Jurkowitz, M. (1999, June 10). City mags bare it, and grin. Boston Globe, E1, 7.

OVERVIEW

June seems to be the month when the covers of America’s city magazines sport sexy models.

To look at the cover of the San Diego magazine is to stare down the cleavage of Playboy’s Miss July 1998, Lisa Dergan, who smiles up invitingly in one of the season’s "hot summer swimsuits."

Chicago’s magazine "is graced by bikini-clad Gabrielle Reece, the statuesque volley ball star." The Boston magazine headline advertises "Summer Pleasures" featuring "an exceedingly fit model in a tiny two-piece swim suit."

The Los Angeles summer magazine makes no bones about its theme: "The Sex Issue: Sexiest People, Places, Things in L.A." showing actress Calista Flockhart "perched provocatively atop a naked man." Editor-in-chief Spencer Beck admits, " ‘I’m a strong believer in sex sells. This is the first (sex issue) and I’m gonna do it every year because you cannot find the magazine on a newsstand.’ "

Philadelphia goes against the grain with a cover of "dad, mom, junior and Rover off road-tripping in the red Mustang." But editor Stephen Fried admits their July issue will be "sand-and-sea"—possibly featuring bikini-clad twins.

Editors of these magazines insist they sell to above-40 readers and that the draw is really "top restaurants, top doctors, and the best buys." It’s service journalism, not the skin or hot model, that sells. Jim Dowden, director of City and Regional Magazine Association, says " ‘the skimpy swimsuit models are usually there to dress up a service story on ‘the best weekend getaways.’ "

Dowden seems to be partially serious. Critics are left to wonder—with the writer of this article—if sex itself may not becoming "a form of service journalism."

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. In your opinion, does sex sell, and do sexual come-ons appeal to all ages of readers?
2. If sex does increase sales, what can be done to reduce sexual exploitation? Is it inevitable that those who profit most will be those who push the envelope of morals and taste in regard to sex?
3. How can something as subjective as sexual taste be fairly and effectively critiqued and evaluated?
4. Do children and young people need magazine education? What kind of magazine literacy would you suggest, and how would you implement this in your own home, a school classroom, and a youth group?

IMPLICATIONS

1. Studies show that young people, girls and boys—in somewhat different ways—are affected by images in the media.
2. If magazines are our young people’s cultural manuals, they need to be monitored and interpreted in some effective way.
3. Magazine literacy would seem to be needed to keep boys from objectivizing women—and girls from suffering critical loss of self-esteem.
4. Boycotts of explicit sexual material by large numbers of consumers would drastically re-fashion magazine covers.

Dean Borgman cCYS