I was shocked the other day when I read an article in which 'Dolly' and 'Girlfriend' magazines were referred to as "tween mags" - as in, they are aimed at the 8-13 yo age group! When I was young, those mags were strictly for teens - aged 13-16. My mum would not let me read them until I had turned 13, and she finally relented because I begged. I could not imagine letting my pre-teen girl read those things! But apparently now by the time girls are 13 they are moving on to Cosmo or Cleo It just seems like too much, too young. Which is why I want to 'protect' my kids from being exposed to all that stuff too early. Why can't we just let kids be kids?
Oh wow! I can't believe that! Mum brought me my first Dolly mag when I was 10 - mind you that was waaaay back in 1988 and back then the mag was nothing like it is today so you could go so far as to say it included tweens because it didn't talk about the same things, sure there was a few articles about sex, but it was never done in a 'how to' sort of way, it was along the lines of waiting and how not to feel pressured and if you do make sure it's safe and 'special'. Mind you though, Dad used to remove the Dolly Doctor and Dear Dolly pages as he thought that was too grown up for me, but I kept buying that mag till I was 18 because Cosmo and Cleo were far too old before then, and even then I bypassed them to read Marie Clare and Women's Forum I see the type of articles the advertise on the front cover and no way known would I have assumed that they market that towards the tween group these days. Maybe it's something that we should write to the editor about, that as parents of young girls nearing the 'tween' age group that we wouldn't buy them as they are too old and encourage the sexualising of children.