Prude Woman Thinks You Should be 18+ to Buy Cosmo

January 12, 2012 4:30 pm     Posted in News, Reality, Relationships  Ashley Lee g+ page


By Ashley Lee

Of all things corrupting the youth of America, the very worst is Cosmopolitan magazine. Sure, it’s the best-selling lifestyle bible of the female demographic, but now that the publication is putting actresses like Dakota Fanning and Selena Gomez on the cover, the printed pamphlet for blended orgasms and all-star blowjobs seems to be catering to a new generation of sexually active females—you know, middle school girls around twelve or thirteen years old, right?

Exactly. And over ten thousand women have had absolutely enough of the smut and are fighting to ensure that no girl under eighteen years of age ever lays eyes on a Cosmopolitan cover ever again.

This past August, a woman named Nicole Weider started a petition on Change.org to have Cosmopolitan be sold in an opaque wrapper at magazine stands and grocery stores so that its risque headlines stay hidden from the impressionable eyes of young girls.

“I happened to pick up an issue and was reading it and was completely shocked at how pornographic and explicit the content had become. I immediately thought of my young teenage brothers and it horrified me to think that they and their friends could be reading this material, and the damage it would do to them if they did,” Weider said. “So I decided to do something about it.”

But Weider doesn’t want to just stop minors from glancing at the cover while grocery shopping with their parents; she also wants to make sure that they don’t come back on their own and purchase the magazine to read later on. That’s right; she hopes that coming of age at eighteen years old means that a girl can legally buy cigarettes, lottery tickets and the latest issue of Cosmopolitan.

“I have contacted the Chairman of the FTC, John Leibowitz and received a letter from his office stating they will look into the issue and start an investigation only when they feel it’s a ‘threat’ to society,” she said. “This means they need more complaints—that is, signers of this petition.”

Weider asserts that her argument is valid because ever since she started the petition, she’s received hundreds of comments and emails—testimonies from girls as young as eleven years old.

“They write me letters detailing how they’ve tried the sexual tips written about in Cosmo, only to get their hearts broken, or worse — getting pregnant or catching an STD,” she said. “The obvious damage it could be doing is the girls getting STD’s at a young age, pregnancy and bullying.”

And why are girls so young buying Cosmopolitan anyway? According to Weider, it’s because child stars like Hayden Panettiere and Hilary Duff are constantly on the cover! 17-year-old Dakota Fanning is featured on the February issue with the headlines “His Best Sex Ever” and “3 Clues He’s Secretly Into You” plastered next to her face! And Disney Channel actress and goddess of all things tween, Selena Gomez, is slated to appear later this year—of course the eleven year olds of America are going to buy the issue, memorize it from cover to cover and have as much sex as possible with absolutely every guy in middle school!!!

On some level, I do have to agree with her. It is a little weird to see child stars on the cover of such a provocative magazine that usually offers pages and pages of sex advice to newlywed women and women who wish they were newlyweds. To me, it’s not about how old their covergirls are; no one protested when Keira Knightley and Kirsten Dunst appeared on the cover at age 19. It’s about these actresses’ target demographic: who made them famous in the first place, who watches their every move and who idolizes them. And yes, it is these impressionable eleven-year-old girls in middle school who look up to these celebrities a little too much.

Even more so, the dating advice offered inside Cosmo covers often crosses the border into completely ridiculous suggestions: sexting is sexy, cheating is normal, and making love in the club is romance defined! Little girls who don’t know better could seriously eat it all up, especially if spoonfed from something with Selena Gomez on the cover.

But honestly, Nicole Weider, tweens aren’t that easily persuaded. They’re not suddenly discovering the concept of sex when speed reading Cosmo covers while in line at the market. They’re learning about sexual tension from Twilight books and wondering how Kim Kardashian got famous in the first place, they already know what has to happen for Justin Bieber to become the father of any child. Maybe they even hear their parents’ mattresses squeak every once in a while. They’re learning about sex from everywhere else but Cosmopolitan magazine, and if they buy it, it’s because they’re already plenty curious about it. That seed was planted long ago, and the magazine just happens to be the most effective fertilizer toward cultivating great sex.

Sorry, but this ban won’t pass. The FCC will never take this seriously. Such a lucrative magazine in a struggling industry is not a threat to society. And Cosmopolitan will continue to “corrupt” tweens with saucy headlines and sexualized child stars, and there’s nothing that can be done that will actually make any kind of difference. Want tweens to stop having sex, parents? Educate your kids about STI’s and teen pregnancy (no, it does not happen as fast as Bella’s pregnancy in Twilight). Help them build self confidence outside receiving male attention and encourage some kind of moral code in the house. Oh, and make sure they aren’t so easily influenced that they’ll try out an idea that they read in passing on random magazine cover. Whose fault is it really?

