Bossypants

Fey mentions magazines several times throughout Bossypants, usually as a symbol of society’s unreasonable demands on women. Magazines in Bossypants are self-proclaimed how-to guides for women, touting arbitrary rules and requirements that women can never meet. In “The Secrets of Mommy’s Beauty,” Fey riffs on peppy, overly simplified magazine beauty tips with headlines like “Skin Care, Skin Care, Skin Care!” Magazine photo shoots require her to squeeze into model-sized clothing, and many times, editors at fashion magazines overuse Photoshop, setting unrealistic expectations for what women look like: “It’s as if they are already so disgusted that a human has to be in clothes, they can’t stop erasing human features” (142). “The free magazines” in Fey’s doctor’s office bombard her with the message that “Breast-feeding is best for your baby” (216) while simultaneously advertising formula, making the decision of whether to breastfeed that much more confusing. When she is overwhelmed by the work-life balance of motherhood, she breaks to sob in her office—time that “magazines urge me to use for sit-ups and tricep dips” (235). Occasionally a “mommy” magazine will seek to honor her as “mother of the year”; Fey declines, claiming that they can’t possibly know if she’s a good mother—and that “working moms,” who are similarly bombarded with messages judging their femininity and worth, “want to validate that it’s okay to work, especially if they work at magazines where they can then package that validation and sell it to stay-at-home moms who are craving news from the outside world” (233).