In a major win for parents, the prolific supermarket chains RiteAid and Delhaize America have decided to shield minors from the filth that is Cosmopolitan magazine, The National Center on Sexual Exploitation explained in a recent email to supporters.
NCSE partnered with Victoria Hearst, granddaughter of renowned publisher William Randolph Hearst, to bring awareness to the dangerous presence of Cosmo in supermarket checkout aisles, where children are exposed to the magazine’s often sexually explicit covers. Hearst is so disgusted with Cosmo's indecent features she once referred to the magazine as ‘porn,’ Thanks to NCSE’s Cosmo Harms Minors campaign, coupled with thousands of customer complaints, the above stores have agreed to put Cosmo behind blinders.
NCSE responded to the significant victory:
“Cosmopolitan magazine regularly features articles, and occasionally explicit pictures, encouraging girls to participate in group, anal, and violent torture sex, and it blatantly targets young girls by displaying teen idols on their covers. Recently, Cosmo even posted an article encouraging readers to visit hardcore porn sites, including one site that is particularly focused on the extremely violent torture of women,” says Dawn Hawkins, Executive Director of the National Center on Sexual Exploitation. “We are thankful to RiteAid and Delhaize America for not allowing this harmful material to be in plain view of minors at their stores, and we encourage other chains to follow suit, and to refuse to sell this pornographic magazine to minors.”
Hawkins, knowing Cosmo's editors have no intention of their own to censor the provocative circular, further challenged Editor-in-Chief Joanna Coles to a public debate on whether her magazine was suitable for children:
“If Joanna Coles, Cosmopolitan’s Editor in Chief, doesn’t agree to this modest step, then I challenge her to debate before an audience of parents in any city, in any state, at any time, on the question of whether a magazine promoting explicit instructions on group, anal, and torture sex should be displayed and sold to children."
Cosmo’s rated R agenda has no place in supermarket checkouts, where minors are faced with salacious images and headlines. Thanks to RiteAid and Delhaize America for taking this important first step.
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