Men's Journal: A Men's Magazine Without Sexy Babes?

OMG! A men’s magazine that actually is about men. No cutie pie in cleavage shots on the cover. No bikini-clad nymphets romping in the surf. No articles written about the best positions for sex or macho muscleman abs. What kind of “men’s” magazine is this, anyhow?

A darn good one is the answer. A professionally written magazine that caters to men who may (or may not) love women but who want information that pertains to the other aspects of their lives.

Glancing at the March, 2002 Issue will give you a clue to the type of articles, features and advertisements found in their magazine.

Some of the monthly features include:

Notebook – The Notebook department does monthly reviews of books, drinks, cars, videos, etc. This month they gave the recipe for a perfect Bloody Mary; reviewed luxury cars such as theBMW 7-Series; the Chevrolet Corvette; and even a “Crotch Rocket 2.0” motorcycle. The books reviewed this month were “A Multitude of Sins” by Richard Ford and “Poker Nation” by Andy Bellin.

Mind & Body – Mind & Body features articles containing information about fitness, health notes, home remedies, and nutrition. This month there was a very informative article about the muscle building enzyme Creatine. The facts were there along with some tips about other nutritional supplements that may not be safe to ingest. Another article was about sleep apnea. They told about the problem and then gave the typical treatments and did a side-by-side comparison of the Cost, Advantages, and Disadvantages of each.

For the mind part of this section they had quick tips about mental health issues for men. One of these was Internet Pornography Addiction.

Tools and Toys – This feature contains reviews of items men use and gadgets men would like to own. This month, for example, they compared (and showed in beautifully done color pictures) running shoes with their prices and their features. They also had an article on a golf ball that flies longer and straighter and a new type of skiing glove.

Adventures – Adventures is a column that monthly takes the reader to places to visit that men may find exciting or attractive. Each month covers a few spots that may interest the reader. With each location, the magazine has a Quick Guide box included. In the Quick Guide box, they do a quick review of Sex, Drugs, Clubs, and Getting There. It’s a guide to let the reader what to expect when visiting.

This month, the Adventure articles included Skiing in Girdwood, Alaska (Where’s that? A map is always included for out-of-the-way locations.) About Girdwood, skiing two-time winner of the World Extreme Ski Championships, Kim Reichhelm says, “True big mountain skiing but then it’s got this resort right there, too.”

Rome, Italy was another site reviewed this month. The reviewer states, “Talk of sites and beautiful women!” While visiting you’ll notice that two things are paramount to Romans, soccer and religion; not sure which order they should be listed.” In the Quick Tip Box for this location it states to “Get A Moped to get around.”

Amsterdam’s Night Life is the third article this month. (This one didn’t surprise me, since this is a men’s magazine and knowledge of Amsterdam’s nightlife seems to be bestowed upon men at birth by the Good Witch with The Red Lighted Wand.) Needless to say, many of the sexual “adventures” available are discussed along with information of what kinds of places, etc. are legal and illegal to save the reader a problem with the government and police.

Trips of the Month - These are usually short trips that are to places that are unique. This month they named a bunch of places for “Guys Who Hate Spas”. They are thorough and give a multitude of places with great spas and they even give price comparisons. The number one place for men to go is Cottonwood Hot Springs Inn & Spa in Buena Vista, Colorado.

They also have monthly Editor’s Mail, The Wired Frontier (this month was about DVD’s); and Fashion Reviews of Do and Don’ts.

With all of the above, they also have headline articles. This month these included (each month the topics change):

The 50 Best Places to Live
This article based their findings on certain things that a man wants from a town: clean air, access o the outdoors, nice neighbors and maybe a good bar. They also limited their search to places with populations of about 50,000 or less. Information on the top place to live: Driggs, Idaho with a population of 941, median household income of $26,604, median house price of $86,200, location 285 miles from Salt Lake City, terrain is Teton mountain wilderness and the climate is 70 inches of snow in the winter; 75 degrees and sunny in the summer.

I guess the 50 Best Places must be for hermit-type “mountain men.” I wasn’t much impressed by their choices, but it was somewhat interesting to read about places I’d never heard of nor wish to hear of again.

The second main article was on The War Doctor. This article, “Tales of a Combat Doctor,” told about the men who volunteer to be doctors in third world countries. This article was mainly about those found in Angola.

I have to give a thumbs up to the advertisements found in this magazine. They are not intrusive, they don’t stick out and make the magazine difficult to read and maneuver. Most of the ads are for men’s clothing and I think it’s a good thing. Mainly because they feature men (without a lot of glitzy female scenery) and because they are attractively photographed. I’m also glad that these fashion shots are included because I’m not sure who the magazine has for their fashion section, but it was horribly done this month. The six page fashions were to show men what kinds of dress-up and casual clothes could be worn together and I couldn’t bear to look at them. They had ties and soccer shorts with a sport coat thrown in kind of appeal but it was not very appealing to me. I could just see my guy thinking that this was the way to dress and then duplicating it. What a nightmare picture!

The other part of the advertisements that I liked was the travel section found at the back of the magazine. They have about four pages of places to visit; hotel ads and other travel information that I found helpful.

So, if you are looking for a magazine that helps you to “Live The Great Life” (as the magazine states next to its title), then you’ll enjoy this one.