Pop Culture: The Magnificent Magazine
Juliet Corbett
Magazines are still popular! After polling the
students in my classroom (Grades 5-8) I discovered that magazines are a
true source of literary choice and enjoyment for the majority of my
female students, while less than 50% of my male students admitted to
reading any kind of magazine within the last year. The question
is do magazines offer a positive or negative influence in the lives of
our young adult readers? According to my students, teen magazines
are popular because of the articles on fashion, celebrities,
boys/dating, and body/diet. Unfortunately, most magazines are
filled with more advertisements than articles, and many of these
advertisements are geared more toward an adult than a teen. When
looking through recent editions of Seventeen and Shape—two of the
magazines my daughters subscribe to—I found advertisements for NuvaRing
(birth control device), Zantrex03 (a diet pill), DivaCup (an internal
menstruation control device), SnackWell’s (low calorie snacks), as well
as perfumes, hair products, cars, lotions, vitamins, sanitary
pads/tampons, makeup, hair color, and cell phones. One of the ads
noted in a report on the sexualization of girls by the American
Psychological Association (APS) referred to a Skechers ad featuring
Christina Aguilera wearing pigtails and dressed in school-girl clothes
(shirt unbuttoned and licking a lollypop). The title:
“Naughty and Nice.” Most of these ads seem to be portrayed using
skinny, yet well-developed and beautiful models. Are the articles
any better? According to the American Academy of Pediatrics (AAP)
forty-four percent of the articles in teen magazines focus on dating
and sex, thirty-seven percent on appearance, and twelve percent on
advice about school/careers. In a recent article the AAP listed the
titles of articles from popular teen magazines: “The Ultimate
Get-a-Guy Guide,” “Get a Bikini Butt,” “Six Star Couples’ Secrets for
Everlasting Love,” “Love Clues,” “Get Gorgeous,” and “Find True
Love.” This is not to say that there are not magazines available
with a different twist—there are. There are many new web-based
magazines that “encourage self-empowerment and provide important
counterexamples to sexualization” (Collins et. al, p. 4).
Can this literary influence of pop culture be looked
at in a positive way? As a mother of four daughters and two sons, I
have always been glad to see my children reading whether it is a novel
or magazine. One of my sons would read nothing but magazines if he
could get away with it. He loves to read EVERY sport magazine he
can get his hand on! One of my daughters who is studying to be a
psychologist lives for the next edition of Psychology Today.
There are also Christian magazines, others such as Girl’s Life that
present a wide variety of informative articles with a positive slant,
and there are those geared towards different minority groups, such as Teen Latinitas and Blackgirl Magazine. New Moon
is a magazine guided by young girls, and it is ad free! (Harlen et.al,
pg. 50). Of course, Scholastic offers a wide variety of
educational magazines as well.
Can we use popular teen magazines in the
classroom? How about as a catalyst for discussion? The AAP
recommends reading controversial articles with the teens in your
life. This will not only present great information for debate,
but will also allow adults insights into the lives of these young
people—their views and their values. On the other hand, it is also our
job as educators to offer interesting articles about women/men who are
famous for accomplishments other than national sports, music, or acting
(AAP, pg.2). Magazines such as Teen Voices
(teenvoices.com) celebrates girls in a new way with articles such as,
“Diversity and Equality,” “Leading Ladies,” and “Food Buzz”.
There are interviews with Olympic stars, female executives, women
politicians, etc. The New York Times offers a youth magazine
online, called New York Times Upfront (available from
Scholastic). It is digital and interactive, with great photos,
cartoons, relevant articles, and interactive graphs, statistics, etc. Cicada (Cricket Magazine Group) is a teen/young adult magazine containing high-quality fiction and poetry. It is available from Cobblestone and Cricket, Division of Carus Publishing. Cicada also offers an online website called The Slam
where teens can post their own poetry. None of these magazines
come cheap however. The average price for 6 issues is between $30
and $40.
Magazines are here to stay, whether in print or
online! They offer enjoyment, relaxation, literacy, and new
ideas. They also contribute to negative behavior in our youth,
exposing them too often to adult material they are too young to
digest. The fashion industry, the cosmetic industry, and
companies selling body image products use this medium to influence our
youth, and they have a captive audience in young adult girls. It
is important for our youth to read material that may be controversial,
as long as there is an adult paying attention and is able to present
the other side of the story! I don’t believe in censorship, and
our youth are exposed to just about everything today, but I do think it
behooves us all to pay attention to what our children/students are
reading. As educators, magazines present us with the perfect
opportunity to bridge this gap with our students.
Works Cited
Bashe, Philip. Healthychildren.org. (2003). “The World According to Teen Magazines.” The
American Academy of Pediatrics. (Online). URL:
http://www.healthychildren.org/English/family-life/Media/pages?teen-Magazines.
(Accessed 1 October 2011).
Collins, PhD., Rebecca L.; Lamb, PhD., Sharon; Roberts, PhD., Tomi-Ann; Tolman, EdD.,
Deborah L.; Ward, PhD.,
Monique; Zurbriggen, Ph.D., Eileen L. (2007). “Report of the
APA Task Force on the
Sexualization of Girls.” American Psychological Association.com.
(Online). URL: http://www.apa.org/pi/women/programs/girls/index.aspx. (Accessed 1
October 2011).
Harlan, Mary Ann; Loertscher, David V.; McElmeel., Sharron L. (2012). Young Adult Literature
and Multimedia: a quick guide. Salt Lake City, UT: Learning Commons Press.