The target audience of Glee is tween and teen girls. A star from the show, who apparently plays a 10th grader (but is really in her 20s), Lea Michele, appears in a full-on crotch shot and others, in a locker room wearing panties and holding a lollipop, in the new issue of GQ–and of course, already all over the internet.
What message does this send to the tweens and young teens following this story and all the goings-on of the stars on their favorite show? Why are the men and women who own the show and the magazine so greedy? Aren’t they wealthy enough without going there? Can’t we let kids be kids?
Here’s some tough love: I blame parents in two ways. One, because many parents who know this is wrong are afraid to condemn this photo spread (perhaps it should be called a ‘photo spread-eagle’) because they are terrified of being called uncool. I got news for you: it’s uncool to be so weak and afraid of being called a name. Grow up. Two, parents let their kids watch garbage like Glee, then complain about the coarsening culture and the fact that kids their kids’ ages act like tramps and pimps, etc. Um, parents? You are part of the PROBLEM. Buy your kid a book and turn off the TV once in a while. Trust me: the kids in China and India are hitting the books, and they look forward to underpaying YOUR KID someday.
Too many parents who recycle their paper, glass and aluminum to protect their kids from pollution in landfills, don’t care one bit about polluting their children’s minds. I’d submit it’s more damaging for your 12 year-old Glee fan to see these photos than it would be for this issue of the magazine to end up in a landfill in your neighborhood.
Category: Parenting and culture
Tags: cultural pollution, Glee, Lea Michele, parents, photos, teens, tweens