For women my generation who see a massive magazine heading “The Big O” and think it’s about Roy Orbison, you probably won’t want to read further. The “Big O” in this case refers to orgasm – in fact “your giggle-free guide to orgasms.”
Although if your daughter is a 13-year-old reader of Girlfriend (GF has profiled readers this age in its pages), you may want to see she is being told on the subject. Many mums would consider a girl who may have just entered puberty, too young for the material on offer even if it is in the ‘sealed section’.
In the same issue in which they are given recipes on muffin baking, they’re also being told how to reach climax. “If we were all having regular orgasms, we would be a lot happier,” explains sex therapist Jacqueline Hellyer. “Orgasms release hormones that make us feel happy, relaxed, confident and sexy. Plus, they’re good for your skin, hair and teeth.”
GF stresses a number of times that a girl shouldn’t “rush into sexual activity”, and to have respect for herself. Readers are also reminded of age of consent laws. But I wonder if this advice can complete with ‘happy, relaxed, confident and sexy’ and ‘good for skin, hair teeth’? Who wouldn’t want to rush into that? On the other hand, the article treats orgasm as almost a given (“Clitoral orgasms are the easiest to achieve, and the most intense”). 
Whereas many women, for a range of reasons, (one being hopeless lovers raised on a diet of porn) do not easily achieve this. Hellyer says: “Good sex is really, really good, but bad sex is really, really bad.” Well isn’t that a nice surprise, given Girlfriend (and Dolly) advertised mobile phone wall paper for girls that read: “Sex, when it’s good it’s really good, when it’s bad it’s still pretty good.” Julie Gale of Kids Free 2b Kids and I condemned this at the time and eventually the teen mags stopped advertising this lie. But it should never have appeared in the pages of magazines allegedly wanting to empower girls in the first place.
Still on the sex theme, GF shares reader’s views on recent advice that teens should read ‘sexy books’ (fantasy, not reality, won’t make us go out and have sex, if you don’t like them don’t read them, doesn’t matter what teenagers read, as long as they are reading, etc.). Only one of the four actually tells us she’s read some of the books in question. I’ve expressed another view in a piece titled ‘Should teens read more porn?’
A measly two ‘Self-respect reality checks’ this issue – it’s like even GF doesn’t think they are all that convincing anymore. (See my comments on these checks previously here). The one on the cover quotes actress Kristen Stewart “I think it’s ridiculous that you need to look a certain way to be conventionally pretty.” Right on, Kristen – we totes agree!” (which is totes funny when on p.58 GF tell us how annoying the word ‘Totes’ is, and says it should be replaced with ‘downright’). Yes, great quote, but was Kristen photo-shopped for the cover either by GF or pre-altered when they received it? Because if it wasn’t, that sure is one flawless face. The ‘Self respect reality’ check is supposed to tell us these things. If it doesn’t, it’s a waste of space.
Speaking of flawless, open to the first page and get Kate Moss and her new lipstick. Photoshop must have been working overtime. The next two pages are the same. Oh and look there’s Kesha advertising Casio and she’s been doctored too. I’ll stop here though there are other ads like it. As I’ve said before, why is advertising’s unreality exempt from the much touted ‘reality’ check?
The second ‘reality check’ tells us ‘Readers, not models were used in this shoot’. Nice to see a young black woman here.
Features include ‘How to break a habit’, ‘Why parents say the things they do’, ‘Is it OK to not have a best friend?’ , ‘Understanding your metabolism’, ‘How to beat a bad day’, ‘5 Reasons to Date the Shy Guy’, then on the next page how to dump him (well any guy who you decide you’re ‘just not into’). ‘Fast & Frenzied Feed: The new eating disorder’ concerns “What happens when a healthy appetite becomes a little too unhealthy for the body and the mind” Sarah Ayoub writes about binge-eating disorder affecting about 20 percent of Australian girls 18-22. This is a binging condition without the purging associated with bulimia (though laxatives are mentioned – isn’t that a form of purging?). Sufferers loathe themselves and have poor self-image. No surprises there.
This issue’s real life stories include a 20-year-old whose feet were amputated as a result of blood clots, a 17-year-old who started her own charity, an 18-year-old bullied for three years and a 19-year-old with lymphoedema, resulting in permanently swollen limbs. I like this section because it cuts through the fashion and beauty pages, grounded as it is in the real lived experience of real girls.
