I don’t know about you, but I don’t consider a 16 year old a woman. I don’t care if she does work in Hollywood and makes more money than I will ever make. What does she have in common with me as an adult woman? Now, I am not saying that Sarah Jessica Parker has much in common with me either, but she’s married, she’s a mother, she had to lose the baby weight, she had to get up at night to cuddle a screaming baby, etc. I am sure Julia Roberts wonders if the diapers she chooses are the best for the environment, and I bet she even wonders (once in a while… we HOPE she does…) if her husband still finds her attractive.
And because I doubt I am the only woman out there that wonders how a 16 year old can be considered a woman, I want to know why women’s magazines - notice I said WOMEN’S, not Teen or Seventeen - put Dakota Fanning or Taylor Swift on the cover?! (Aside: I mention Dakota and Taylor because they are currently all over the magazine covers.) I’m not saying they aren’t interesting people. I liked Twilight (though if you want a teen vampire flick give me The Lost Boys anyday!). I think Taylor Swift has some cute songs… but what do they have in common with an adult woman - other than the obvious (and not so obvious for the young ones) body parts?
I look at some of these magazines, and I wonder who they think their target audience really is? At this stage in my life, I can afford to spend $600 on a pair of shoes. The real question is, do I want to? I’m 36, a mother and a wife. That doesn’t mean I suddenly want to wear only mom jeans and Hanes sweatshirts (my usual dresscode for running around the house doing dishes or laundry), but I want to be realistic too. So are these magazines trying to imply that women over a certain age no longer want to be attractive and stylish? Or even try to be? And honestly, with the exception of Dakota Fanning and Taylor Swift and very few other spotlight kids, how many 16 year olds out there can afford a Prada purse or Jimmy Choo shoes?
I am not kidding myself. I am not comparing myself to Julia Roberts or Sarah Jessica Parker, but by the very fact that they are closer to my age, they are mothers, they are wives - well, I figure they might have something going on in their lives that I can relate to. No the cameras don’t follow me around and ask me what brand of nursing bra I wore to nurse Dean, but nursing bras aren’t comfortable, and they certainly aren’t sexy… But if Julia Roberts has some insight on that topic, pass it on, lady! Cause I guarantee you that Dakota Fanning has no idea what the best brand of nursing pads are. She probably doesn’t even know where to get them!
I enjoy some of the movies that teen stars are in, but at the same time these kids grow up so fast simply because of the profession they are in. Do we really need to scrutinize them even more, and contribute to that by having them pose in magazines dedicated to women? Making a million+ dollars doesn’t mean you are a woman. It means you are a talented girl or young woman and someone saw fit to put you in a movie? And the magazines should know better, what exactly is it that makes these young girls think they are “all grown up?” The money? The exposure? The media following them around and dissecting who they’re dating? Do kids with rich parents think they’re all grown up simply because they have Mommy and/or Daddy’s Visa Card?
I have children of my own. In fact my oldest is only a few months younger than some of these youngsters - and I can’t look at my son and say, “Yes, he is a man.” Is he a young man? Sure, I’ll say that. Does he still have a lot to learn about being a MAN? Heck yeah! At the same time, turning 18 or 21 doesn’t mean you’re an adult either. I know some young men are more mature at 20 than men twice their age. It’s a mindset, it’s having some life experience, and some insight as to how one can overcome the obstacles we all face in life at one time or another. And, no, going on a date with Tayler Lautner doesn’t mean you have life experience.
Being an adult isn’t always easy, nor is it always fun - why do these young men and women want to grow up so fast? And why do these magazines want to portray them as such?!
