ABSTRACT
In British author Helen Fielding’s 1996 popular novel Bridget Jones’s Diary, the author describes the primping and prepping that her heroine undergoes before her first date with her boss Daniel Cleaver. Bridget reflects:
ough in the paragraph that follows Bridget acknowledges “Daniel should like me just as I am,” she also notes, “I am a child of Cosmopolitan culture . . . traumatized by supermodels and too many quizzes and know that neither my personality nor my body is up to it if left to its own devices” (59). Bridget’s observation, along with her pre-date actions, reveals the pervasive hold that women’s magazines have upon her life. As a “child of Cosmopolitan culture,” Bridget subscribes to advice that encourages women to perfect their bodies through such beauty regimens as exercise, exfoliation, and waxing. Only
after perfecting her body according to Cosmopolitan magazine standards will she be acceptable for her date.
