Girlfriend Magazine Website
I found the theme of the articles on this website had an overall trend; boys, appearance, and entertainment in the form of gossip surrounding celebrities, their appearance and their boyfriends. With all that sitting right in front of your face would you not fall victim to thinking that everything in that magazine is 100% truthful and the exact way we should be acting? As you get older you begin to realise how the media manipulates you into acting a certain way and you can make up your own decisions as whether or not you want to be a part of that 'hype'. But the younger, easily influenced population of teenage girls aren't able to comprehend that and so more often than not will believe everything that's fed to them. Even the girls that say 'that's stupid, I'm not like that, i don't want to be like that at all' deep down wonder if they're right, if they too should be like that and wonder why they don't want to be like that and why is our age group portrayed like that and theses questions spin around and around in their head until they slip into becoming like everyone else or going the completely opposite direction in a rather over the top way. Not only are girls worried about their appearance, their hairstyles,their clothes and makeup, but then there's the added pressure of 'the boyfriend'. At such a young age they're not mature enough to understand what a relationship really entails and they find themselves in relationships that end up too old for them. Then there's the pressure of the right boyfriend. Nowadays you cant just like a guy for his personality or the way he treats you, its all about his appearance because you have to be seen with him, he cant have too much of a history with anyone else etc etc and often for those girls who might not be as confident as their friends in these situations they find themselves having a boyfriend 'picked out' for them whether that's what or who they want. Another point to mention, in this magazine there was no issues for girls who might swing the other way; it focuses on girls and boys. This is just another example of the way the media portrays what it believes is right, clearly this magazine doesn't believe that being lesbian is right and so it wont have any relevant articles to this topic. for most girls that's fine but for a portion of the audience they're going through a confusing time and it would be beneficial for them to see that there's other people out there like them, that they don't have to hide who they are because its actually 'socially accetable' to be that way. the advice that the magazines give girls on boys is fabulous but we do need to start releasing that now there's more than one sexual preference and for teenage girls who don't have any clue how to deal with what they're going through i would think that some form of advice would be helpful for them.
Sh*t Girls Say
This article is off the Girlfriend
Magazine website. It really interested me because I found it so realistic. It
focuses on the things girls say about themselves and the author talks about the
ways teen girls talk about themselves from a male’s perspective. this article
brushes over the basics: I'm so fat, I can’t wear that, I shouldn't eat
that, I should get a boob job and last but not least 'she looks better than
me'. Seeing insight on these issues I realised just how much girls compare
themselves to their peers and also the images of girls our age in the media and
also how blind boys are to it. The reality of it is that girls are worried
about their body image, they're worried about being judged and so
often fall into the temptations of trying to be somebody they're not.
We forget to realise sometimes that we are who we are; we can’t actually change
what we look like just by wishing it to happen. In the article it outlined the
aforementioned subheadings and briefly discussed what it is that guys have to
say on the matter. We seem to have this overriding idea that guys, even our
boyfriends or friends don’t like us for who we are, that we’re not skinny or
pretty or fashionable enough for them when really the ‘decent guys’ will put
your physical appearance at the bottom of their list. Because we as teenage
girls think that boys are obsessed with our looks we fall victim to dressing
and acting like sluts, it’s all too common now to see girls as young as 11/12
walking around in denim shorts with their butt cheeks hanging out the bottom,
crop tops that expose their belly or low cut revealing singlet’s that expose
theirs bras. This could possibly pass as a more acceptable fashion choice in
summer at a beach but in the middle of winter in a town 200 kms from the
nearest beach I don’t think so. By dressing this way the girls think they’re
enticing boys and they are but not the sort of guys they’re gonna settle down
into a relationship with, no. These are the sorts of boys that are in the game
for their own personal benefits and they’re often players that care less about
you than they could care about the latest fashion magazine. The other frustrating
thing about today’s society is that the girls know that by dressing that way they’re
going to attract that kind of attention from boys and they don’t care. They throw
their morals down the drain just so that they can have someone telling them they’re
pretty and special and perfect; whether the desperate little boy saying it is
sincere or not. Girls get hurt so easily and a big part in the reason that
happens is because they pretend. They dress like a whore when they’re not; they
pretend that they’re dumb even if they’re smart; they pretend they don't care
about what people think of them, they pretend they don’t care about anything
when really all that they’re doing is begging silently for the attention of
someone who cares enough to tell them to stop pretending.
