A lad in women's clothing

If Maxim(price £2.50) was looking to force me into questioning my notions about sexual stereotyping, then I could forgive it for looking like a women's magazine. However, the 154-page issue one (a "collector's launch issue", no less) features little more than the staple "new lad" fare of classic cars and their effect on girls and a pin-up of the French actress Beatrice Dalle ("looks like she just got out of bed after a damn good session").

Is a feature on "How to pull a rich wife" a wickedly clever reversal of the traditional "How to pull a rich husband"? We shall probably never know, because five lines into a piece that begins "A bizarre vision glimmers before my eyes. A figure, head tilted back, in heraldic red, black, white and gold ..." you are fast-forwarding to "Storm in a D-cup" (what happens if you take a page three model around the world) and Victor Ubogu's not- to-be-missed problem page.

With England's 17-stone prop-forward as agony aunt, the advice does not come more enlightened than this word to a parent whose son is being bullied: "In this situation, actions speak louder than words," writes Victor. "The action of your fist striking his nose, repeatedly and at speed, is always a particularly eloquent statement."

Verdict: Maxim is trying to be Loaded's new lad, but in New Woman clothing.