Teen Vogue just published an explicit how-to article on anal sex.
Not Vogue. Teen Vogue.
If, a generation ago, Jerry Falwell's Moral Majority had predicted that, in the near future, a "Teen Vogue" would print such a thing, it would have been scoffed at as exaggerated propaganda or a paranoid right-wing fever dream.
I'm not going to provide any explicit excerpts from the article, nor, am I going to spend any words analyzing it, except to make one observation. As if the whole thing weren't gruesome enough, there's an additional thing that makes it especially creepy (if that's even possible): Though all different permutations of the particular sex act are discussed - involving both women and men - no gender pronouns or descriptions are used. Instead, there are simply people who happen to have or not have, or own or not own, this or that particular organ, gland or whatever - "Just because you have a Y does not mean [it] is off limits" or "You don’t need to have a Z to enjoy [it]." Two illustrations show the relevant parts of the male versus female anatomies. But they're not labeled "Male" vs. "Female," rather, "Anatomy of a Z Owner" vs. "Anatomy of a Non-Z Owner." Standard (potentially procreative) sex is labeled "X in the Y" sex, which, it goes without saying, not everyone has or wants to have.
The link after the article is titled: "Related: How to Masturbate If You Have an X."
I'm not one of those people who has qualms about giving bad internet pages free hits. If you want to read the article, here's the link. Maybe you should actually read it, or maybe you shouldn't. It's up to you.
What is Teen Vogue's audience?
Well, here's how the article itself puts it:
What about the teenagers? What about the LGBTQ young people who need to know about this for their sexual health?
I have got you covered.
[This is for] teens, beginners, and all inquisitive folk.Honestly, I think the LGBTQ thing is mostly virtue signaling. Wikipedia states that "Teen Vogue is a US magazine which was launched in 2004 as a sister publication to Vogue, targeted at teenage girls." the rectangle on the right lists it in the category of "teen magazine." If you click that, you get:
[I]n the United States, adolescence is generally considered to be the period between the ages 11 and 19, and teen magazines usually cater to people within that range, [although] many readers comprise an even wider age range.
Here are the first two reviews that pop up for Teen Vogue at the parent review website, Common Sense Media:
Source: "Parent of a 12 year old." Date: July 16, 2009. Recommended Age: 10+. Stars: 4 (out of 5).
Source: "Parent." Date: July 24, 2012. Recommended Age: 12+. Stars: 5 (out of 5). Review: Great Magazine!!! This is a great magazine for fashion forward tweens! My daughter loves it and it is very appropriate for her age. (12) I've flipped through some issues and the outfits are both cute and appropriate! There is a fair amount of advertising but they are appropriate as well. My daughter loves reading them and it encourages her to create some of her own outfits!Here are the Common Sense Media summary ratings, posted at the top:
Recommended Age (Common Sense Media): 13+. Average Stars: 3 (out of 5).
I should note, however, that one source puts the actual average age of Teen Vogue readers (not sure whether it's the mean or the median) at 23.8. And a number of parents on Common Sense Media seem to be hip to the fact that Teen Vogue, or, at least, recent or current Teen Vogue is not appropriate - way not appropriate - for teenage girls. Here's the fourth review down on Common Sense Media (note the more recent date):
Source: "Educator and Parent." Date: February 18, 2017. Recommended Age: 18+. Stars: 1 (out of 5). Review: Disgusting content. Articles about abortions, gay relationships, glorifying teen pregnancy, promiscuity and masturbation. encouraging teens to question their sexuality and gender identity. Totally innapropriate for teens. Has become also very political. Cancel your subscription!So, perhaps, much of the readership of Teen Vogue is actually made up of post-teens with a preference or nostalgia for "teenage" fashion, or whatever. And maybe the magazine has changed its tone over the past eight years. Like many fashion magazines and teen magazines, it's been under financial pressure, and they want to appeal to older readers because that's where the money is. Also, it just got a new editor (who appears to be a sort of political activist), etc.
But still, it continues to be called Teen Vogue. Didn't Camel Cigarettes get heat for allegedly making its camels look cuddly and cute so as to lure children into smoking? What if some Camels were called Teen Camels?
This is all, of course, utterly horrific.
Yes, to paraphrase the sort of thing Jerry Falwell might have said, they're coming for your kids.
What about the teenagers?
A few years ago, as a non-Catholic libertarian, I might have been more blasé about the whole thing. If you don't like it, don't buy it. It's the parents who have the right and the duty to protect their kids from this type of influence. If they don't, it's their fault, etc.
Well, yes and yes. But no and no.
The article justifies it's moral stand in favor of anal sex for teenage girls (as long as they're comfortable with it, and its consensual and they use protection, and so on and so forth), in part by by referencing the Ancient Greeks.
As a Teen Vogue reader might say: like that's so original.
The Ancient Hebrews don't count, I guess.
By the way, if your entire civilization is about to collapse into a decadent shell before igniting into a firestorm, just remember:
You don't have to buy the magazine.
