Comment on Selena Gomez: Is 19 Too Young for the Cover of Cosmo? by Caroline
Being the mother of three elementary school children, my television rarely strays from the Disney Channels line-up of sitcoms. I have seen every episode of Good Luck Charlie, Austin and Ally, Victorious, and A.N.T. Farm they have ever made. Most of them at least 10 times.
But as for our household favorite? Hands down: Wizards of Waverly Place.
Its just about the only one of those shows I can tolerate, mainly because I like Selena Gomez. I think shes cute, bubbly, and has great comedic timing. My girls own her albums and we regularly bop around in the car singing her teeny-bopper tunes.Now, I realize that Selena Gomez is not the wide-eyed girl she once was. And thats okay. I can imagine it would be pretty hard to make the transition from child star to adult actress when youre so vividly in the public eye. In fact, my sister, just the other day, pointed to pictures in People of Ms. Gomez and her boyfriend (a little known singer named Justin Bieber), frolicking in the surf on the vacation they took to Hawaii and said,
To which I replied, What are they going to do about it? Ground them? Tell them they cant spend the hundreds of millions of dollars that theyre probably worth?
It would be a parenting dilemma to say the least.
And those pictures inside People magazine didnt bother me. My kids dont pick up my subscription and read it. And to them, it would just look like they were just playing around on the beach.
What does bother me, however, is the March 2012 edition of Cosmopolitan magazine that has 19-year-old Selena Gomez on the cover with cleavage that I will admit that I envy sitting in a somewhat indelicate position given that shes wearing a dress. This copy is all pink and cute and right in my daughters eye-line when we check out our groceries. And do you know what it says all around Selenas face?
50 SEX TIPS: Readers Share the Naughtiest Moves They Discovered All on Their Own.
Why Guys Love It When You Bite Your Lip.
YOUR ORGASM GUARANTEED: The New Trick Experts Swear By.
And in teeny tiny letters, it says Selena Gomez: Secrets Behind Her Megastar Success.
Now, Selena isnt the first Disney star to fling herself across the bridge from teen to adult. We all remember when Miley Cyrus did it in 2008 with the help of Annie Leibovitz for Vanity Fair. And at the time, I wasnt in the mood to get into the Art vs. Inappropriate debate.
And Ill tell you this: I think Selena Gomez is turning into a gorgeous woman. And in about 4-5 years, a few years after her Disney show is finished and shes gotten a little s! pace fro m her pop-idol imageI would love to see her face on the cover of any magazine. GQ, Maxim, whatever. You go, girl.
But cmon. Shes 19- years-old. And we all know what Cosmo is about. We all know the articles that they focus on and how they attract their readership. And at this point, I just wish they would do it without trying to attract my 10-year-old daughter. Frankly, given the subject matter that Cosmo works withit makes me wonder if there should be some sort of minimum age requirement when it comes to their cover girls.
Because at its worst its inappropriate. At bestits just plain tacky.
Catherine Tidd is a writer, widow and mother of three. She is the founder of www.theWiddahood.com, a free peer support website dedicated to anyone who has lost a significant other and has a Facebook peer support page under the name Widow Chick. Along with being published in several books on grief and renewal, Catherine is also a humorous motivational speaker who focuses on finding joy in a life you werent expecting. She also writes a blog on parenting and NASCARing called NASCAR Brady Bunch.