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Are women’s magazines hoping for lesbian readers, or just finally addressing the ones they have?

If you read mainstream women’s magazines, you might have noticed an exciting new trend. Topics relating to lesbians and bisexual women are slowly being embraced by the editorial staffs of publications that typically give advice on how to find a man, get a man, please your man and keep your man. Even in the pieces that aren’t about anything sexually specific, references are made to boyfriends or husbands, so it’s been refreshing to see stories on women questioning their sexuality or features on women who are openly gay.

In the past few months, out female celebrities such as Ellen DeGeneres, Jillian Michaels and Anna Paquin have been the cover subjects of women’s magazines like Shape, Self, Redbook and Ladies Home Journal.

When television personality Jillian Michaels spoke with Ladies Home Journal earlier this year, it was the first time she ever addressed her sexuality in a public interview. She told the magazine:

Let’s just say I believe in healthy love. If I fall in love with a woman, that’s awesome. If I fall in love with a man, that’s awesome. As long as you fall in love … It’s like organic food. I only eat healthy food, and I only want healthy love!

A few months later, Jillian was on the cover of Redbook. Freelance contributor Abby Ellin conducted the interview and said she had no plans to discuss Jillian’s sexuality unless it came up. (It didn’t.)

My editors did not ask me to ask her about it, nor did they ask me to steer clear of it,” Ellin said. ” In other words, if it came up naturally, great, but it didn’t matter either way. I did ask her if she was seeing anyone and she said ‘Nothing special, just casually dating’ and I didn’t personally feel the need to say ‘And are you casually dating a guy or a girl, or one of each?’ The gist of the piece was about her new show and her feelings about weight and food, so that’s kinda where I stuck.”

Ellin said that one thing she did have to ask about was Jillian’s comments on not wanting to have her own children because of the toll it would take on her body. “But that was in the news when I interviewed her, so it would have been journalistically unsound not to ask,” she said. “If the piece had been for OUT or about her romantic life, I would have asked [about her sexuality].”

Self magazine’s entertainment director Laura Brounstein said that cover model Anna Paquin – who did discuss her bisexuality in the interview – was a great fit for the publication and what it stands for: Being authentic.

“Anna Paquin was a natural cover for us,” Brounstein said. “She’s talented, not afraid to speak up for what she believes in and who she is, and she’s committed to being healthy and not afraid to talk about it. I think our readers respond well to stories about any woman who is getting the most out of life and has the kind of refreshingly honest take on things that Anna does! Her honesty about her sexuality is something we applaud, but it’s simply one of the many things that make this well-spoken, talented, and fun to get to know actress.”

In regards to their readership, Brounstien notes that they have 6.7 million readers and celebrate their diverse demographic.

“We love that they have a mix ethnicities, sexual orientations, ages, and interests,” she said. “We want every woman to be her happiest and healthiest, be she gay, straight, or anything else.”

Self has at least one openly gay member on the editorial staff: Erin Bried, who is married to literary agent Holly Bemiss. Sarah Ellis, an out lesbian who is married to Antigone Rising‘s Kristen Henderson, is on the staff of Real Simple, a magazine focused on homemaking with advice on decorating, cooking, beauty and more. Ellis says she thinks women’s magazines are embracing their gay readers because they are catching up to the modern world.

“It’s happening now because [in the] post-recession, everyone is reevaluating what matters most. Freedom to be who you are is at the top of everyone’s list and coming out is no longer a ‘breaking news’ story on the cover of People,” Ellis said.

And that has been proven true by the recent coming outs of the aforementioned as well as Chely Wright, Vanessa Carlton and other celebrities who have used other forums to discuss their sexuality. (Wright, who was supposed to be on the cover of People, was bumped off by Bret Michaels’s death scare.)

At Real Simple, Ellis says her being a lesbian isn’t much of a factor, saying, “My sexuality is less of an issue with my co-workers than the fact I have a stay-at-home wife who cares for our children.” And regarding their readers: “It’s our mission to make every woman’s life easier and more rewarding. We don’t hope she’s gay – we hope she’s happy.”

Ellis is also part of her publisher’s gay organization called OUT. “I help lead this group. We have recently modified our agenda to be more relevant to issues that are pressing in our lives,” Ellis said. “Our business culture is one of openness and connectivity.”

Real Simple even did a story on Ellis and her partner when they had their babies at the same time: “Two Women, Two Babies, One Family.”

Jessica Bennett is a senior writer at Newsweek, covering women’s issues among other things, and frequently writes on LGBT issues. She says that she doesn’t necessarily seek out lesbian stories for her beat, but they are one of her major points of interest.

“A good story is a good story, whether it’s gay or lesbian or straight,” Benett said. “That said, to write interesting stories about LGBT issues, you’ve got to know what the issues are – which isn’t always possible just by reading the mainstream press. So while I follow all news, I try to keep an eye on LGBT-specific news too. Someday maybe it’ll all just be considered ‘news.'”

