apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Ooh. Hipsterific.

This sounds like it's right up my alley. The reason my blog's tagline is "Real Canadians decorating" is that so many shelter mags feature massive spaces and even bigger budgets. Most of us just don't live that way. So it's nice to see there's a magazine with a similar philosophy. Let's see if Apartamento can do what Domino couldn't . . . survive.

"...stories about the people--mostly men--who live there."

You've just described one of the biggest problems with most mainstream newspapers and magazines -- outside of the damned fashion sections, women are rarely if ever featured (well, unless you look for them as crime victims, or starlets).

As if, what: women don't enjoy design (and aren't the major consumers of design products)?

Annoying that a new shelter title would replicate old invisibilities and hierarchies. Makes Domino's folding even more sad.

the cover looks like a 70s national lampoon magazine parody.

I am taken aback by jplee's comment. I am not sure whether I disagree, but I thought the exact opposite upon reading "--mostly men--". I feel like most house tours, before/afters, etc tend to be done by women.

I think jplee is totally wrong on this. As a man who loves shelter mags and design blogs, I can say that 99.9999% of them are aimed soley at women. Of the few men who are ever mentioned in shelter magazines, almost all of them are gay. So a shelter magazine for and about men (both gay and straight) would be incredibly unusual.

you can find this magazine at urban outfitters.

jplee--

Which major shelter magazines are you seeing that are targeted towards men?

With the noted exceptions of This Old House and Fine Homebuilding, it seems that the vast majority of shelter magazine titles - including Domino, Elle Decor, House Beautiful, Metropolitain Home, Wallpaper and Architectural Digest - are geared towards women and occassionally gay men.

I love this site. It allows me to see so many incredible homes.....and never having to leave mine or spend a dime. I'll probably never order another decor magazine again.

kiljoywashere, djs and bepsf:

I wasn't talking about shelter mags specifically, but about newspapers and magazines *in general* -- which is exactly what I said above:

"You've just described one of the biggest problems with most mainstream newspapers and magazines -- outside of the damned fashion sections, women are rarely if ever featured (well, unless you look for them as crime victims, or starlets)."

Women are marginalized in virtually every category of mainstream newspaper and magazine outside of fashion magazines and glossy (full of tripe) "women's magazines" (which are usually just about clothing, sex tips, celeb gossip, weight loss manifestos and anything else that can be squeezed in between lipstick and clothing ads). This is widely documented by groups like the Women's Media Center, the Center for New Words, Women in Media and News, and Media Report to Women to name just a few.

I wasn't talking about Apartment Therapy house tours, or blogs. I was talking about mainstream/corporate magazines, which tend to see women as subject for ads, rather than newsmakers.

I happen to like any magazines/blogs that showcase men interested in design, because it gives me faith in the possibility that one day I'll meet a guy who doesn't have a futon, or gingham sofa, in his home. ;)

From my experience, most big design magazines are aimed at the female demographic; the exceptions seem to be gay males. As much as my dating experience sadly proves a majority of straight males could care less about design aesthetics, I know they are out there and they are the minority.

I'm sorry, jplee...I just don't see it being true as far as home design/architectural digests go; fashion magazines, absolutely. Could you give a few examples? Maybe I'm just not seeing the broad scope of it.

Published outside the usa? Great, I love $15 magazines.

jplee,

Again your point is not valid for Desgin Mags at all. The mag in question is a design mag, so your comment makes no sense in this context. Is your point valid for news mags? Maybe, but that is a comment for another blog.

"Again your point is not valid for Desgin Mags at all. The mag in question is a design mag, so your comment makes no sense in this context. Is your point valid for news mags? Maybe, but that is a comment for another blog."

DJS, I haven't studies design mags enough to know about the statistical breakdown, so no, I'm not making any claims about the marginalization of women in almost every category of media (writers, news subjects, profile subjects, producers, editors/managers, and the like).

Which I said, now *twice.*

But yes, my point is absolutely relevant to this blog. As I have now said twice, the marginalization of women in most areas of media should not be replicated in a design magazine. Grace described Aparetmento as featuring "mostly men." I find that troubling, because a magazine should not feature "mostly women" or "mostly men" - there should be a relatively equitable spectrum of subjects (unless the magazine is clearly a niche magazine for women, or for men, or for youth, etc.).

If you and others are right that other shelter mags over-represent women (unlike most other areas of media), then those magazines would do better by including more men. But a magazine that features stories about real people living in real apartments shouldn't feature "mostly men." It should feature a relatively equitable number of men and women who have interesting personal stories, and profile them within their unique homes.

Basically, DJS, all I'm saying is that the majority of media leave women out of the picture most of the time. If you're right and shelter mags don't usually have that problem, they shouldn't start now.