Mag Hags

Cling film, coital alignment, and reverse cowgirl: 90s and 00s magazines promised to help us "drive him wild." But does anyone actually *want* to be surprised during sex? If you've ever alternated an ice cube with a sip of tea while going down on a partner, this one's for you. Welcome to Mag Hags “Sidebar” where we talk about the stuff we couldn’t fit into the main episode. Or else go off on a mad...

Are you MAD FOR IT?? This week, the Mag Hags are in 1996, scaling Peak Britpop and working their way through a magazine determined to prove that women can objectify men too. Sex by the inch! Tastiest man in the world stripped bare!!  In entirely coincidental timing, the Mag Hags meet some real life Patsys (as in Kensit) and Liams (as in Gallagher). Unfortunately, some of what passed for passi...

Embarrassed to go to the doctor? Cheating on your boyfriend with another man? Worried you might be a nympho? Put your Big Girl pants on, we’re diving into the world of magazine problem pages. Welcome to Mag Hags “Sidebar” where we talk about the stuff we couldn’t fit into the main episode. Or else go off on a mad tangent about something that’s sparked our interest.  Join the conversation! Got...

It’s March 1974 aka the last moment in history before anyone had heard of ABBA! Striking coal miners have brought down a Conservative government and the UK is gripped by its first post-war recession… but the Mag Hags are boldly wading in, armed with a copy of Over 21 magazine. This week, we come to terms with some hang-ups in a feature that takes us to some unexpected places – most notably, mid-ce...

Do you know your masthead from your standfirst? Could you make a pull quote out of a vox pop? And what, oh what, is a slug?  Welcome to Mag Hags “Sidebar” where we talk about the stuff we couldn’t fit into the main episode. Or else go off on a mad tangent about something that’s sparked our interest.  This week: Lucy talks us through some common magazine jargon. Join the conversation! Got...

The Mag Hags are back! It’s July 1987 - aka Lucy’s birth month - and to kick off the new season she’s leading a voyage of “style with content” to Elle magazine! The contradictions of the late 80s are writ large: we’ve got innovation and progress (portable CD players!! Iced coffee!!!) alongside depressing accounts of workplace harassment and laborious tips for banishing cellulite.  But the Hag...

Mag Hags is back! We've got smashing financial advice, explosive relationship drama, and the latest shoulder pad discourse. If you love magazines, 20th century pop culture, and questionable life advice, then join us every week to find out what’s still hot, and what’s definitely not. First episode drops WEDNESDAY JUNE 11 2025. Subscribe to our newsletter to get access to all the features and advert...

It’s the end of season one! And what better note to end on than right back where we started: with the OG of having it all, Cosmopolitan. It’s October 1992 and Lucy is at the helm as the Mag Hags navigate post-Thatcher pre-Loaded gender politics to explore the timeless editorial territory of: has feminism been bad for men? There’s a recession on, but that doesn’t seem to have dented Cosmo’s adverti...

Kicking off the new year with a bang, the Mag Hags are manifesting the season they want… with a June magazine issue. Franki is taking us back to the 80s to 19 magazine – a sister title to Honey that’s ticking all the women’s mag tropes. Directive diet features! Reductive psychology quizzes!   The Mag Hags reckon with some food demons from their childhoods: notably the 80s/early 90s obses...

Burn your bras, lads: we’re back in the 70s this week – only this time the magazine under the spotlight *has* caught up with the decade’s radical social progress. Lucy is leading the way through a tour of Cosmo’s little sister mag: the recently launched Company. There’s a report into how technology is about to transform work as we know it, some timeless fashion tips, and an ad for a 1970s-era Hing...

Gather round, high-flying spinsters! The Good Friday Agreement has been signed, the US president is definitely *not* having sexual relations with that woman, and we are hitting New Labour's economic zenith : it’s 1998 and the Mag Hags are reading Marie Claire.  Franki is in the driving seat as the Mag Hags dive into plastic surgery tourism and ponder why Woman Of The Moment Gwyneth Paltrow is...

Grab your Barbour and don your wellies – it’s time for Tatler!  Lucy is taking the Mag Hags back to Tina Brown’s formative career years and a festive issue of the high society bible. Here, Franki and Lucy learn some valuable lessons in how to *really* show off one’s status and discuss the British aristocracy’s take on Quiet Luxury.  There is some questionable history on 20th century tax...

Welcome to Guess The Meat with Lucy and Franki! ... Only joking! That would be insane.  This episode, Franki is taking the Mag Hags deeper into the archives than they have gone before… to Woman’s Own, November 1972. A relic of the mid-century suburban housewife, this mag is serving up hobby how-tos, a guide to hats, and a free sheet of ‘foil-edged cooking film’. No, we have no idea eithe...

Dig out your Union Jack tea-towel dresses, girls! This time, Lucy is leading the way through a magazine that’s channeling all the Girl-Powered benign anarchy of Spice World: The Movie. It’s New Woman, September 1997.  There’s a ‘how-to’ for spying on your boyfriend, bafflingly horny ads and – in depressingly 90s style – a feature about how you can weigh 10st and still be technically obese (ch...

The Mag Hags are back and cooking with gas! This episode Franki and Lucy ponder on some cutting edge household appliances – cordless iron, anyone? Because, yes, Franki is guiding us on a tour through Good Housekeeping, March 1988.  There’s Ovaltine innuendo, shoulder-revealing fashion, and a self-help book extract suggesting that Lucy could be a threat to Franki’s marriage.  Plus, a ques...

Lucy and Franki are back with more dispatches from vintage women’s glossies.  This week, Lucy is heading to Honey magazine March 1976 – but it’s less Patti Smith and Sex! on the Kings Road, more women named Sue and unequal division of household labour.  We also meet the last of debutantes, contemplate a bath-time workout, and witness a disastrous PR campaign for British Rail.  Meanw...

Welcome to the very first episode of Mag Hags, the podcast that every modern woman should know. Join Franki and Lucy as they dive into the glossy archives of women’s magazines to find out what's still hot, and what's definitely not.  And where else to begin than the OG of having it all: Cosmopolitan. Franki has travelled back in time to October 1982, when The Pill turned 21 and publishers wer...

Mag Hags is a brand new podcast that celebrates and interrogates the glossy women’s magazines of the 70s, 80s, and 90s. If you love magazines, 20th century pop culture, and questionable life advice on glossy paper stock, then join us each fortnight when we’ll be diving into a vintage issue to find out what’s still hot, and what’s definitely not. First episode drops WEDNESDAY OCTOBER 02 2024. Subsc...