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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Cover of latest GQ magazine unsuitable for 7 year old child

95 replies

BrightonSteve · 12/12/2010 20:16

I've just had 2 big arguments with my wife about the cover of this months GQ magazine that features Rhianna. She says the magazine should not be on the coffee table or with other magazines because the cover is unsuitable for my 7 year old son.

The cover can be seen here:
www.gq-magazine.co.uk/magazine
(this is not an advert by the way)

My view is that my son has absolutely no interest in this kind of thing and the fact she is wearing fishnet tights means nothing. I do not think that at his age he would even notice her. He'd probaly take more notice if she was wearing a pair of yellow and pink flares (or a santa hat).

Now, I agree that the content of GQ may not be suitable (especially the sex Q&A they feature each month) but he would never pick up and read the magazine.

If I really thought that this magazine was corrupting my son in any way I wouldnt even bring it in the house.

Whats your view?

OP posts:

GroovyGretel · 12/12/2010 21:59

Damn, scrap that extra 'is'

MollieO · 12/12/2010 22:03

My ds is 6.5 and I wouldn't want GQ on our coffee table but neither would I want Cosmo. I'd worry that ds would pick it up and use it for reading practice.

Boostini · 12/12/2010 22:05

Can't help but feel sorry for you Brighton Steve ! There are provocative images of men and women everywhere nowadays ( Not that I condone it but that is the reality) ! I think your DW has an issue with the cover for her own reasons and is using your son as means to get you to do her bidding! IMO the more soemthing is hidden from you, the more appealing and seedier it becomes ................

tinierclanger · 13/12/2010 17:45

So what do you think his wife's 'own reasons' are, and why don't you think they might be legitimate?

For the record, I dont think she should be dressed in 'twinset and pearls' but she is essentially being presented as a fantasy. She isn't dressed up like a real version of a woman.

JenaiMarrsTartanFoxCube · 13/12/2010 18:18

The cover wouldn't bother me remotely, but the content might - I can just imagine ds (10) flicking through it for photos of cars.

Having said that, he never bloody reads anyway (other than various car-related stats )

I wouldn't bother having a row about it though. I'd roll my eyes and remove the offending periodical from plain view.

fwiw I don't see anything wrong with ds seeing pictures of beautiful women being beautiful. Yup she's airbrushed to within an inch of her life, but so are the models on every cover of every fashion magazine.

classydiva · 13/12/2010 19:33

Its a lovely picture tastefully done.

Not a bit pornographic, now if you had Nuts on the table I'd be inclined to agree but not this one.

Mummy2Bookie · 13/12/2010 19:52

I agree with your wife. Sorry but even at age 7 it's a no no

TheFoosa · 13/12/2010 20:11

it's quite a tame picture

but if your wife is upset about it then that should be reason enough

sleepingsowell · 13/12/2010 20:35

I wouldn't want that picture in my house - I think it's a perfect example of the prostitute look that girl singers now have to take on to get anywhere and I hate that whole culture of girls having to look like hookers to be pop stars and having to parade their bodies in a way that men don't.
It's also a tackily done picture, a gusset shot.
I wouldn't want my kids thinking that I didn't have a problem with that sort of picture therefore I wouldn't bring it into my house, but I might well use it as the start point of a useful discussion with them on the issues it raises if I saw it in a shop

colditz · 13/12/2010 20:38

I have a 7 year old son, and no, I would not have that magazine in the house.

MrsPennySworth · 13/12/2010 20:51

It wouldn't bother me tbh. You're wife doesn't approve of it though so I would just keep it somewhere else (which you have).

Avantia · 13/12/2010 21:05

I leave my next directory in the living room , once caught my DS age 10 and his school mate sniggering over the ladies in their underwear - do I now ban next directory from the coffee table ?

Original poster

BrightonSteve · 14/12/2010 09:24

tinierclanger: "She isn't dressed up like a real version of a woman."

Define "real version of a woman". I guess there are many versions of a woman depending on how she feels (as there is with men). I'd stick my neck out and say Rhianna wasn't dressed like a "real version of a woman" in her X Factor appearance (not the duet with Matt).

Actually and strangely enough, my wife didnt have an objection to my ds watching Rhianna or Christine Aguelera on X Factor.

OP posts:

edam · 14/12/2010 09:37

brighton - I wouldn't be happy to have that mag cover on display in my house for my 7yo to see. Of course you can't protect children from our sexualised culture with the porn aesthetic - it's on billboards, it's on posters, it's on TV and in the newsagents. But you don't have to have it on display at home so he knows you approve.

I want ds to grow up with a healthy attitude to women and eventually have good relationships based on mutual respect that stand a good chance of making him happy and his partner/s happy. The prevalence of these kind of images probably doesn't help to do that. And may have something to do with horrifyingly high levels of violence against women and the failure of the criminal justice system to address them. Would be surprising if it didn't.

JenaiMarrsTartanFoxCube · 14/12/2010 10:02

What does a "real version of a woman" look like?

fwiw I would regularly dress like Rihanna if I could get away with it. Perhaps not in the office though. And I might add a skirt

englandsmistress · 14/12/2010 10:03

I don't think that it's the boys age that is important.
As his father you are responsible for creating a positive image of women for your son and I don't beleive that picture creates a positive image of women. The fact he is 7 is neither here nor there.
He will absorb the image and know that it is something that his Dad is ok with. And so the problem grows...

If that is where your wife is coming from then I agree with her.

Poor old rhianna, first she's getting knocked about by her boyfriend and stays with him, now she feels that despite her outstanding talent and success, she needs to pose dressed in this way on a men's magazine. So sad.

englandsmistress · 14/12/2010 10:05

"Actually and strangely enough, my wife didnt have an objection to my ds watching Rhianna or Christine Aguelera on X Factor."
That's a bit hypocritical in my opinion.

twopeople · 15/12/2010 14:23

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn

englandsmistress · 15/12/2010 16:16

Not instantly she didn't. It went on for quite a bit.

AnyFuckerForAMincePie · 15/12/2010 16:29

it's not so much what rihanna is wearing/not wearing (although the crotch shot is a bit )

it's the "come shag me, I am constantly sexually available to you" look in her eyes that bothers me

teenage girls see rihanna as a role model and think they have to dress/act like this to fit in (I know this for sure)

it's kinda sad, really

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