Do you agree with Weider about Cosmopolitan’s persuasive effect on tween readers? Or do you also think it’s a little bit ridiculous to buy issues wrapped in cardboard paper whenever you want to thumb through a Cosmo?

Ashley is a UC San Diego grad who is holding on way too tightly to a potential career in magazines and goes to Vegas all too often. She’s fascinated with celebrities and strawberry beer and doubles as a pathological texter/emailer/blogger. Feed the addiction with tweets @cashleelee. Thanks in advance.

17 Comments on "Prude Woman Thinks You Should be 18+ to Buy Cosmo"

  1. Ava says:
    Thu, 12th Jan 20125:05 pm 

    It's easier to get free porn off a computer than to get a Cosmo mag. Many many teen boys get a hold of Playboy, or other more demented men's magazine. So to make Cosmo seem so bad, that girls everywhere are going to get pregnant, get an STD, etc, it's just ridiculous! Crying about this just goes to show that parents don't like talking to their kids about sex, drugs, alcohol, etc. Grow smart children and they won't pick up such a magazine until they are older.

  2. Liz says:
    Thu, 12th Jan 20126:01 pm 

    Dakota fanning is 18, just saying. And I began reading Cosmo around 8th grade and I don't think it lead me to have promiscuous sex or contract an STD. On the contrary, Cosmo preaches safe sex, sex when you're ready, and pretty much everything else a girl would need to know. Just because a young girl is reading Cosmo, doesn't mean she's having sex. I don't think Cosmo is at all to blame for the increase in teenage pregnancy or anything else you're claiming it's doing. Banning something like Cosmo will just make sex seem like some huge thing that they can't do yet, which only leads to them wanting to do it more. if information about sex is openly shared with teenagers they will be informed enough to make smart decisions.

  3. Shay says:
    Thu, 12th Jan 20129:03 pm 

    I started reading my older sister's cosmos when I was around 13, and I'm fine, I'm not some kind of out of control sex maniac. At the very most it made me curious about sex, but I still waited until I was 18 before I lost my virginity. People need to relax. If kids really want to find it, they'll find it on the internet

  4. Tori says:
    Thu, 12th Jan 20129:12 pm 

    I understand this sounds very far fetched. But at the same time, do we need to give the young women in our society any more reason to think this way? At 18, you're an adult and can make better decisions about sex and relationships. You're less impressionable. But at 14, 15, or even 16 these things can really shape the way you view others and society. If you're constantly reading articles about how to please "him" or what "he" needs, how are you going to view your position as a woman in a relationship? It may not make you promiscuous, but it definitely doesn't empower you to make decisions about staying away from one-night stands or being an independent single woman.
    At 18+ I don't care if you're reading Cosmo. (I do!) But you know how many wonderful options you have. You have also probably been exposed to different relationships and worldviews. Younger ages are more likely to be shaped by the media. That's all I'm saying!

  5. Brittany says:
    Fri, 13th Jan 201212:06 pm 

    Also it's like meet the Internet. Ban Cosmo and your kids will find all that info in a worse place.

  6. @AllyGraye says:
    Fri, 13th Jan 201212:21 pm 

    I'm 20, and I've been reading Cosmo since I was 14, my mom hated that I read it, and would try to discourage me, but I was one of "those" kids. I ignored what she said and read it anyway. I am not condoning disobeying or ignoring your parents, now that I'm in college, out of my parents house and whatnot my mom and I have a better relationship. Here's my input. The 6 years I've been reading Cosmo have not made me a slut, I would read about how to have safe sex, how to love your body, etc… I just lost my virginity, a week ago today, and I think it is safe to say Cosmo had no importance in that decision making. Kids are going to find this kind of stuff no matter what, whether it's at the checkout at Target, or on some erotic lit site. Frankly, putting a stigma on this type of magazine is not going to make kids think "oh, well it must be bad for me, I won't read it." They are going to want to read it even more now that it's forbidden. What is the harm in knowing what an orgasm feels like? Or knowing how to perform a breast self-exam. For every one girl out there who takes this information and applies it in a serious situation, there are 49 who are sitting in their older sisters bedroom reading her copies and giggling at the words like "penis" or "testicle" or "blowjob." My sister read my copies, and she's not a sex maniac either.

  7. Erin says:
    Fri, 13th Jan 201212:46 pm 

    If you teach your kids better and talked to them, maybe you would have better control. Kids learn about sex way before 14/15, that's just part of life. If you want to have your kids safe and not have sex, then you need to talk to them and have open communication, as well as showing them the real consequences for their actions. If they want to have sex, they will have sex. Or otherwise buy them Seventeen Magazine instead.

