The head of a watchdog group that helps parents regulate their children’s Internet and media usage has started a campaign to stop Cosmopolitan magazine from continuing to push “sexting” among its young female readers.
Cosmopolitan’s latest plunge into the depths of indecency instructs readers on how to send the “perfect” sext.
“No, this isn’t a joke … You and I know there’s no such thing as a perfect sext. And deep down they know it, too,” writes Donna Rice Hughes, president and CEO of Enough Is Enough.
Actually, a quick Google search reveals that Cosmopolitan has been publishing an ongoing series of articles starting in 2011 that provide tips on sexting. Headlines include “Ten things guys really want you to sext,” “Let’s get sexting,” “Sexting Tips: 4 tricks to your steamiest sexts yet,” “How to Sext: Tips for sexting 101,” “Sexting: Naughty text ideas to send today,” and “Sexting: How to send sexy texts and messages.”
Researchers at Drexel University surveyed 870 Americans ranging between ages 18 and 82 and found that 88 percent had sexted at least once, and 82 percent did so within the past year. Three-quarters of the respondents said they sexted within a committed relationship, but 43 percent of the respondents also said they sexted in casual relationships, too.
“While Cosmo continues to push the envelope on soft porn with how-to articles on having titillating, illicit sex, etc., they really crossed the line by promoting and normalizing the dangerous activity of sexting,” Hughes wrote.
What Cosmo neglects to tell its readers, according to Enough is Enough, is:
- Sexting and self pornification among youth are at crisis levels
- 62 percent of teens and young adults have received a sext (Barna 2016)
- 40 percent of teens and young adults have sent a sext (Barna 2016)
- 15 percent of teen sexters sent texts to someone who they just met (The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2008)
- 44 percent of teens say it is common for sexually suggestive text messages to get shared with people other than the intended recipient (The National Campaign to Prevent Teen and Unplanned Pregnancy, 2008)