Cosmo at the cash register
By adamg - Tue, 10/27/2009 - 8:05am.
Rebecca wonders why it's there after her son picks up a copy while they're in line:
... T: Okay, well what about "the sexy (stressing the word "sexy" ) ass workout?
Me: Don't say that word!! (*thinking of a good answer...coming up with nothing....* )
T: Why does a person's butt (again, stressing butt) have to be sexy?!? That's disgusting! See, I told you it's about S-E-X. ...
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Just be happy it is not 1984
Just be happy it is not 1984 otherwise she would have had a boy asking why there is a Republican Senate candidate hanging out in the nude in the middle of the magazine.
On a serious note I always thought Cosmo was weird. People would say it was slightly smutty but I remember thinking they were crazy because after all it is in the super market check out lanes. I never bothered to pick it up in the super market but did thumb through one at a friends house once. I was a little surprised by what I read. It appears that Cosmo is the female version of Stuff and Maxim neither of which hangs out in the Supermarket at the check out lane.
As usual, the Onion is on top of the situation
Bleary-Eyed Cosmopolitan Staffer Cranks Out 10 Billionth Way To Bring Out The Animal In Your Man.
Ive read cosmo and
Ive read cosmo and maxim....and Id say cosmo is the smuttier one. Maxim is all about electronics, movies, videogames and a few girls in bikins thrown in. Cosmo seems to be a sex guide with a weight loss article thrown in.
So the two of you can talk
Face it: our kids are bombarded by these images in the real world. The sooner that we tune their bull detectors by having conversations about the absurdity and stupidity in front of us (before the hormones kick in), the better off they are in the long run.
(everybody is now free to tell stories about overly-sheltered children joining the adult world with a crashing thud here ...)
It never seemed to be an
It never seemed to be an issue to me because it was mixed in with cooking magazines and soap opera chronicles. When I was a kid I would just assume jump out the window rather then venture near that magazine rack. Plus I had my eye on the candy my mother would never buy (for health and economic reasons, the candy in the aisle is twice as expensive as candy in other parts of the store.)
My favorite conversation
The "why do they spend so much money to sell clothing using naked people when being naked costs nothing" conversation.
You can get outraged that the world isn't a child-safe Disneyland, or you can use these interactions to innoculate them against future bedazzlement by advertizing. I find that it is much more fun to get them to make fun of and question media and message than demand that these ultimately inane things be removed from view.
I do not recall being
I do not recall being outraged in fact I believe I admitted almost total ignorance about the true nature of these magazines until I was over a female friends house and casually picked one.
Kids will find smut and the more you hide it the more they want it. Cosmo is on the news stand at the check out counter, that may be why I missed it. Hiding in plain site. Playboy on the other hand, I found that quite easily as a child. You know, for the articles.
More to the point...
...why is this blog even here? I thought Universal Hub was about important/amusing things that happen in and around the city, not the inane, outdated rantings of a bridge-and-tunnel Mom. I mean, really, worried about what junior's going to think when he sees Cosmo in the checkout line?
Unless... unless Adam's making a sly comment about the overall inanity of the burbs. That's it, isn't it? We're onto you.
I wish I were that clever
But no, I'm not. I was interested in it from the parent-of-an-11-year-old angle (who already knows about that stuff and wishes we only shopped at Roche Bros. because that's the only supermarket in our parts that carries Readers' Digest at the checkout counter and she loves Readers' Digest and yes, I know all about Readers' Digest and don't worry, she reads plenty of stuff besides that).
I'll bet...
...she's acute.
More to the point -- and for the record
Just to clarify - I couldn't be any further from being a 'burban "bridge & tunnel mom". I'm an entreprenuer, multiple business owning city girl, owning two liquor stores (Not exactly a prudish business....) in both Boston proper AND a city North of Boston.
That being said, I'm not concerned about "junior seeing Cosmo" but was more expressing curiousity about why Cosmo is mixed in with Martha Stewart and Cooking mags in the checkout aisle, unlike other magazines that are grouped together. It's not about him seeing the magazine per se, it's more about my having to explain to him at an age far too young for me to explain about pleasuring a partner 12 ways to Tuesday in the bedroom.
Let's be honest -- a beautiful woman half naked on a cover with the words SEX in bold letters is far more appealing to young eyes than anything the Star, Enquirer or World could ever put on the cover. Is it damaging to the kids? No, of course not. But as a parent it's difficult to discuss such a big subject to such a tender age.
Clearly, you aren't a parent. Burb or otherwise.....
I thought your post was interesting
And yes, hard to discuss these kind of subjects, especially when they come up in the middle of the grocery store line. I didn't read that as you being a prude or anything; just a little irritated that this stuff pops up when you'd least want to discuss it.
BTW, there are plenty of grocery stores that don't stock this sort of thing. If you're looking to avoid these discussions at the grocery store, you could always pick one of these and save the discussions for when the stuff comes up (oh, and it sure does!) and you have a little more time/space to talk about it.
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http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
I kinda feel like your anger
I kinda feel like your anger should be pointed at Swirlygirl and not me, I was just expressing how I was ignorant of those magazines when I was a kid because I hated cooking magazines and soap operas and it did not occur to me that one of the naked ladies was not a chef soap opera star. I also do believe I expressed a little shock at finding out what was actually in Cosmo and how it is very odd it is in the check out lane...
Why Me?
She was replying to the drive-by anon who thinks that cities are confined to small areas where no children live. It was the anon and not I that whined about parent blogs and 'bridge and tunnel moms" from the "inanity of the suburbs".
My kids were EWWW ICK SEX at that age too (heck, my 11 year old still is ...), but the pros say that eight isn't the least bit too young to start the media resistance lessons or the age-appropriate discussions of relationships.
What does this have to do with the 'burbs?
Unless... unless Adam's making a sly comment about the overall inanity of the burbs.
I don't get this.
Your overuse of the word "inane"
is inane.
Where can I get me a "no anons" T-shirt?
I'm just not a fan.
Ditto on the no
Ditto on the no anons.
...and I mean, when I was a kid, I thought that sex was icky and boys had cooties. Hell, I remember seeing a Rodin exhibit and wondering if he was too poor to afford more stone for clothes on his sculptures.
So I am indeed amused by the kid's comment on Cosmo - it's definitely something I would've said back in elementary school.
OK, that's funny...
...because I'm quite the perv, and hadn't specifically noticed that Rodin's sculptures are naked. I rather like Rodin, and have some mini-Rodins and Rodin postcards and stuff around, and have been to the Rodin museum. Had you asked me if they were clothed or naked, I'd realize from memory that most are naked, but hadn't previously thought to categorize his stuff as naked or non-naked. It isn't like there's visible naddage or anything *cough*Michelangelo*cough* on most of his stuff, even the stuff that maybe could use it.
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http://1smootshort.blogspot.com
overheard at the National Galleries ...
We were touring a sculpture area where most of the classical sculptures were lightly clothed, at best. A school group with fourth grade kids files in and one girl says rather loudly "What is this ... the Museum of Naked People"??
Shortly thereafter, we removed our then third and first graders from the area because they couldn't stop giggling.
Haha...what can I say, I was
Haha...what can I say, I was like, 7 or 8 at the time.