Here’s a piece which should be read by all mothers: ‘Does my mum look big in this?’ which cites research that mums can pass on their own negative messages about body image to their daughters. “If a mum has an unhappy relationship with her own body, her daughter can pick up on this dissatisfaction and internalise it,” says clinical psychologist Louise Adams. “Many of my clients with eating disorders report having mothers who were always dieting and criticising their own bodies. Daughters take this negative self-talk on board and start to talk about their own bodies in the same negative terms.” I remember a girl telling me about her mother who had purchased her a size 10 end of year formal dress, telling her “You will get into this by the end of the year”. The girl was a size 14.
The advice is helpful so I’m reprinting it for mothers whose daughters don’t read Girlfriend (or for Roy Orbison fans who got a shock):
1. When you hear your mum criticise her body, tell her how it’s making you feel about your own body. Try saying “Mum, when you talk about your weight in front of me and put yourself down, it makes me worry about my own weight and it makes me feel bad about myself.”
2. Ask your mum to please stop devaluing and criticising her body, and to stop unhealthy practices like dieting, food restriction or over-exercising.
3. Make a deal with her and promise each other that neither of you will talk badly about your bodies anymore – no exceptions.
4. Remind each other to think about your self-worth in broader terms than just appearance. Think about what you both like about yourselves as people (I’m kind, you’re funny) and focus on developing those aspects.
If this reader’s comment doesn’t get mums to change the negative self-talk, then I’m not sure what will: “My mum always asks me if she looks fat. This depresses me because I know I’m not skinny, and I feel that she is putting pressure on me because of my weight. When mum says she is fat, I feel fat. She affects the way I feel about myself.”- Christina, 14.
P.S For an analysis of teen girl magazine culture and the messages conveyed, you must read this: ‘Why I regret being a teen model judge and threw my women’s mags away’ by ex Girlfriend editor Erica Bartle.
As published on Generation Next blog.
4 Responses
Perhaps all magazines (and other media) aimed at the under 18s, teenaged girls particularly, should have much tighter regulation. For starters, every image in their should be photoshop-free (for the purposes of altering bodies/faces). The ‘Big O’ stuff is way inappropriate for 13yo’s – the target audience of the magazine. Also when they push orgasms/sex onto teen girls (and young women too) they always push PIV, never masturbation, never lesbianism – both being impregnation-free alternatives, and generally reduced STDs as well. Chlamydia is now so prevalent in teens and young people – all that nasty stuff is swept under the carpet when it comes to pushing the PIV agenda.
We have the so-called men’s lifestyle magazines such as Zoo, Nuts, FHM etc which are in reality men’s porn magazines and we also have the so-called ‘girls’ magazines for teen girls both of which are promoting the same misogynistic message to young men and young women. What is that message? Why that women and girls are men’s disposable sexual service stations and that males have the innate right of sexual access to any female because unlike males females aren’t human.
After all for women and girls their only value is if they manage to achieve the impossible which is to constantly look ‘sufficient sexually hot to men 24/7.’ Phallocentric sex is the sin que of ‘real sex is it not?’ After all meeting men’s sexual demands is why women and girls exist and we can ignore fact it is males who transmit chlamydia and STDS to women and girls not the reverse. Phallocentric sex is very dangerous for women’s health but we mustn’t mention that must we because men need phallocentric sex regularly otherwise they will spontaneously combust!
My 14 yo daughter occasionally buys Girlfriend, I don’t like it but allow her under the condition I throw the sealed section away. It was interesting to read in the latest one, on virginity I think, a statistic they had on the front announced that 84% of their readers were NOT sexually active. I have to question why they feel the need to include such a lot of information on sex etc, for only 16% of their readers? I am concerned about the damage that is being done to all the girls reading all the ‘how tos’ on everything sexual at such a young age, long before they are ready to have these ideas or put any of this information into practice. It’s totally unnecessary and irresponsible, I hope more parents become aware of the advice their daughters are reading in these magazines.
When I was on camp with a group of girls we read this same issue out loud together. Everyone was a virgin so this article was just funny, everyone was giggling and exclaiming how stupid it was. Its not the sort of thing that is taken seriously by teenage girls who aren’t sexually active, to those who are it might be ‘useful’ though I’m sure. That being said these sort of articles shouldn’t be in magazines like this at all, the sealed section normally has information and articles about puberty and health which would be helpful to many girls but these sort of articles are just inappropriate. I personally disagree with this sort of magazine existing at all, its the same information re-worded and re-packaged again and again to different girls, and this information is always along the lines of how to be cool, how to get a boyfriend, how to be pretty, its all very toxic and girls shouldn’t be exposed to it.