Teen mags sexualising children

Parents: you have been warned!

From CFNews: Teenage magazines are to blame for the 'early sexualisation' of their young readers and are failing to uphold their own guidelines on content, the Government's consumer watchdog has claimed. Ed Mayo, chief executive of Consumer Focus, said the magazines were 'pushing the envelope' and warned that parents would be shocked by much of their content.

A study by The Sunday Telegraph of several magazines aimed at teenage girls found that they contained sexually-explicit material which was potentially in breach of the industry's editorial code.

Campaigners have attacked the magazines' self-regulatory body as 'toothless' and have called for an independent organisation to monitor the publications, which are read by children as young as 11.

The move comes after Jacqui Smith, the Home Secretary, ordered a review into whether young girls are being sexualised through fashion, music, computer games and other industries.

Bliss magazine, whose readers have an average age of 15, features on the front of this month's issue the cover lines 'The Sex Factor, your questions answered on p46' and 'Gang raped - for a mobile phone.'

April's Sugar magazine, with readers aged 14 on average, features a spread entitled 'Is it a crush or are you gay?'. This month's Top of the Pops Magazine, with readers aged 11 to 15, is sold with a set of 'Kiss Me!' stickers.
It features photos of shirtless male celebrities and a picture of Justin Gaston, an underwear model, who appears to be naked except for a panel covering his private parts.

Bliss's website has previously invited girls to send in photographs of themselves to be marked on 'looks and pullability' in a contest called 'How Sexy Am I?' while Sugar has an annual modelling competition for girls asking: 'Want fame, freebies and fit lads?'

The Teenage Magazine Arbitration Panel (TMAP), the industry's self-regulatory body whose members include publishers and editors, is supposed to ensure that 'the sexual content of teenage magazines is presented in a responsible and appropriate manner'.

Its guidelines, which apply to magazines who have more than 25 per cent of their readership aged under 16, state that 'readers will always be encouraged to take a responsible attitude to sex' and that 'editorial content of the magazines will reflect the typical concerns of the magazine's readership'.

However, critics say that few parents know about TMAP. Since it was launched in 1996, to head off the threat of legislation clamping down on the magazines' sexual content, it has ruled on only three complaints, and in the past three years it has received only one.

Mr Mayo said: 'Teenage magazines do have a role to play in guiding teenagers through difficult issues, but when it comes to what is responsible and what is not, clearly the envelope is being pushed and parents would be shocked by much of their content.

'There is no doubt that some of these magazines are responsible for the early sexualisation of children. If you let industry set the rules, the industry will often find a way through. The answer is not always new rules, but I would welcome the current guidelines actually being enforced.'

Michael Gove, the shadow children's secretary, said: 'These magazines are pushing the boundaries of what parents would consider acceptable. Their publishers have to explain why publications aimed at girls below the age of consent carry this sort of material. The industry needs to look again at how it regulates itself.'

Sue Palmer, an educational consultant and the author of Toxic Childhood, said: 'The reality is that children as young as 10 read these magazines, and what they are being exposed to is often horrific and entirely inappropriate.

'The very blatantly sexual ethos expressed in them is becoming normalised among young girls. Then we wonder why we have such high teenage pregnancy rates and a booming ladette culture.

'The regulatory body is clearly a toothless watchdog. Magazines are blatantly flouting the guidelines, which need to be tightened up and have a real force of law behind them, with a watchdog that is independent of the industry.'

Dr Fleur Fisher, the chairman of TMAP, said: 'The magazines should be cross-checking their features with our guidelines, and if they are not, then that is where we come in. Any complaints we receive from readers are carefully checked against our guidelines, and we respond accordingly. Many of the features within these magazines are written in response to queries they receive from their readers [Sunday Telegraph]