General-interest magazines
General-interest magazines, also called consumer magazines, concentrate on subjects of interest to many people. In Britain these include Ideal Home, Garden News, BBC Good Food Magazine, Mother and Baby. There are also magazines on DIY, cars, sport, travel, films and music.
Music and film magazines cater for a wide range of tastes. Q,Rolling Stone and New Musical Express contain reviews of popular music and interviews with musicians. Mixmag covers dance culture. Classical music, opera, jazz and folk music have their own magazines, some of which give away free CDs. US film magazines include Empire, Neon, and Sight and Sound.
Sports magazines also attract many readers. US titles include Total Sport and, for individual sports, Top Gear and Regatta. In Britain some football clubs produce a club magazine. Fanzines are cheap magazines produced by fans (= supporters) of a singer, group or sports club.
Gossip magazines also called the gossips, have stories about the rich and famous and range from the up market (= smart) Hello! to US super market tabloids like National Enquirer.
Some magazines are bought mainly for their listings, e.g. Time Out, which gives details of plays, concerts, etc. in London or New York. Exchange & Mart contains only advertisements of items for sale or wanted.
A few magazines have a more intellectual content. These include news and current affairs magazines, such as Time, Life, The Economist, Private Eye and The Spectator, as well as New Scientist, Scientific American and National Geographic.
Women's and men's magazines
Women generally buy more magazines than men. Vogue and Harper's & Queen are expensive, high-quality fashion magazines. Others have a more chatty style and contain stories, competitions, articles on fashion, make-up, food and fitness, and an agony (AmE advice) column (= replies to readers letters on personal problems). One of the most popular magazines for younger women is Cosmopolitan, which also includes film and book reviews ! and advice on sex and careers. Other women's titles include Good Housekeeping, She, Prima, Bella, Woman and Best.
Teen mags have information and advice about clothes, school, friends and entertainment. Mizz, Seventeen and J17 are written for older teenagers but often read by younger girls. Some parents disapprove of teen mags as they include stories about boys and sex.
Recently, more magazines have been produced specifically for men. Highly-illustrated magazines such as Esquire, Arena and 60 contain reviews and articles about cars, clothes, music and sport. In the US Gentlemen's Quarterly is famous. Loaded and Sky are based more on 'lad culture', where the emphasis is on sex, drink and music.
Most pornographic magazines (= magazines which contain photographs of people naked) are also aimed at men. Although British and American people believe in a free press (= the right to publish anything), there are limits in the case of magazines about sex.