In this essay it will be exploring into the context of teen magazines. It will be determined whether the magazines are to blame for the early sexualisation of the young readers. The magazine industry is expanding frequently which is creating a mass amount of audiences; this is allowing the girls to be influenced easily due to them being available to buy in various places without any restriction. They are a common occurrence and are sold globally attracting a substantial amount of young girls, which is depicting negativity in the media. In some circumstances some people may believe there is a potential breech of the code for this genre of magazine. However, they allow it to occur because the audiences are so young they fail to understand the level of sexualisation that is being expressed and therefore continue to buy it because its what they enjoy to read. There are also other forms of media which could be responsible due to the immense intensity of media, it is used everywhere in society and not freely avoided therefore it becomes accessible for almost anyone to be influenced by.
The connotations of what is displayed on these magazines are capturing the attention of many teenage girls. It is evident that there is a representation of young celebrities, each teen magazine has a main image of a well known teenage celebrity in which are seen to be inspirations to the audiences. The magazine companies purposely feature the celebs, which are fashion and beauty icons because they have awareness that this is a main aspect on the popularity of the magazine. Girls would be inclined to by a magazine if it includes an image and article of their favourite celebrity and therefore become repelled to mirror what is being presented. The girls they show all have beauty aspects to them, having a lot of make up on, this is a predicament in which could be the encouragement of girls as young as 11 wanting to wear make up due to the perfect image that is displayed. The girls will see the main image clearly before reading the magazine because it is so domineering on the cover, it could easily entice the girls because of the ideology that is apparent, that young girls should look this way and present beauty. Despite the age of the girls they become oblivious to the reality of their actual age, and follow what other older girls are doing because they are reactant to what the media informs. Some magazines include a free gift, the gifts they intentionally give out are things that most teenage girls would like and be inclined to buy. Often the free element is something in relation to make up, hair and fashion, and therefore depicts that the girls should use them. Evidently it is encouraging young girls to wear brightly coloured eye shadow, eyeliner, mascara and lipgloss at a very early age, and regardless if they are allowed or not the girls would attempt to because of what the representation that the magazine has created.
The conventions of teenage magazines are that there is to be a feature of love life, and elements in which encourage young girls to improve their appearance. Displayed on almost all magazine covers are cover lines used to entice the girls, but the cover lines used are being consumed by the young girls without them fully understanding the extent of what they are reading. Some magazines include cover lines like 'The Sex Factor' 'Ways to look your best' 'How to attract your crush', all these illustrate that young girls should be cautious of their image. They will make girls go to extreme to look their best and therefore has the potential to enhance the concept of growing up too fast and making the girls wear clothes that they wouldn't and shouldn't wear at their age. One of the example magazine covers which was studied, there was a particular cover line depicting 'Jeans that make your butt look great', this indicates that girls should show off their features in order to attract boys, despite the knowledge that young girls read this magazine and would be encouraged to buy the jeans and wear certain clothing in order to gain popularity and look good. It is also implying that they should have a crush or a boyfriend and suggesting they should change themselves in order to gain a friendship or relationship, however girls between 11-14 are targeted to have this element in their life however they are not understanding that there are other things in life that are more apparent. The teenage boys are also represented to only have interest in girls that have a certain look to them, therefore portray them negatively. It enhances that boys only look for the pretty girls like those in magazines. They also feature articles in the magazines whereby girls write in about a boy and its displayed to make the boy look bad. The magazines capture their audience with the content they include and purposely propose features that girls would be affected by.
All magazine despite the genre include a number of advertisements published within the magazine pages and they are very aware of the ones in which would appeal to the audience in mind. Adverts included in teen magazines are those associated with beauty, fashion and entertainment. Girls would see these images and be enticed to buy what the magazine is perusing. Although the magazines are partly to blame for allowing certain advertisements to be put into their pages, to some extent the adverts themselves are depicting the early sexualisation of the young girls who read and see the adverts. Girls at the age of 11-14 are exhilarated to buy products that aren't necessarily age appropriate for them. They don't need cosmetics and hair products but they would want to buy them because the advert is displaying them in this particular magazine and therefore will feel repelled to buy the product. Young girls are also easily influenced by their social groups, if one person has a particular product it would encourage them to go and buy the same thing because its replicated to be aware of the latest 'in' things. Advertisements often use the well known celebrities in which the audience are fond of, this is a way of selling the product easily because if girls were to see their favourite celebrity wearing a brand they are instantly more aided to buy it.
Other forms of media, which could be responsible for the ramifications they pursue, are TV programmes. The TV industry is frequently increasing and accordingly becoming an element in which is seen as influential to those who consume it regularly. Reality TV shows are gaining vast amounts of popularity, particularly from young audiences. Teenagers have demonstrated a common interest for shows like The Only Way is Essex, Geordie Shore and Made in Chelsea, all of these shows claim to convey reality and normal situations, this is what draws the attention from teenagers because its entertaining. However these shows are implying negative ramifications about the way teenagers should be, it depicts drinking, swearing, wearing inappropriate clothing and behaving in a certain manor. All of which is something that young girls should not be copying, but due to the popularity of the shows its easy for them to be encouraged. it represents girls in such a way that people have bad perceptions of them. Girls often see some of these stars as influential due to the social normality of the concept. These 'celebrities' are visible everywhere and therefore girls who haven't yet seen the shows can still become inveigled due to the look they interpret in adverts and magazines.
To conclude it is evident that certain magazines aimed at teenage girls have potentially breeched the code in which they should follow to be deemed appropriate in the industry. The use of well known celebrities of a similar age to the audience illustrated in a certain way is an inventive method of representing teenage girls. I believe that personally some magazine should remove certain cover lines in which could be interpreted in the wrong way, the young girls are unaware of the real amplitude that is being exposed, yet continue to read regardless. The girls used on the main image should also be dressed and displayed appropriately according to the audience, wearing a more natural look to show young girls that make up isn't a necessity. In relation to this magazines should feature articles more equipped to the young consumers, having elements about school, hobbies and entertainment as apposed to fashion and beauty. I would agree to an extent that magazines are the reasoning for the social ramifications that they offer to the young girls due to the featuring of particular articles, celebrities and cover lines but it could also be conspicuous that there are other forms of media which display representations which influence the audiences in a distinct way.
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