  8. Chelsie says:
    Fri, 13th Jan 20121:23 pm 

    I started reading Cosmo around 15 or 16 and I don't think it affected me negatively… I waited until I was 19 to have sex. And I don't think that Cosmo needs to be sold in an opaque wrapper or anything, but that said, I do remember it being very awkward when I was in the grocery store with my 7-year-old sister once and she asked what some of the terms on the Cosmo cover meant… if there was a way to keep kids (not teens, but actual children) from seeing the magazine without having to hide it away completely, I'd probably support it. But keeping it behind the counter where you have to ask for it and/or be 18 to buy it, hell no.

  9. Jenna says:
    Fri, 13th Jan 20124:38 pm 

    I respect your opinion. If you do not want your children to read Cosmo, then talk to them about it and explain why you find it inappropriate. But it is none of your business what anyone else reads. I started reading Cosmo at 16 and I can assure you it was for entertainment more than anything. I am 18, in a committed relationship, and still a virgin, despite reading Cosmo. It does not influence immorality; people will do whatever it is they want to do, despite teh influence of one magazine. And as for the pregnancies and STD's, perhaps if these people had been educated about birth control (condoms in particular) they would not have fallen victim to their own ignorance.

  10. Kate says:
    Fri, 13th Jan 20128:12 pm 

    One of the grocery stores in my hometown keeps the magazine covered by a sort of metal plate…you can see the title of the magazine, but you have to actually pull a copy out to see the headlines. I think that's pretty effective.

  11. Joyce says:
    Tue, 17th Jan 20127:12 am 

    However, if you're older than 22 you should not be reading Cosmo; it features so many things that are for the 20 and younger crowd. There are far more mature magazines touching the same subjects that Cosmo does that are more appropriate for women in their mid twenties.

    I think is because I first read Cosmo when I was like eleven, it seems that now I'm too old for it (I'm 24).

  12. Nasira says:
    Thu, 19th Jul 20123:00 pm 

    I still think it should be at least wrapped, just because it is close enough to porn. And when you shove that information in childrens faces, and also use teen idols, its child consumerism which is enough of a threat. Honestly, as an adult, you can make your own choices, but when young teenagers are being faced with that home, school, and everywhere in general, and even when parents try to talk to children about it, peer pressure and social isolation can come up and cause conflict. Really, trying to be moral in high school is hard enough when you are trying to fit in and find people to associate yourself with. As an adult, I think when you can be rational and secure with yourself, then it is safe to say to make that reasonable. But as for that case, if you want to say all children just should be taught or they can find it on the internet is a loose arguement. If you think they should just see all of the world because of the "sooner or later" then it makes no sense to have porn wrapped up. It makes no sense for censorship because why not now? Seriously, I don't think Cosmo is liberating or helpful, especially when you plaster SEX and LOOSE WEIGHT and Beauty all along the headlines. You want to be beautiful, figure that out, find your own beauty that is not imposed by elite, you want to know how to please a guy, why don't you ask the one you are with and actually communicate, and if you want to loose weight, talk to your doctor and make HEALTHY choices. Cosmo in my opinion doesn't really give a damn about the real issues behind the cover, its a a magizine trying to make a profit. And if they got your attention and intrest because of what is on the hollywood scene, well then they have your money. People are in charge of their own choices, I agree. What you read and put in yourself is of your own doing. But as children, since we generally don't recognize them as fully responsible adults, it only makes sense to be there and be on guard. Thus, make it logical and seal the cover. If you don't, then don't even seal in the first place. And by the way, calling the woman prude because she wants to try to be modest and introduce values in a society that seems so quick to ignore any hint of that, well, it says it all really. Think, before you try to fight for a cause that has no promise or benefit for the betterment of a society. peace be upon you.

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    Thu, 10th Jan 20135:27 am 

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  14. Jenny says:
    Wed, 27th Feb 20134:42 pm 

    Arguing that children have more access to porn on the internet than Cosmos is unreasonable. It doesn't matter how accessible porno or the likes are to children, that should be no reason for children to be allowed to read something as pornographic as Cosmos. As parents, you won't do everything perfectfly all the time, like protecting your children from watching porn, but there are certain things that you do have CONTROL over.
    Moreover, just because you grew up reading Cosmos, yet had made wise choices doesn't mean the same will happen to all the other girls.

  15. Jenny says:
    Wed, 27th Feb 20134:46 pm 

    And yes, it is a MUST for parents to talk to their children about sex. But it is also a requirement (if you have your child's best interest) to protect them as much as you CAN. No, I'm not saying to be extremely strict. It's only about precaution.

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