English, B. (1999, June 23). Brainless-chick chic. The Boston Globe, p. C3.

OVERVIEW

Given the job of critiquing teenage girls’ magazines, this author found that not much had changed since she was a teen. "There’s still a steady diet of exclamation points, advice columns, beauty tips, fashion, and above all, guys, guys, and more guys!"

According to TEEN  magazine, life seems to consist "of nothing but conditioning your hair, painting your nails, plucking your eyebrows, shaving your legs, and counting your calories."

A feature of the July issue is "12 pages of hot boy bands." According to this writer the Backstreet Boys who are "wearing white shirts (are) trying to look, what—enigmatic? sexy? oh yes, hot—look instead like bored busboys at your local diner."

In their interview, one Backstreet Boy is asked what grosses him out. Bella English quotes the reply:

‘I can stand to see blood and puke, but when it comes to anything mucus-oriented or phlegm or someone spitting, I gag.’

No wonder (she goes on to say) he became a teeny-bopper rocker instead of a brain surgeon. Reading these magazines makes you think that the feminist movement never happened at all; it was just some PMS-induced hallucination.

A review of YM (Young and Modern) found similar vacuity. The cover features Josh Jackson and Leo and these article titles:

• "I Smooched Matt Damon"
• "Love Lessons"
• "Why Guys Cheat"
• "Rate Your Sweetie-Snagging Style"
• "Girls Reveal Their Husband Hopes"

English continues:

It’s enough to give a feminist mother heartburn. There are 138 beauty boosters ‘for zit-free skin and sexy hair’ and exactly one mention of a book, Ophelia Speaks, a collection of poems and essays written by girls across the country. Here is an excerpt on eating disorders:

‘How did every girl I grew up with learn to measure her merit by the size of her skirt? Why does the Gap make size zero? Who designed Barbie? The girls next to me at lunch split a salad—six ways...It’s survival of the slimmest.’

Ironically, this one serious article is stranded in the midst of articles like " ‘Beat the "Hate My Bod" Blues,’ " continuous features of hot guys, articles helping you figure out if your boyfriend is cheating on you, and "a sex advice column that would make even Bill Clinton blush."

These schizophrenic girl mags (English concludes) are trying to have it both ways: to appeal to a hip chick who deep down inside—or maybe not so deep—wants nothing more than to be swept off her feet by some knight in hip-hop armor. The end result is pretty much of a sexist mess.

Bella English finds the "grandmother of such magazines to be a shameless hussy: Cosmopolitan." Highlights from the July, 1999 issue are:

• "My Secret Life as a Dominatrix"
• "Guy Butt Watch ‘99"
• "5 Perfect Pickup Lines"
• "Sex Tricks He’s Never Seen Before"
• "When to Flick the Bitch Switch"

The usual lean, barely-clad, boob bulging blond graces the cover. An in-depth interview inside has this model explaining that she has "been on an endless hunt for the perfect lip balm."

Further illustration of unplanned ironies in these magazines is provided. A Cosmo advice column "has the nerve to act horrified when a 24-year-old woman wants a face lift: ‘To see oneself as an object, a thing, a decorative toy, sounds certifiably crazy to me,’ writes the columnist." Just a few pages further, however, a full-page ad features a 31-year-old woman enraptured about her breast implants: " ‘I wish I had done it sooner.’ "

For those who have to pass the magazine continuously at their supermarket, it’s a relief to have this intelligent woman come down on Cosmopolitan. Her response to this issue’s bragging that it has "Found Leo:"

Who cares? At a time when anorexia, casual sex, and binge drinking among young women are serious problems, along with violence against women, job and pay inequities, and sexual harassment, the fact that ‘women crumble around Leo’ is about as relevant as a corset.

As the old advertising copy use to ask: ‘Who’s that Cosmopolitan Girl?’ Judging by the magazine itself, a sex-crazed, self-starved, breast-implanted bimbo.

In a final review, Bella English finds something more decent and to her taste in Girls’ Life. It seems age-appropriate as it targets younger teenagers. The July issue features positive role models such as a woman astronaut and a young winner in "Olympics of Science." Its "Get Real" comics portray "smart and savvy girls" competing with boys in soccer. The magazine objects to Cracker Jack offering prizes that only " ‘please 10-year-old boys...What about the other half of the population that eats Cracker Jacks?’ " The issue includes a good music section, book and movie reviews, and museum recommendations. Feature articles on "the 1999 Women’s World Cup and a story on self-esteem make this a rich and healthy diet rather than the usual junk food for the mind."

QUESTIONS FOR REFLECTION AND DISCUSSION

1. Name two or three of your favorite magazines. How have your favorites changed in the past 5 or 10 years?
2. What magazines would you recommend for a girl of 10? 12? 15? 17? What magazines would you recommend for boys of those ages?
3. How do you react to this article? Do you mostly agree with it? What most impressed you with it, or with what did you disagree or object?
4. How can this medium (magazines) manipulate readers? How can you best help young readers critique the double or mixed messages of their favorite magazines?

IMPLICATIONS

1. Magazines are cultural handbooks for young people. They may not do all these magazines suggest, but they cannot help but be somehow affected with the images and persistent, subtle messages continually encountered.
2. At some time or other, parents ought to read the magazines their sons and daughters are reading and let their kids interpret the images and messages.
3. Teachers and youth leaders have a similar responsibility. Just as we are concerned about the air they breathe, the food they eat, we ought to be interested in how their minds are being fed.

Dean Borgman cCYS