In this essay, I will be answering
the question, to what extent teenage magazines should be held responsible for
the consequences of their media representations.
When teenagers (especially girls) buy
a magazine there will most likely always be a cover line explaining to them how
they should dress, how they should do there hair, what make up they should buy
or how to get there perfect guy. This in itself has social ramifications
because it is making teenage girls believe they have to focus on material items
and there appearance to fit into the social roles of being a woman.
Also, teen magazines provide cover
lines (as shown on images previously posted) such as ‘sex special: the ultimate
bedroom guide’, ‘how to cope when he wants a grope’ and ‘real life body
shockers!’ Stories and cover lines like this are
sexualising young girls and give them the impression that all there is to being
a girl is being fashionable and being good in the bedroom. It can also lead young girls into believing
that in order to be noticed they have to dress like celebrities or spend the
money on a new, more ‘feminine’ image.
Not only do many magazines put
pressure on teenage girls to look and act a certain way, they put pressure on
girls with sexually explicit material. The average age of these magazine
readers is between 11 and 16. For an 11
year old girl to be exposed to reading material like this is not good as it can
cause young girls to feel pressured into looking a certain way to fit into
society and give them a false idea of
how they should present themselves and act as a teenage girl.
Furthermore, ‘More!’ magazine has the
cover line ‘5 easy beauty tricks A-listers swear by’ cover lines like this are making
young girls look up to celebrities and there culture as most young girls will
not know the majority of images used in these magazines are airbrushed.
‘Bliss’ and ‘cosmo girl’ magazine
have cover lines referring to fashion. A
couple of examples of these are ‘fashions most wanted!’ and ‘top ten outfits
that will get you to Hollywood’ cover lines like this can make teenage girls
feel like that in order to be noticed and make it big in the World they have to
dress in these clothes and inspire to look like the female celebrity we see
splashed over the media every day.
In conclusion, I feel that magazine
editors and the magazine industry in general should tone down the amount of
sexual and provocative material that can be found in these magazines. Feeling
pressured into being the perfect celebrity mimic is not the answer. I think
magazine editors should remember the age of their target audience and print
material suitable for that age range and should not fill their magazines with
text and images that give teenage girls the wrong idea of what the real world
is and what it means to be a woman.
