A few months ago, while I was standing in line waiting to purchase my weekly supply of junk food at Hy-Vee, I noticed something very disturbing. I almost didn’t believe my eyes. Dakota Fanning was Cosmopolitan’s latest cover model.
Sure, she was dressed more conservatively and age appropriate than past models, but seeing the 17-year-old actress surrounded by headlines such as “His Best Sex Ever,” “Um, Vagina, Are You Okay Down There?” and “Too Naughty To Say Here” made me feel incredibly icky.
Her actual interview was extremely tame and focused on her college life at NYU. Fanning was not asked sexually explicit questions and wasn’t photographed too provocatively. But it goes without saying that a 17-year-old girl shouldn’t be used to sell sex.
I know it’s unrealistic to assume Fanning will continue playing the precocious little girl roles for the rest of her career. She has already branched out with much more mature roles in “The Runaways” and “Hounddog,” aka The Dakota Fanning Rape Movie. In movies, it’s much easier to accept the fact that she is simply playing a character and exploring her dramatic depths.
I understand teenagers these days are having sex earlier than ever. MTV has practically created an empire on this basis, but Cosmo should be ashamed of itself for stooping this low for controversy and sales. You’d think that some of the backlash would cause the magazine to rethink its choices of cover models.
Yet, the star chosen to be featured two months later was the one and only Selena Gomez. Headlines on her issue include “50 Sex Tips” and “Your Orgasm Guaranteed.” Strangely enough, the latter appears next to her boobs. I may not be an expert on the female anatomy, but I don’t think it works that way.
Sure, Selena is 19 years old and is no longer a slave to the Disney Empire, but her image is still squeaky clean. She’s the one Disney star that was still a great role model for young girls. She hasn’t yet taken giant hits of salvia or hovered over a giant penis cake.
I don’t want to lecture about chastity and purity, but I think young girls, especially those in the public eye, need to grow up carefully and gradually. It’s not okay to try and shake off a good girl image in an instant just by appearing on a woman’s magazine.
Cosmo may pretend that it’s an important magazine featuring groundbreaking articles on health, human interest stories and fashion. But everybody knows there is only one reason why girls buy it, and that is for the sex tips.
It’s actually irrelevant who appears on the cover. The buyer’s eye goes straight to the sexually suggestive headlines, not the cover model. Roseanne Barr could be on the cover, and nobody would even notice.
