Magazines: Ballet in Cosmo

[Guest Jeannie]

The current issue of Cosmopolitan magazine (the one with Britney Spears on the cover) includes a list of 'Ten Romantic Things That you Should NEVER Do for Your Boyfriend' (things that, according to Cosmo, would turn men off). Item #8: Never take him to the ballet.

 

Huh??? What are the Cosmo editors snorting?

[Alexandra]

Thanks for posting that, Jeannie. One of the things I'd intended to when starting Ballet Alert! is to write letters to people who do things like this. I've never done it -- I think I will this time!

 

Perhaps some other Ballet Alertniks would like to do the same?

 

Jeannie, would you mind posting the address for correspondence? Thank you!

[Guest Calliope]

I saw that too. My first response, was "give him Cosmopolitan" as a turn off!

It's on the opposite spectrum, in some ways. But the latest Vogue has New York City Ballet mentioned all over the place in an article on NY designers. One mentioned it would be an ideal evening (with a small corps photo from Serenade) but I stopped counting after 6 photos of society women photographed at NYCB.

While it's not bad, a friend asked me if that's how I dress up when I go to the ballet. I explained I'd rather spend $6,000 on tickets than on one dress!

[Guest linsusanr]

I don't read Cosmo, but that's really awful! Thank goodness I know some guys who would go to the ballet by themselves, and definitely with a date or friends

 

Alexandra, let us know if you do send the magazine a letter, and whether they give you a response. I'm thinking about writing as well!

[Guest Jeannie]

With pleasure, Alexandra. [Took me a while to dig the issue from my desk....shhhhh.... ]

 

Letters to the editor, for publication in the "You Tell Us" column go to:

 

You Tell Us

Cosmopolitan

P.O. Box 1407

Radio City Station

New York City, NY 10101-1407

 

The article in question appears on p. 163 of the February 2002 issue & is titled "Ten Romantic Moves That You Should Spare Your Boyfriend."

 

What made me really mad is that the nine other 'moves' are very long & puffy-fluffy, e.g., dumb stuff like 'Never surprise him with a teddy-bear tee shirt....'never play Barry Manilow CDs....' sort of stuff - I'm making those up but you get the gist. Then, in the middle of this fluff, is the simple and straightforward "#8 - Never take him to the ballet." It's worth some letters of complaint, for sure.

 

[ January 25, 2002: Message edited by: Jeannie ]

[Alexandra]

Thank you, Jeannie. I think you should get the First Annual Ballet Alert Paul Revere Award for calling this to our attention.

 

I was hoping there might be an easy way to contact them by email. The magazine itself doesn't seem to have a site; it's hitched to ivillage. There is a form there where one can send an email:

 

Click this link:

 

http://magazines.ivillage.com/cosmopolitan..._293009,00.html

[dirac]

Well, I wouldn't take him to "Edward II."

[Alexandra]

What Cosmo Guy could resist a ballet drenched in blood and violence that includes a pas de trois, the third party of which is a severed head????

[Farrell Fan]

Over forty years ago, when I still qualified as a "boyfriend," a woman took me to my first ballet. It was the Kirov doing Swan Lake at the old Metropolitan Opera House. It was summer and the place was not airconditioned. Nevertheless, I remember it as the best time I'd ever had sitting in a theater seat. That Fall she took me to New York City Ballet for the first time. We held hands. After that --what else? -- marriage! I know times have changed, but I suspect those Cosmo editors still have a lot to learn.

[Alexandra]

Holding hands at the ballet -- what a sweet story, Farrell Fan. If tea dances can make a comeback, surely so can this!

[Mel Johnson]

Somebody ought to write an article for Esquire on "Ten Slick, Hip, Modern Ways to Meet Women":

 

1) Go to the ballet....

[LMCtech]

I think all you male-type posters especially should write to Cosmo to tell them how whacked they are. That might actually get their attention more than us ladies writing them.

[Guest kb]

The thing is if Cosmopolitan is such an expert on how to get a man, how come so many of its readers are single?

[Alexandra]

Bravo, KB (and welcome; congratulations on a bravura debut post )!

 

I hope you'll click on the link above and email them just that (linked to the ballet slam, of course).

[LEX]

While not his absolute favorite thing in the world to do, my boyfriend of nine years has accompanied me on several occassions to the ballet and...gasp...enjoys himself! He has even bought tickets without my prompting, and is on a mailing list for Colorado Ballet (the stuff comes addressed to him, not me). What could be more romantic than sitting next to your sweetheart, watching Swan lake? He particularly enjoyed Colorado Ballet's Dracula this Fall, which was spectacularly staged with lots of blood and special effects. Joffery's Billboards also got a thumbs up from him, but maybe because the costumes were a bit on the scanty side...

Anyway, we should consider the source.. to be a "Cosmo Girl" means that you probably don't have any interests outside of catching a man, so therefore you wouldn't have any passions, such as dance, to introduce your man to. A true Cosmo Girl would not have time to devote to The Arts, as Catching a Man and manipulating him into sticking around takes too much time and energy!