Thursday, November 7, 2013

The Fantasy Magazine


It was in the early 1980's. I was a stay at home mother.  My time was spent in different activities.  My challenges seemed never ending.  The days had many more hours in them then.  Small children need a lot, of everything.  I had made a new friend. I was beginning my toy business, she made rubber puzzles,  We had a lot in common. She taught me to knit, again.  We had little girls to buy doll clothes for.  That year I sewed Lissie, my daughter's beloved Cabbage Patch Doll

I pride myself on being a good shopper, my new friend "V" was better.  She called me one morning with urgent news. Urgent only to those who valued collectable dolls, and the thrill of the hunt.  For some crazy reason a cigarette/cigar store not far from the house had gotten a shipment of Madame Alexander Baby Dolls/  They were packed in beautiful boxes, and there were not many.  Was I interested?

Try and stop me.  The store was not far from the house.  I had never been in a store like that and other then smokes, I had no idea what it sold. I parked, with my daughter in tow, and went in.  There were many men in the store.  Most were looking at magazines.  They turned and looked at me, and turned away.  The salesperson said, you must be here for the dolls, I will bring one out. Maybe I would pick up a craft magazine, or Cosmopolitan while I was there.
I walked toward the magazines and the men moved away from me. Good manners I thought.  I had never seen, before or since magazines like this. They had every part of a women's anatomy on the cover, with snakes, mice and more. The titles of the magazine all ended with the word Fantasy.  The blog prevents me from using the first words. You get the drift, it was horrific.  Women got paid to do this on magazines...

The man came out with the doll, I paid and I ran.  We loved the doll, sadly she did not survive the years.  My friend and her husband divorced, I hear she moved. Our friendship faded.  The memory of that visit lingers on.

1 comment:

  1. Times like those make me glad that I can only guess what psychologically motivates the men that love those magazines. I suspect that I never really want to know definitively. There are too many themes of violent domination/degradation. The publicists do it for the money. The models may have a few reasons, but I suspect that for most, the money is not what they thought and the fame never comes or lasts. It's also sad if that was the only job the model could get or the best-paying job that the model could get. It isn't something that could proudly be displayed on the model's resume to get jobs other than the same type.

    Barbara

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