She also said that a public figure’s sexuality can factor into how they are covered in a piece, but, like Ellin said on the Jillian Michaels piece for Redbook, only if it’s a big part of the story at large.

“There are certainly instances where I’ve made a judgment call that a person’s sexuality simply isn’t relevant to the content of a piece, which more often than not it isn’t,” Bennett said. “It’s different, I think, when you’re dealing with a high-profile celebrity, or somebody of that nature – and in some of those instances, I think it’s fair game.”

In the Shape cover story, Ellen talked about Portia, saying:

She loves me no matter what. Whenever I feel bad about myself, or if I’m in a period where I’m not working out, she’s constantly telling me that she doesn’t notice, that I look beautiful. She’ll say, “I think you could gain 10 more pounds.’ She would rather have me heavier than thinner, and she really hates that I ever doubt myself. She loves how I look. She wants me to be happy and never think about it.

And with Self, Anna was asked about coming out as bisexual. She said:

Everyone who is in my life who matters to me always knows what’s going on. I understand why it’s a big deal to some people, but to me, it’s not. I’ve probably always known I was bisexual. I’m really lucky; I grew up in an open-minded, supportive family, so my sexuality was never stigmatized or scary or out of bounds. I’m comfortable with who I am, and it’s not an issue.

Outside of these pieces, when it comes to women’s publications, it can be all too obvious that the intended customer is a straight woman, despite the fact that lesbians and bisexual women remain avid readers of these magazines.

Bennett said that she thinks that, despite research on “gay buying power” showing the community at large will reach $2 trillion by 2012, most businesses assume this means gay males only – magazine publishers included.

“Part of that has to do with history, with AIDS, part of it with the fact that men continue to be more represented on television, dominate the halls of power in politics, media, and so on,” Bennett said.

Which brings us back to the coverage of lesbians – celebrities or otherwise – in the mainstream press in general. Newsweek was one publication that received a lot of flack for a story by an openly gay male staff writer discussing why gay actors can’t play straight.

“I don’t want to reopen that can of worms, but no, it hasn’t affected our LGBT coverage at all,” Bennett said of the controversy. “If anything, I think it’s shown us that people care deeply about what we have to say – and so we should continue to have a voice on these issues.”

She notes that Newsweek’s editorial staff is more concerned with how stories are pitched (“and whether it’s compelling”) vs. the actual topic, LGBT or otherwise. “But Newsweek didn’t win two GLAAD awards last year for nothing; we clearly believe LGBT issues are important, and we will continue to cover them.”

One magazine that has been the most inclusive of lesbians is O Magazine, which includes LGBT content regularly, from the inclusion of out actresses, singers, writers and other public figures in their interview pieces and essays to individual stories such as last year’s “Why Women are Leaving Men for Other Women.”

Despite the coverage not always being exactly what we’d hope for or what we agree with, there is an effort being made on behalf of several magazines. Even Cosmopolitan, arguably the most straight sex and relationship focused women’s publication, has written two pieces in the last two years on women who fall for other women (“What it’s Like to Love a Girl”, January 2008; “Girls Kissing Girls,” July 2010.)

Other publications like Marie Claire (“I Kissed a Girl,” February 2009), Latina (“Wet Hot Lesbian Summer,” June 2009) and Glamour (“This Adorable Girlfriend Proposed,” May 2010) have also followed suit.

“There’s a lot of new research coming out about sexual fluidity in women – the idea that we fall more in the middle on a scale of super hetero to super gay,” Bennett said. “From a purely health perspective, this is news, and really interesting news, so I think we’ll continue to see this coverage increase.”

Queer women have a handful of their own magazines available on newsstands, but their circulations are much smaller than those of those from publishing powerhouses like Hearst and American Media Inc. For example, Curve magazine is the nation’s best selling lesbian magazine and it has a circulation of 68,200. In comparison, Shape magazine has a circulation of 1,676,323. O Magazine boasts a readership of more than two million.

Like any other form of media, print magazines are looking to provide service-oriented pieces that their readers will find engaging, insightful and educational. And as lesbians and bisexual women are becoming more and more visible in pop culture and media at large, they are considered good material for regular publication as well as strong figures to move copies on the newsstands.

“I doubt most editors are thinking only of dollar signs when they assign stories, but I do think the mainstream press has been paying attention to LGBT issues for some time now,” Bennett said. “But perhaps what we’re seeing now is a kind of lesbian/bi coming out moment, so to speak – where the media is waking up to issues of lesbian (and bi) life. Whatever you think of The Real L Word, the fact that there’s a reality series about a group of openly-gay women on mainstream cable is encouraging, and it’ll only help propel the cycle. The more we see lesbian and bi women on television, the more the news media will cover them, the more comfortable mainstream society will be with them, and so on. It’s all part of the process of social change.”

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