Picking Your Perfect Cliché with Help from InStyle

One of the main criticisms of fashion magazines is that, by being overly reductive, the mags reinforce stereotypes. We can’t exactly disagree when faced with evidence like InStyle’s “The Ultimate Fragrance Guide,” November:

Find a Perfume to Fit Your Personality

And—how convenient!—InStyle has provided us with a list of all four personality possibilities for women. They are:

Romantic

This is supposed to cover most women, we think. Because we’re all waiting for a bare-chested guy on a horse to sweep us off our feet.

Bohemian

Otherwise known as the people still wearing broomstick skirts.

Fashionista

Except true fashionistas read Vogue and W, so they’ll never see this feature anyway.

Sporty Gal

Gal?  Because those athletic types aren’t women—there has to be a distinct term for them.

We’d write more about these tidy little boxes InStyle has delineated for us, but we’re going to be busy the rest of the day figuring out which one fits us best.  Which personality type most dislikes being squeezed into someone else’s idea of femininity?