Karen X. Cheng explores the evolution of magazine covers:
Together, these magazine covers reveal a peek into our history. Sure, we’ve gotten more sexualized. More superficial. We read less. We have shorter attention spans.
But we’ve also gotten more open-minded. At each step along the way, society has pushed the limits of what’s considered acceptable.
We’ve come a long way in 100 years.
In the right direction though?
‘Open minded’ means ‘part of my ingroup.’ The limit pushing has been accompanied by limit-pulling on the other side. That is they are a fool or a liar.
I wonder if I am the only one who thinks the girl [illustrated, to be sure] on the 1937 cover would, being real, be orders of magnitude more attractive than whoever that is on the 2015 cover [Nicki Minaj, I take it].
Even at selling sex, the industry has declined.