As I walk through the aisles of my local store, I always promise myself I won’t be any longer than I need to be. Only a few items and I’m out. Sadly, that’s rarely the case. I always find myself in the magazine aisle. I hate to say too that I’m one of those people who stand around reading because I don’t want to buy it, but I am. Each time as I pick up a magazine that is considered “for females,” (aka Cosmopolitan, Glamour, Allure, Marie Claire, etc.) it seem to have the same content though. There’s segments on losing weight via the new detox diet and tips on how to get killer legs and abs. There’s segments on which pushup bra creates the better cleavage. There’s that segment on 60 hot sex tips and what to do when your man is all quiet. You get what I’m saying.
I’m not here to say that we should ban magazines all like that. Some people really love it and it can be fun sometimes. But I am here for the magazines that encourage those to pursue their dreams. That tell them to take a chance and go out for the debate or math team if they want to. Maybe it’ll inspire them to get into STEM or volunteer more. Let’s talk about how to manage mental health as school can take a major toll. I want others to be aware of the social injustices that are happening right now because not everyone has access to Twitter. We can even discuss sex; let’s give the sex ed talk that schools rarely provide (seriously, there are some horror stories as U.S. sex education is not up to par.) We only see the same content published time after time within these magazines. And other people have noticed.
Katherine Young, a 31 year old graphic designer, was appalled as her friend sent a picture of two magazines, Girls’ Life and Boys’ Life, side by side. She couldn’t believe the difference as the boy’s magazine discussed career advice and the girl’s magazine discussed hair and makeup tips, fall fashion and a quiz called “Are You Ready for a BF?”
“The worst part for me was ‘Wake Up Pretty,’” she said. “I mean what the hell kind of unattainable standards are we setting for kids? Being a girl is hard enough without thinking you are somehow a failure just by waking up in the morning.”
She then designed her own cover, which focused more on career planning and different volunteer ideas. It was the boy’s magazine, but for girls. It looks like a magazine that should be on the shelves.
It’s so rare to find a publication that talks about these types of issues, no matter the target audience. Girls’ Life just seems to be a foreshadow as to what one can expect when they grow up. We’re lucky to have an online publication like Affinity that allows anyone to write about important issues like social justice, politics, feminism, mental health, careers, books, etc. People can try to undermine magazines like Affinity for talking about certain issues (and some don’t like it because it’s a “for teens by teens” magazine), but it’s helping others find their voice and talk about important, real life topics. Anything like this should be praised; hey, we may be the ones that change the world.
