“The Happiness Myth” headline caught my eye in the column by Steve Salerno (The Wall Street Journal: December 20, 2007). Even more interesting than his book (SHAM: How the Self-Help Movement Made America Helpless, Crown Books: 2005) was his mention of the book by Myrna Blyth (Spin Sisters: How the Women of the Media Sell Unhappiness and Liberalism to the Women of America, St. Martins Press: 2004).

Ms. Blyth is the former editor in chief of Ladies’ Home Journal and currently a columnist for the National Review Online (“Blyth Spirit”). Spin Sisters is her “tell all” book about how the female media market does exactly what Gloria Steinem said they do: “Most women's magazines simply try to mold women into bigger and better consumers.”

Natch, I had to read Ms. Blyth’s book. The Los Angeles Library told me the book had not been checked out since they received it in 2005. But, boy, did the book ever hit home.

From the inside jacket:

“Spin Sisters: They tell you what to think, they tell you how you feel – and they tell you constantly, on television and in magazine, that today’s women, who have more opportunities than women have ever had before, are frazzled, frumpy, fearful victims of lives too tough for them to handle. They are the women at the top of the media heap, the Girls’ Club of the female media elite, who lunch, party, and weekend together, support the same left-of-center causes, and think alike -– especially when it comes to social issues and politics.”

It does not surprise me that the traditional media did not write many book reviews of Spin Sisters. Some might say that it’s surprising the thing was published at all. But, I am very glad it was.

One early review in nymag.com by Betsy Carter (“Twisted Seven Sisters”, March 15, 2003) tried to dismiss Ms. Blyth’s treatment of the Girl’s Club: “At their worst, women’s magazines can be like bad boyfriends. They’ll tear you down, then spend pages trying to build you back up. But in doing so, they’ll give you all the service and the information you need.”

Wow, so women think it is worthwhile to spend 8 bucks a month to be abused by the magazine equivalent of a bad boyfriend? That thinking may be part of the problem right there.

Ms. Blythe provides details from the lives of the female editors-in-chief at the top “seven holy sister” women’s magazines who play a game of music-chairs, rotating themselves and rewriting the same guilt trip articles for a total of 40 to 50 million female readers:

1. Ladies’ Home Journal – Meredith Corporation
2. Redbook – the magazine for young mamas – Hearst Corporation
3. Good Housekeeping – Hearst Corporation
4. McCall’s - the oldest magazine for women – renamed Rosie in 2001, then closed in 2002
5. Family Circle – Meredith Corporation
6. Woman’s Day - Hachette Filipacchi Media U.S.
7. Better Homes and Gardens®, the flagship publication of the Meredith Corporation

The very same top three publishing powerhouses also produce the next tier:
Cosmopolitan and Cosmo Girl, Glamour, Marie Claire, Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Vanity Fair, More Magazine and Real Simple (not to mention the Brides, Babies and Teen mags).

Let us not forget the two Really Really Biggies: Oprah and Martha:

From the O website:

Oprah, The Oprah Winfrey Show, Make the Connection, Oprah's Book Club, Use Your Life, Live Your Best Life, Oprah's Favorite Things, Wildest Dreams with Oprah, Oprah Boutique, Oprah's Angel Network and Angel Network are registered trademarks of Harpo, Inc. Harpo is a registered trademark of Harpo Productions, Inc. Oprah & Friends, America's Doctor, Expert Minutes, the "Oprah" signature and the "O" design are trademarks of Harpo, Inc. O Ambassadors and the corresponding "O" design are trademarks of Oprah's Angel Network. Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy for Girls is a trademark of The Oprah Winfrey Leadership Academy Foundation. O, The Oprah Magazine and O at Home are registered trademarks of Harpo Print, LLC.

From Martha’s website:

Magazines: Martha Stewart Living, Everyday Food, Blueprint, Weddings, Body+Soul
Television & Video: The Martha Stewart Show, Everyday Food, Martha Stewart on Demand
Radio: Martha Stewart Living Radio
Shop: Martha Stewart Collection Only at Macy’s, Martha Stewart Colors, Martha Stewart Crafts, Martha Stewart Everyday at Kmart, Martha Stewart Floor Designs with FLOR, Martha Stewart Furniture, Martha Stewart KB Homes, Martha Stewart Kodak Gallery, Martha Stewart Lighting, Martha Stewart Rugs, Martha Stewart for Shutterfly

It’s not so much a cabal as a pattern of dictatorial consumer-dominated socialization, encouraging lemming-like behavior among women.

A number of “movements” or “cultural phenomena” are reflected in these publications: Happiness, Entitlement, Empowerment, Self-Help Gurus and other America psychobabble.

“Liberalism” carries the heavy burden of blame of course, since only Democratic women subscribe to all this media hype, right? Republican women would never be caught reading any of these magazines or tuning into O or M channels, of course. Yeah, right. And you also believe that men subscribe to Playboy for its in-depth intellectual articles, don’t you?

Spin Sisters provides insight into the conundrum that: (1) women today have opportunities that are significantly better than ever before, yet (2) women today whine louder and complain more than ever before about their status. Why? I’m really not convinced that anyone (media) is making women do anything. I’m wondering if we might be observing a phenomenon that matches the economic reality of a rising marginal propensity to consume.

The marginal propensity to consume (MPC) refers to the increase in personal consumer spending (consumption) that occurs when a person’s disposable or discretionary income (income after taxes and transfers) gets increased. Normally, the MPC is a ratio between 0 and 1. But, if someone increases their propensity to borrow money as a way of financing expenditures higher than their income, MPC can rise above 1.0 which is exactly what we have witnessed in our credit card economy. Today, the average consumer has something like a $9,900 outstanding credit card balance per card.

As opportunities increase for women, their expectations about opportunities also increase. When those expectations are not satisfied, even if their actual opportunities have been satisfied, women express dissatisfaction with their actual opportunities. Enough is not quite enough.

It’s easy to blame “Liberals” because they have the most conspicuous tendency to expect governmental action to resolve the disconnect between real and expected opportunities. “Conservatives” might turn to “eat, pray and love” instead.

But the bottom line in all of this is that women's magazines are fish-wrap for advertising: the only reason these magazines exist is as a delivery vehicle for articles that try to persuade women to consume more, to persuade women that the “need” more, and to pander to women’s fears that they “don’t have” what they “need”.

And, en masse, women buy it.