The checkout aisles are cluttered with the colorful covers: super skinny models wearing skimpy designer clothes. It's enough to make any woman think twice about that two-for-one ice cream deal that looked so tempting 15 minutes ago.
Whereas female targeted magazines tend to leave many women feeling like "Shrek's" Princess Fiona-turned-ogreafter sunset, studies show that men do not take the images that male magazines project as seriously.
Women reading Cosmo see impossibly thin and attractive women they would hope to match, whereas men tend to overestimate their own looks, said Sociology Prof. Rae L. Blumberg.
"Therefore, when a man reads Maxim or GQ, he is able to say that he is reading it for content, without having the same negative vibes as the woman reading Cosmo," Blumberg said. "In general, women tend to judge their looks -- and those of other women -- more severely than do men."
Third-year College student George Anderson said he reads magazines like Stuff for monthly updates on new trends, entertainment news and for a good laugh.
While he said he thinks wearing the featured clothes is unrealistic, he said buff male models set a societal standard for what females want in a guy.
"If you don't look like that, you need to get on the ball," he said jokingly. "I do need to maintain working out, though, because these [pictures] are what everyone sees."
But despite his occasional tendency to follow the examples of males in his magazines, Anderson said he doesn't feel like he needs to change very much.
"I have enough control of my life and style," he said. "And good self esteem."
Overall, Anderson uses his monthly subscription of Stuff to keep himself "on task."
"That's why they have monthly editions," he said.
And if nothing else, Anderson said the pictures of girls and alcohol make great wallpaper.
"One of the main reasons I got the magazine was girl posters," he said.
Fourth-year Architecture student Matan Chaffee uses his favorite magazine, Maxim strictly "for entertainment purposes."
"Sometimes I do get an idea, like 'if I was trying to be trendy, that would be cool to wear,'" Chaffee said. "But I never sigh, 'why can't I look like that' and then go eat a tub of ice cream, as I assume some girls would."
In fact, he would never even think of comparing himself to the sculpture-perfect guys in Maxim.
"I've seen "Zoolander," and just thinking about male models cracks me up," he said with a chuckle.
When it comes to learning creative ways to cook meat, or finding out how a certain beer is rated, Chaffee turns to the pages of Maxim for useful advice. But as for the periodical's advice about women, Chaffee said he just doesn't buy it.
"One thing I do know about women is that each one is different," he said. "So what might work on one is totally wrong for another."
Based on his experience around groups of girls, Chaffee said Cosmo is a big part of girls' vocabularies. Maybe that's because the same topics seem to blare from the racks month after month.
"In grocery stores, magazines for girls have all the same headlines, like, '10 Steps to Great Sex' and 'Lose Five Pounds in a Week,'" Chaffee said. "It boggles my mind how you can have so many different magazines every month and still the same articles."
Whereas his female friends seem to take these tips to heart, he said, his male friends' conversations sound more like, "man, did you read that Maxim article? Yeah, it was pretty funny."
"I think there's a very distinct difference between how guys and girls read magazines," Chaffee said. "Girls look at the latest clothes and think, 'that's what I'm going to wear.' And they read about relationships and think, 'that's what I'm going to do.'"
Chaffee claims Cosmo is like a "girls' Bible," whereas "guys say, 'whatever, [Maxim's] full of crap."
Third-year College student Seanan Maranzano said women's magazines aren't the only ones whose covers go into repeat mode. But as long as Maxim and GQ present the same advice in new ways, he doesn't mind.
Thumbing through the monthly magazines seems to be pure entertainment on this guy's agenda.
Models "make me laugh when they're all dolled up like that," he said.
Maranzano describes himself as "a T-shirt and shorts kind of guy" and makes no attempt to emulate the male models depicted in the magazines. His one fashion concession: a pink polo shirt.
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