To what extent should magazines be held responsible for the social ramifications of the representation they offer?

Within the magazine industry there are several social ramifications that can be brought up when focusing on how young teenage girls are affected by what they read. Magazines with the target audience of teenage girls face being questioned on how much influence they have had upon girls during the exploitation of inappropriate features which cause masses of controversy in and around the industry.

We can argue that the idea of plastic surgery affects the minds of young girls when reading magazines. Usually thin, 'good looking' girls are exposed throughout teenage magazines having a huge effect on the reader; the images of these girls are normally unrealistic and/or photo shopped. The images usually come alongside a header stating ‘How to look like this in under a week’; the suggestions that come with the image are normally impossible and this results in the reader thinking of plastic surgery as there ultimate option. The magazine producers/publishers/editors have chosen persuasive techniques such as ‘body recipes’ to target young girls; being a teenager comes with many highs, but everyone knows that this stage in your life is a stage where you feel most insecure about the way you look and feel. Having chosen to expose celebrities looking ‘amazing’ and influencing their target audience to want to look like this also, highlights the plastic surgery idea; most of the celebrities which appear in magazines have had surgery done and I believe some teenage girls are at the age where they know the difference between what has been edited and what is surgery. In addition to this, in some magazines they directly state to the reader the option of getting plastic surgery: Meet the girls getting pre-prom surgery. This has been stated to influence the reader to getting surgery also.

Magazines contain a number of issues in which emotionally and physically affect the reader. There is a constant theme within teenage magazines of what is the perfect look and size; if the reader see’s that she isn’t this look or size, she may take up either one of the following- anorexia or bulimia. These two eating disorders are very dominating over young teenage girls, and with the constant reminder of how and what to look like within the magazines, girls tend to take one of the two into consideration which can have a serious long term effect on the individual. Magazines are highly responsible for this social ramification and I believe they should reduce or even break the pressure they put on the girls over image.

Relationships in reality are very much different in how they are represented within teenage magazines. Celebrity boys are publicised in and around their appearance- for example, JLS always appear in magazines with their torsos exposed. There is a continuous emphasis on physical attraction when it comes to celebrities and the lack of display on personality and people as people demonstrates how relationships and how we see others is becoming more shallow and superficial.

We can also argue that the continuous theme of body image in and around celebrities may put pressure on not only just the reader, but the parent. Teenage girls, who are fixated in the image of certain celebrities, may tell their parents they want to look this way and demand them to buy them certain things to succeed. This social ramification, in the long term may affect strategies of parenting and cause controversy in this area.

It’s not only what the magazines include which can be said to be a social ramification which affects young girls but it’s also what the magazine leaves out that that can be the cause of the damage; for example magazines never make reference to careers or education. Teenage magazines are very popular sources of escapism for young teenage girls but with no mention of realism and plans for the future, girls are affected in the way in which only materialistic things are of importance. Also gay exclusion is a social ramification too; there is never any mention of gay couples or girls/boys which are gay. In the long term this can affect teenage girls in different ways; some may feel excluded and inferior who think they are gay when reading magazines with no talk of this or some will never want to and never will want to accept anything of this kind because of the way they have been influenced from the magazine. Magazines always talk about girls and boys becoming a couple or ‘in love’ or kissing/hugging, but they never expose any kind of gay interaction.

 

In conclusion I believe teenage magazines should be held responsible for the fixation teenage girls have on celebrities and their image; magazines being  one of the most popular sources of escapism, loaded with shallow and superficial topics and features leaves girls abandoning any sort of realism and knowledgeable focus. The main theme to any teenage magazine evidently is image and celebrities and this can cause serious issues and may have a long term effect on an individual. I believe magazines should abandon the amount of pressure they put on the girls and take more of a varied approach in their magazines, including topics for everyone without risking the chance of social ramifications.