...and men left behind

Press, 26 October 1982, Page 20

...and men left behind

Deidre McSharry, editii The British Cosmopolitan cover wench is very much like her American cousin and indeed clones happily with those of all nine “foreign” editions of the magazine. But Britain’s Cosmo, edited by Deidre McSharry, is different indeed from the original in everything except

ig a bible of survival and packaging — and success. Ever since she took over nine years ago Deidre McSharry has said to herself that when the circulation hit the magic half million mark she could quit. She hasn't the least intention of quitting, but the last two issues of the magazine ’ have sold out, the current one is selling out, and the print order for November is 500,000. Cosmopolitan is by far our most successful women’s monthly. Careful not to be drawn into any discussion of the mother magazine or its maker, Deidre McSharry defined her own terms: "There are those people who say we are a magazine about how to get a man and keep him; then others who say we are anti-men. Neither is true. We are a bible of survival, helping and informing- our readers. We are a magazine of involvement, a magazine of influence. And influence means power.” She has editorial freedom, she says, because when you get successful you get free, and there’s power in that too. “Of course I’m a feminist," (surprised that I should ask) “and I expect everyone who works here to be a feminist too.” By that she means what the magazine itself means — self-help, self-responsibility, being in charge, not being beholden to a man or anyone else. DMcS has a less frenetic version of the HGB message:

involvement, for her readers too, life is not about s-e-x, it’s about w-o-r-k. The magazine can still flash the old formula with lines like this month’s “The quickest way to a fortune is to marry one” ... but follows it with advice on how to start making your own. And the McS line on men is far from mouseburgerish: “I feel men have been rather left behind. Men are nice to have around, rather like keeping cows and not eating meat, but using them for shoe leather." Her general editorial policy is simple: when she came in she just looked around for the best and creamed it off — the creme of the old Nova staff (Irma Kurtz, Sally Vincent, Peter Martin) and the best from the Guardian Women's Page (Tom Crabtree, Jill Tweedie). She also carries superbly good fiction and fashion, as well as hard info for those hard-working readers. Which they are going to need if, as Deirdre McSharry fears, we are at the beginning of “the darkest decade in history.” . And herself? She has been married twice and is now with a lover “more or less.” She exercises daily, but doesn't diet (too greedy, she says), has no children but a “huge extended family of stepchildren, nieces and nephews." Plus her staff: "That's my other family " She has a car, friends and a lovely little house. “What more could anyone want?”