To not let DD read Cosmo, More, Just 17, Company & other trashy magazines?

[BakerBinky]

Ok so she's only 6 but I have stopped buying them and will be very reluctant to allow her to read them as I think they peddle a feeling of insecurity and advertise advertise advertise creating a really greedy mentality

[KenDoddsDadsDog]

I was banned from reading Blue Jeans, Just 17 etc. As a result I became and still am a magazine junkie. Be warned!

[JellicleCat]

DD 16 buys Cosmo and I read it when she is not looking. AIBU?

[motherinferior]

I maintained my magazine addiction all through a very right-on youth. I'd go on marches and then sneak-read Cosmo on the side.

I am now a raddled, irredeemably right-on in many ways, ageing feminist who disapproves of the patriarchy and works for a wimmin's mag

[Valpollicella]

See, when Shout and Sugar came out (around 96? I might be wrong), that's when Just 17 went from being for older teens into the tween market and morphed into J17.

19 mag was quite good too. I still have a freebie mirror that came with that in my bag now thinking about it.

I'd forgotten about the sealed section!

[WidowWadman]

My parents banned me from reading Bravo, a fairly tame youth magazine, which featured pop music, but also had 2 pages of sex advice along the lines of "Dear Dr Sommer, I'm 13 and my penis is leaning to the right when erect. Is this normal?"
Of course I secretly bought and read it anyway. I still turned out alright, and was reassured in the knowledge that boys' penises can lean into all kinds of directions without making them freaks.

[florenceuk]

mm my almost 7yr old read my Grazia the other day. Mostly she was shocked at how much Posh spent on her baby! She is very attracted to the more "blingy" end of the clothing spectrum and urges me to buy said items.

I remember getting all my sex ed from Cosmo - including the "sealed section" featuring real live penises. I think it is a rite of passage for teen girls really.

[HelloSweetie]

YABU - how is she ever to learn the right way to give a blow-job and the coital alignment technique?

[Roseflower]

Does anyone remember "Shout" magazine- that was my first one I bought. I got a free collection 2000 lipstick with it

Then I moved onto "Sugar" magazine. I thought that was very risque but, God I loved it!

[mippy]

I was banned from reading Jackie when I shared a bedroom with my sister (until I was seven). I learned to read very early, but my mum was still confused when I came down the stairs, aged three, saying 'Mummy, it says that if I put blusher here I can have a cleavage! May I have a cleavage mummy?'

[meravigliosa]

I read my mum's Woman's Weekly and my granny's People's Friend avidly from about the age of 8. Explains unrealistic expectations of romance and relationships ...

[LadyBeagleEyes]

I got all my first tips from Jacke
Cosmo was a revelation.

[Puffykins]

My parents were very disapproving of my magazine habit when I was younger. However, they were keen on my reading a newspaper every day. I worked out that I could get Vogue, Elle, Tatler and Harpers & Queen (as it was then) for the same price as a month's worth of the Telegraph, and believe me, I equally passionately devoured Just 17, More, Marie-Claire, Cosmo etc. Those magazines were where I got a lot of my education - and not just sex, incidentally (though that too. Position of the fortnight literally made my eyes boggle.) They developed my interest in art, film, literature, fashion, travel etc. But the point is that I have now worked for two of those titles mentioned above, and still write for them now. I firmly believe that my magazine habit stood me in good stead - certainly, I worked out what I wanted to do early, and so had focus. (My father might disagree: when he found out, he laughed and remarked "What, so if you'd actually got the newspaper I thought you were getting, you'd be a proper journalist now!")
Admittedly, I wasn't 6 though. I was 13 when I started. When I was 6, I was reading Pony magazine.
P.S. Disclaimer: I did not learn about economics while reading Vogue. And working for magazines is really badly paid.

[Valpollicella]

I remember the first time I bought Cosmo...I was 14, smuggled it into the bathroom to read it and then promptly smuggled it back out to dump it in a neighbour's bin so my mum didn't catch me reading it..

Did this for about 6 months till I realised I could stash them in my locker at school

The must have had such fun making up those sex tips BoF

[LeBOF]

Yes, I think The Wheelbarrow was quite likely to involve a chipped tooth at some point.

[BakerBinky]

Absolutely i want her to have talks about sex with me and not get all her info from magazines like i had to.

[BakerBinky]

BatsUpMeNightie - who do i remind you of?

[Roseflower]

I liked Cosmo but it did actually put me off sex if anything

The way they described sex sounded so... mechanical and souless. They managed to make it sound dreadfully unappealing

[nooka]

I'm doing the frank talks personally. dh and I used to enjoy ribbing my niece about the position of the month piece in I think it was 19 (which was presumably the magazine aimed at 16/17 year olds, given that we read Just 17 at 13/14). It was usually so anatomically unlikely to be pleasurable in any way

[BatsUpMeNightie]

If she can't read them yet then actually - wtf is all this about?

You remind me of someone, you really do!

[BakerBinky]

For myself, she is 6 she can't read well enough to read one yet

[redexpat]

Well unless you're going to actually sit down and have several frank and honest discussions about sex and relationships YABU. J17 was my sex education.

[LeBOF]

Ah, I remember the days of Cosmo's bizarre sex tips. I'm sure that the only people to use feathers in a 'sensual' way are either naive magazine readers or unfortunate participants in dated sex therapy courses.

[Valpollicella]

Just 17 back in the day, (when it was Just 17 and not J17) was fantastic. I wish I had all my old copies....I'd love to look back through them now to snurk at the fashion pages - although there weren't that many. I loved all the advice pages

[ViviPru]

"I have stopped buying them" Eh? For yourself? For her? WTabsoluteF, OP?

[nooka]

I think that they are all pretty poisonous full of relentless 'self-improvement' adverts, iffy gender stereotyping and celeb tosh. But I think they are crap for adults too, so I don't read them. dd has a subscription to a preteen type magazine (mostly music and TV stuff) and I read it too, and discuss with her where I think it's got dodgy attitudes. I'm hoping that she will be strong enough in her sense of self by the time she's wishing to buy magazines of her own, and will be able to take the advice and adverts with a major pinch of salt.