As a child, it was a rule of my parents that I was not allowed to watch Power Rangers- too violent. As an adolescent the rules altered, but in a similar vein of parental censorship I was never allowed to buy Cosmpolitan magazine- too overtly sexual!
I have noted that, over the years, Cosmpolitan content does seem to have taken a nose-dive into the damn right dirty. But this is a common theme of most aspects of Western media culture, is it not? And so I do tend to think that Cosmo is just moving with the times; however sordid they may be. They have to compete with the internet, for God's (!) sake.
That is not to say that I've ever felt necessarily adverse to flicking through a Cosmo, if say, work are giving them out, or if I find myself at a lose end at a Cosmo-occupied coffee table. It has never offended me as a publication. Indeed, at worst I have indulged in a certain amount of impertinent scoffing at the content.
Something along the lines of this:
But then, I’m a grown woman who isn't fooled by images of Photoshopped models, and I also know that vaginal rejuvenation isn’t the answer to all of life’s problems. But teen girls are influenced by what they see in the media. I know I was at that age. And Cosmo probably isn't helping by teaching them how to dress for a man, or how to give a really good hand job.
Getting down to business, I think my scoffing (however impertinent) does raise the point that Cosmo can be a bit ridiculous. And I can see why Cosmo could be deemed outrageous to some. Therefore it is of no surprise to me that an online petition has been set-up with the view of getting Cosmopolitan put into non-transparent wrappers on the shelves and not sold to minors.
This petition has been set up by Nicole Weider, ex glamour model and Cosmo girl who found God after a self-esteem-crushing period of partying and promiscuity in Hollywood, and has now taken it upon herself to use her experience in Hollywood "to influence and impact girls to do the opposite”.
Now this is where things get a little dangerous for me...
My view on the petition is that it won't make a difference. I will always defend the media's right to free speech (regardless of how controversial that might be), and Cosmo have the right to that same freedom. Plus, it would not make good business sense at all for them to adhere to non-transparent wrappers and an age restriction.
However, I'd be lying if I were to deny that another part of my problem with this petition is the pesepctive it is coming from; a religious persepctive. More specifically- a Christian persepctive. And the message behind it? Instead of being one of social awareness, has become a message "From God".
From my atheist perspective, the minute any argument comes "From God", it diminishes in credibility. This may seem very narrow-minded and potentially ignorant, but I'm just being honest. That's how I feel.
Now, I would describe myself as a tolerant atheist. However, I have zero tolerance for religious people who preach fear of hell. I don't agree with emotional blackmail on any level, but I especially don't agree with emotional blackmail on what I see to be a ficticious level. And I definitely don't think that "the-bosses-behind-Cosmo-are-going-to-go-to-hell-if-they-don't-change-their-ways" as an arugument is worth me spending my time deliberating. I hope you will appreciate that this is just my opinion, and in no way am I trying to influence your views on religion.
Serious bit over.
To give you a better insight into how this all came about, here is a video of Nicole Weider talking about founding the petition:
Nicole revealed that most images are PHOTOSHOPPED?! Is this some kind of sick joke? ;)
Can't say I didn't find that whole video quite patronising.
Anyway, the online petition asking Cosmpolitan to cover up their racey cover lines got a surprising new spokeswoman last week: Victoria Hearst, the daughter of former Hearst Corporation Chairman Randolph A Hearst- yep, the same Hearsts that publish Cosmopolitan magazine.
In Victoria Hearst's words, the company should “have a moral compass and put it in an opaque bag and make it sold only to adults.”
Here's a little bit of history on Victoria: While her cousins and nieces appear on magazine mastheads and in society columns, Ms. Hearst used her inheritance to buy a 10,000 square foot barn in Ridgway, Colorado, where she founded Praise Him Ministries in 2001.
A born again Christian since getting out of a bad relationship in the ‘90s, Ms. Hearst felt a sense of familiarity when she saw the campaign’s leader—model and aspiring actress Nicole Weider—interviewed by Pat Robertson on the Christian Broadcasting Network.
“I felt like the Lord was telling me I needed to talk to the company,” she recalled.
Having spent her high school years reading Cosmo because she "didn't think there was anything wrong with it", eleven years ago, Hearst noticed the actual content of Cosmo, and what she calls "the disgusting stuff" and waged her own war on Cosmo from within the Hearst clan.
So here's a little run-down as to what Nicole and Victoria have been up to...
Although not a trustee herself, Hearst sent each member of the corporate board a dossier containing opinions on selected Cosmo articles written by two psychiatrists, “one Christian and one non-Christian,” as well as her own opinion, which was “Bible-based.”
Having never heard back from the company regarding the dossier, because, as she said, she had been branded a "Christian fanatic", Hearst took the opportunity to confront board members three months later at a family reunion, where apparently one cousin agreed with her, but was too fightened to speak up, while another apparently told her that he wouldn't mind if his daughter were to read Cosmo, as he wanted her to have a good sex life!
“I understood that he didn’t know the Lord,” Ms. Hearst said.
The next attempt from Hearst to bring down Cosmo was a phone call to Hearst CEO Frank Bennack, which didn't prove much more fruitful, as they failed to see eye-to-eye on the definition of pornography...
“We had a heated discussion,” Ms. Hearst said, “He said, ‘You’re making this out like it’s black and white,’ and I said ‘ No, Frank, it’s green.’”
Whatever that means?
So now that Nicole Weider is being supported by Victoria Hearst, her plans include flying out a couple of the 33,000 people who have signed the petition to Cosmo HQ in the summer to protest. “We’re going to embarrass them by putting dirty sex tips from the magazine on our signs,” she told Off the Record.
In the meantime, she is pursuing alternative avenues for change, like writing letters to her Senator. She has also sent a letter to FTC Secretary Jon Leibowitz including issues of the magazines with flagged references to anal sex, sexting, casual hookups, threesomes and an article that included URLs to female-friendly pornography.
So it's all go on the petition front.
Meanwhile, Cosmo maintains it does not market to underage readers...
“Our readers are 18-34 years old, and we have never targeted readers younger than that,” a spokeswoman for the magazine told Off the Record. And actually, Cosmo’s media kit for prospective advertisers only discusses the magazine’s 12.9 million readers between the ages of eighteen and 49. But with 15.4 million readers total, that leaves another 2.5 million readers who are either school-aged or menopausal.
It also seems ok, as even if all 2.5 million of Cosmo readers outside of the 18-49 target market are under age and impressionable, the good news is that a tween-age Cosmo habit hasn’t been proven fatal. Ms. Weider and Ms. Hearst were young readers, after all.
And bottom line- Cosmo have the right to publish what they want. In my opinion, the whole petition is slightly futile, as it seems terribly naïve to think you can censor teen's sexual knowledge. You can't put a non-transparent bag over the internet.
Shouldn't it come down to parental censorship? My parents managed it. I've never even tried to beat someone up like a Power Ranger!
We shall see what happens, I guess. Perhaps after the demonstration Cosmo will suddenly be humiliated by the content that it publishes in 63 countries, once it's put up on a protest board.
Watch this space...
As a concluding thought, I believe that the petition probably would have been taken more seriously, and would have gained more support if religion were left out of it. I don't know about you? But that's somewhat irrelevant and potentially anatagonistic. Classic Lucie.
(Sorry for being controversial... again.)
L.
