If all publicity truly is good publicity, then lad mag GQ has hit paydirt with its sexy "Glee"-themed November cover featuring stars Cory Monteith, Lea Michele and Dianna Agron in a scantily clad, bootylicious embrace. A day after the pics hit the interwebs, the backlash has begun led by the Parents Television Council. The watchdog group released a statement today decrying the "Glee" photoshoot, using some fairly strong language to do so.
"It is disturbing that GQ, which is explicitly written for adult men, is sexualizing the actresses who play high school-aged characters on 'Glee' in this way. It borders on pedophilia. Sadly, this is just the latest example of the overt sexualization of young girls in entertainment," said PTC President Tim Winter. "Many children who flocked to 'High School Musical' have grown into 'Glee' fans. They are now being treated to seductive, in-your-face poses of the underwear-clad female characters posing in front of school lockers, one of them opting for a full-frontal crotch shot. By authorizing this kind of near-pornographic display, the creators of the program have established their intentions on the show's direction. And it isn't good for families."
I agree that the over-sexualization of teens (especially young women) is a problem in today's media, but the argument put forth by the PTC has several logical holes that simply can't be filled.
For one, their contention that the cover "borders on pedophilia" is laughable (they were obviously going for a juicy soundbite here). I'm not sure if the PTC bothered to look into the real ages of these actors, but none of them has been underage for a while now (Lea and Dianna are 24, Cory is 28). Sure, they play high-schoolers on screen, but that's pretend. In real life, they are full-fledged adults who can make their own decisions about how much flesh they want to show. And, speaking of flesh, when did underwear become "near-pornographic"? Sure, Lea's spread eagle locker room pose is provocative (and not very lady-like or classy), but the titillating vocabulary used to describe it, "full-frontal crotch shot," makes it sound like she is showing off her ladybits. Which she is not.
The PTC makes another one of my points for me, saying, "It is disturbing that GQ, which is explicitly written for adult men..." Yes, that's right. A magazine by adult men, for adult men often features ladies in bras, panties, bustiers, what-have-you. That's kind of their thing. It's not like these shots turned up in Highlights or Ranger Rick. Kids are not spending their hard-earned allowance to drool over Lea or Dianna. Sure, any 10-year-old can find these pics online faster than they can down a pack of Totino's Pizza Rolls, but that just leads back to the issue of parental internet monitoring. Besides, there's much worse stuff to be found on the web. Like real porn.
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