And i don’t mean to sound like a broken record but this is at the fault of the media. When you put a scantily clothed model with a gorgeous figure on the cover of a magazine that you know sells to young readers you know how easily they’re going to be influenced by that image alone. They’ll starve themselves to look like that and when it doesn't happen they'll get depressed. Like you just can’t win. You then go on to read articles about happy women with the latest trends who lives are falling perfectly for them and the poor teenage girls just think their lives are shit in comparison. LIFE ISN'T THAT BAD. Some girls do need to wake up and smell the roses. Yes there's people out there who live up to the media's stereotype and good on them, but are they happy? For some people they want a life of always trying to be the best, look the best, like what do you think the miss universe pageants are about? In the end the prettiest most ‘socially aware’ model will win. They’re models. They work for that body because they have to, if they weren't skinny and pretty they wouldn't be models because that’s what the stereotype says. So teenage girls need to stop trying to be older than they actually are. If you're 13, stop reading the sex articles in magazines, you can’t have sex legally until you’re 16 so why bother perfecting your techniques? You don’t need a boyfriend, he’s not a necessity nor is he a tool on your belt; think about it you’re probably using him anyways.
The article was brief, but i felt like it got the message across; why try and be something you're not? Just because we see images in the media of what we're 'supposed' to be like doesn't mean we cant be our own person. But i also felt that this article stereotyped us girls as well, like not everyone calls themselves fat, not everyone is completely insecure about their bodies and not everyone actually legitimately cares what other people think about them, they're content with their appearances and they don't have to try and pretend to be someone they're not. These are the people we as teenage girls should all aspire to be like because they are different, they're all unique because they are who they want to be not who others tell them to be.
looking at ordinary magazines that are aimed at girls between 10-18 there was a real variety of images and ideas portrayed through them. The magazines aimed at a younger audience were filled with advertising of clothes and make up, advice columns on how to deal with boys, friends and fashion, sending the young readers messages of how they 'should be' in these modern days.
'Be the girl who has it all!'
whats wrong with being the girl that doesn't?
'Are you turning into the girlfriend from hell?'
Girlfriend magazine is aimed at girls in their early teens 12-15, yet girls anywhere from the age of 8 or 9 are purchasing and reading these mags and its sending them mixed messages. should girls at the age of 8 or even 10/11 be worried about boyfriends, clothes,body image? The childhood of the young girls reading these magazines is being shortened as they're reading and trying to be like girls twice even 3 times their age. Taylor Swift on the cover. shes 23, that's twice almost 3 times the age of the girls reading the content of this magazine. On the cover above she looks flawless: perfect skin, blue eyes, blonde hair,she has the stereotypical 'model look'. girls see this and want to be like her when in reality that cant happen, not everyone can be as flawless as the models on magazines, they're models for a reason, they didn't get there by being different or doing their own thing, they got there essentially because they had the right look, in TSwifts case the right sound and they went with the flow and now here they are setting the bar for anyone wanting to break into the industry.
Magazine content.
Dolly is aimed at young teenage girls.
sealed sex extra:everything a girls gotta know
Half of the audience reading this magazine wouldn't even be legal to have sex so why is this magazine implanting images and thoughts that its okay?
The media uses images of girls as objects, combine with the all too obvious content other people read on the teenage magazines and it comes as no surprise that people, especially males expect us to be a certain way. Boys expect girls to want sex regardless of their age, and to be honest who wouldn't assume that girls are sex objects when the ideas being thrown around on a daily basis. The thing is that girls are beginning to live up to these expectations, to this stereotype and girls are losing their innocence younger and younger.
This cover of Marie Claire is a bit less conservative in the way the model dresses and also the content it advertises on the cover. Its supposedly aimed at a much older audience but also appeals to girls starting from the ages of around 13. The same with the cosmopolitan. The Cosmo filled with adult themed articles that aren't suitable for young easily impressible girls to be reading yet they do and so they're having ideas planted in their head that they may not even realise. The media really does need to become more aware of the audiences they're actually selling to, sure they will have a large audience of older women but their magazines also appeal to girls of a much younger age group and so the stereotypes they're portraying really are inappropriate for teenage girls as teenage girls will consciously or subconsciously always attempt to live up to the stereotype.
