Are magazines a bad inlfuence on youth culture and society in general?

I'm doing a critical review on how magazines, particularly ones such as Cosmopolitan and FHM, shape and determine how men and women view society and each other in terms of sexuality and consumption.I just want people to air their thoughts on how these magazines influence young people. Thanks everyone!

I see your point and somewhat agree.

One minute too many youngsters are underweight then the next they are overweight according to the media and government. I never buy a magazine promoting diets on the front cover.

I am a stone and a half underweight following a recent illness and desperate to put on weight. There's no magic pills and no magazines on how to put on weight.

Magazines aren't bad influences. People are bad influences.

Cosmo and FHM are still some of the best magazines that people wanna buy, and I have some copies of 'em. They gave us significant topics, not just sex topics. In my country (Philippines), readers must be 18 years old and above, to get a copy of FHM. That would be fine, as long as magazines like FHM should have NO pornographic pictures,... something like that.

yes unfortunately, they decide what beauty is hence they impose some fake beauty standards on youth like being skinny is equal to beauty, such things have lead so many of youth to state of anorexia, bulimia, suicide and etc..

Hi, I'm Brandon and I'm studying English at home. I think that the magazines, more specifically the magazines about beauty and fashion have a big influence among the society because it's constantly advertising and telling to the people that this is the canon of beauty, it's the tendency, you have to look like this, and it's no only on magazines, in the advertisements on TV people constantly are saying the same.

Probably we can't blame the mass media, we can't say "all the guilt is of the mass media" because we're also guilty; we let them have that influence over us.

Greetings.

I think we should look more to education, than anything else. If young people are given a social education in school, then this will prevent the media from having such an impact.

The pictures are probably influential, the print is usually more useful, work it out for yourself

Magazines are not even that big of an issue this day and age -- it's the media as a whole. Young people don't seem to be as interested in magazines anymore. They still buy it and look at it, but most get their information from other outlets. Many publishers even fear loosing magazines to the internet (which it won't... not any time soon at least).

I can see how magazines can be a bad influence on youth (particularly Cosmo and their ideals of a woman), but there is always going to be another magazine that sets a better example. Not all magazines are trash and fluff. You mentioned, Shape, and I actually find magazines like Shape and Self to be very positive. They seem to send the message that being healthy is much more important than being super coke skinny. They have stories on diets because not all diets work for all people -- and there are new diets that come out that could possibly work for you. There is nothing wrong with dieting so long as it is done in a healthy way.

Really, it's what you make of the magazine and how you choose to view the articles. Not all magazines are bad influences, but some are. And again, it's not that big of an issue anymore, it's media as a whole that is setting a terrible and wishy-washy example for youth.