I’m not done talking about young girls being exposed to too much sexuality.
The more I think about the issue, the more I realize how much of this garbage actually surrounds us. Things out of the ordinary happen and people are shocked. (Example: Unmarried people sleeping in the same bed on TV) Then after awhile the extraordinary becomes ordinary and it’s just another day in the neighborhood. Once an inch is given, most will take it a mile. However, just because something has become accepted, it doesn’t make it right.
When I think of the media messing with womens minds I often think of magazines geared towards women in their 20′, 30’s and 40’s…you know the Cosmo type. It’s such a sad thing to realize that these same things are being promoted to young girls.
Why are all these magazines filling childrens heads with garbage? And more importantly why are parents buying it?
Teen Vogue, Cosmo Girl, Seventeen are all filled with things such as:
How to be sexy
How to look cute
What boys want
How to get the guy
Give me a break! This is why women will continue to be objectified and seen as second class citizens. (You aren’t smart enough to run the country! You have to diet and look
sexy in my advertisements) This is why women will always be pit against each other; you know that old “I will fight over a man and I hate girls and I never hang out with them” syndrome. It starts young. If you are surrounded by things that are telling you nothing but sex, guys, and more sex then what else are you supposed to think.
I think the education is the only solution. I don’t think young ladies should be shielded from these images; I think they should be made aware of them and educated on the impact that all of this has. They should be told that boys aren’t everything and finding a path in life is more important than how your butt looks in jeans. They should be taught about how the images they see aren’t always real so they don’t have to try to live up to airbrushed standards. They should be shown positive images; they may be hard to find but I believe every parent should at least make the effort. Jean Kilbourne’s Killing Us Softly films changed my life and I think every parent should be allowed to have a copy.
4 responses so far ↓
1 Allena // Oct 20, 2007 at 5:45 pm
“I don’t think young ladies should be shielded from these images; I think they should be made aware of them and educated on the impact that all of this has.”
Shielding children/tweens/teens backfires. Quickly. I hope to teach derision. Magazines like Cosmo are laughable. Then again, you can learn SOME stuff as a teen from them. But, in general, yeah, completely laughable- after you read one or two it’s all the same.
2 Melissa // Oct 23, 2007 at 2:53 pm
I agree with Allena completely. As a teen, I snuck around reading Cosmo simply because my parents disapproved of it, and it was tantalizing. By comparison, teenagers whose parents don’t limit their access to these magazines, but rather point out how ridiculous they really are, come away with healthier attitudes on the subject. Only as an adult did I realize how shallow and materialistic these kinds of images and the products being pushed really are. Now I can make fun of how Cosmo just recycles the same dull sex tips every month with a new headline, just to sell ads picturing women in uncomfortable poses and silly-looking clothing.
3 Peter Carter // Oct 26, 2007 at 10:24 am
Interesting you mention education. The trouble with education is that for some girls it isn’t a viable alternative when they know they can earn far modelling (and I don’t mean catwalk modelling just quite average girls doing glamour modelling) or they can latch onto a footballer (here in the UK they can easily earn $100000+ a week). Sadly, these girls and people like Paris Hilton are held up as role models. It’s all a bit vulgar but annoyingly they get paid a lot more than most of us.
4 Don't need my name // Oct 30, 2007 at 2:36 pm
I strongly disagree with these magazines altogether, they fill the minds of young people with all sorts of destructive crap such as what you just explained.
Leave a Comment