First Issue Review – So

There is something gratingly trite about the opening editorial of the first issue of So in which editor Kirsty Robinson writes, “So is for women who party, work to party and shop to party… Basically it’s like this, you can never have too many girl friends, pairs of shoes or tequila slammers. They’re the rules.” Is this really a million miles away from the “rows of magazines telling you how to have an orgasm or how to balance a boyfriend, career and social life” which Kirsty Robinson denounces? I mean, ‘pairs of shoes’? Come on.

Front Cover – So So is very much about attitude: ‘attitude with intelligence’ as the cover declares. The announcement that So is for women who are bored senseless with the type of magazines mentioned above sounds promising; the shedding of how to beat and eat men replaced with a genuine intelligence and humour. Unfortunately So doesn’t get very far down the line in this respect. You need only go as far as page six to see the editorial team attempting to win a battle of the sexes in the paintball arena; impressively they admit they were crap, their rock ‘n’ roll redemption being that they were drinking all night. But on it goes. A feature on 2000AD‘s Space Girls cartoon strip gleans the revelation that their favourite Space Girl is Wide Open Space as she is a “transgalactic tart who can’t resist using, abusing and keeping her men as pets.” A ’10 Ways To Spot A Proper Bloke’ section offers that he “knows where to find your clitoris.”

This man-attacking attitude is quite amusing for a while but soon becomes tiresome if the whole editorial is tainted by it. Fortunately there a number of redeeming articles in So which make the title more worthwhile. There is a telling feature on escort agencies, an interesting exposé on boozing in Whitehall and an investigation into sex education in Zambia. All read well. The reviews section of music, films, videos and books is also comprehensive and well-written.

Aside from these features So doesn’t really break the ground it promises to. It runs over all the usual ‘women’s areas’ like fashion and beauty sections, most embarrassing (sexual) moment letters and ‘bloke’s view’ (heaven forbid) but still essentially boils down to a Cosmo or New Woman with swearing and beer. This does not mean it is a bad magazine, it just means don’t expect a revelation if you’re familiar with other ‘unique’ women’s magazines. Where it will sit in the market will be interesting.

The title is a well-designed and visually clear perfect-bound. It is issued monthly and costs £2. The ad:ed ratio is 21:79 including ads by Christian Lacroix, Salon Selectives and Puma.