Turning Goys into Girls

Finally! An article I am excited to discuss for my text blog this week, “Turning Goys into Girls” by Michelle Cottle (pages 260-263). First of all, the topic is current and fascinating about how body obsessed our society is and how the consumer world is now focusing on exploiting men as well as women. Her main examples of body conscious dudes comes from material in Men's Health and other magazines geared toward the male population. I am surprised this magazine essay was published in 1998 because over ten years later, the issue is still relevant. In fact, I wonder if even more men feel the pressure of gaining perfection over their body today than in the late 90's.

Right from the beginning, Cottle begins the article by inadvertently stating her ethos, explaining the love she has for reading Men's Health. My assumption from the first paragraph was the author is a frequent reader of the magazine or perhaps even a subscription. Since her credibility on the subject had been well established, I was eager to continue learning about what she had to say. But she did not use observations from reading manly magazines alone as supporting evidence. She also included different statistics to back up her argument. It was apparent to me Cottle had done extensive research prior to writing the essay.

I especially loved the tone Cottle used in this writing piece, the perfect mixture of sarcasm and creative honesty. The polished style is definitely note-worthy too; how she used colorful examples, analogies and descriptions to prove her point. As an audience member, it kept me engaged and focused. Her audience awareness was very keen as the topic encompasses both men and women. There was excellence in cohesion without being redundant. Case in point, the second paragraph compares “super shaper briefs” for men to bras for women. Then the last few sentences, she refers back to that comparison , tying the article into a nice, neat package for the reader.

Michelle Cottle's writing is exactly what I find enjoyable to analyze. Her wit and clear, accessible language inspires me to become a better writer. She kind of became my “writing role model”. The only part I didn't really understand was the title. I googled the word “goys” and all I found was that it is a term the Jewish culture refers to Gentiles (people who are not Jewish). Urbandictionary.com says the meaning is a group of white boys trying to be gangster. Neither definitions pertain to the article, so even though the title is catchy, I think it should be changed to fit the rest of the essay.