Taylor Swift Girlfriend Mag Cover: http://taylor-swift-love.blogspot.co.nz/2009/06/girlfriend-magazine.html
Marie Claire Mag Cover: http://nz.zinio.com/www/browse/issue.jsp?skuId=416195467
Dolly Mag Cover: http://www.whosdatedwho.com
Cosmopolitan Cover: http://blogs.longwood.edu/kalex/2011/09/02/dont-tell-me-what-to-do/lady-gaga-cosmopolitan-magazine-april-1/
Emma Watson Girlfriend Cover: http://www.peachface.com.au/_blog/Organic-natural-skin-care-products/post/peachface_43;_Australian_Girlfriend_Magazine/
And i don’t mean to sound like a broken record but this is at the fault of the media. When you put a scantily clothed model with a gorgeous figure on the cover of a magazine that you know sells to young readers you know how easily they’re going to be influenced by that image alone. They’ll starve themselves to look like that and when it doesn't happen they'll get depressed. Like you just can’t win. You then go on to read articles about happy women with the latest trends who lives are falling perfectly for them and the poor teenage girls just think their lives are shit in comparison. LIFE ISN'T THAT BAD. Some girls do need to wake up and smell the roses. Yes there's people out there who live up to the media's stereotype and good on them, but are they happy? For some people they want a life of always trying to be the best, look the best, like what do you think the miss universe pageants are about? In the end the prettiest most ‘socially aware’ model will win. They’re models. They work for that body because they have to, if they weren't skinny and pretty they wouldn't be models because that’s what the stereotype says. So teenage girls need to stop trying to be older than they actually are. If you're 13, stop reading the sex articles in magazines, you can’t have sex legally until you’re 16 so why bother perfecting your techniques? You don’t need a boyfriend, he’s not a necessity nor is he a tool on your belt; think about it you’re probably using him anyways.
The article was brief, but i felt like it got the message across; why try and be something you're not? Just because we see images in the media of what we're 'supposed' to be like doesn't mean we cant be our own person. But i also felt that this article stereotyped us girls as well, like not everyone calls themselves fat, not everyone is completely insecure about their bodies and not everyone actually legitimately cares what other people think about them, they're content with their appearances and they don't have to try and pretend to be someone they're not. These are the people we as teenage girls should all aspire to be like because they are different, they're all unique because they are who they want to be not who others tell them to be.
looking at ordinary magazines that are aimed at girls between 10-18 there was a real variety of images and ideas portrayed through them. The magazines aimed at a younger audience were filled with advertising of clothes and make up, advice columns on how to deal with boys, friends and fashion, sending the young readers messages of how they 'should be' in these modern days.'Be the girl who has it all!'
whats wrong with being the girl that doesn't?
'Are you turning into the girlfriend from hell?'
Girlfriend magazine is aimed at girls in their early teens 12-15, yet girls anywhere from the age of 8 or 9 are purchasing and reading these mags and its sending them mixed messages. should girls at the age of 8 or even 10/11 be worried about boyfriends, clothes,body image? The childhood of the young girls reading these magazines is being shortened as they're reading and trying to be like girls twice even 3 times their age. Taylor Swift on the cover. shes 23, that's twice almost 3 times the age of the girls reading the content of this magazine. On the cover above she looks flawless: perfect skin, blue eyes, blonde hair,she has the stereotypical 'model look'. girls see this and want to be like her when in reality that cant happen, not everyone can be as flawless as the models on magazines, they're models for a reason, they didn't get there by being different or doing their own thing, they got there essentially because they had the right look, in TSwifts case the right sound and they went with the flow and now here they are setting the bar for anyone wanting to break into the industry.
Magazine content.Dolly is aimed at young teenage girls.
sealed sex extra:everything a girls gotta know
Half of the audience reading this magazine wouldn't even be legal to have sex so why is this magazine implanting images and thoughts that its okay?
The media uses images of girls as objects, combine with the all too obvious content other people read on the teenage magazines and it comes as no surprise that people, especially males expect us to be a certain way. Boys expect girls to want sex regardless of their age, and to be honest who wouldn't assume that girls are sex objects when the ideas being thrown around on a daily basis. The thing is that girls are beginning to live up to these expectations, to this stereotype and girls are losing their innocence younger and younger.
This cover of Marie Claire is a bit less conservative in the way the model dresses and also the content it advertises on the cover. Its supposedly aimed at a much older audience but also appeals to girls starting from the ages of around 13. The same with the cosmopolitan. The Cosmo filled with adult themed articles that aren't suitable for young easily impressible girls to be reading yet they do and so they're having ideas planted in their head that they may not even realise. The media really does need to become more aware of the audiences they're actually selling to, sure they will have a large audience of older women but their magazines also appeal to girls of a much younger age group and so the stereotypes they're portraying really are inappropriate for teenage girls as teenage girls will consciously or subconsciously always attempt to live up to the stereotype.Taylor Swift Girlfriend Mag Cover: http://taylor-swift-love.blogspot.co.nz/2009/06/girlfriend-magazine.html
Marie Claire Mag Cover: http://nz.zinio.com/www/browse/issue.jsp?skuId=416195467
Dolly Mag Cover: http://www.whosdatedwho.com
Cosmopolitan Cover: http://blogs.longwood.edu/kalex/2011/09/02/dont-tell-me-what-to-do/lady-gaga-cosmopolitan-magazine-april-1/
Emma Watson Girlfriend Cover: http://www.peachface.com.au/_blog/Organic-natural-skin-care-products/post/peachface_43;_Australian_Girlfriend_Magazine/
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