take it seriously? I guess I'm a little confused as to what you're actually saying. I'm assuming you're a guy from your name, so I don't even know what your expertise in Cosmo is. Do you use it to formulate your perception as to what a woman believes and acts like? Or do you read it so you can try the "50 amazing sex tricks guaranteed to make you see stars!"