'Virtue' Wrapped in Teen Magazines' Clothing
Posted by anastasia on 06-22-2005
The St. Louis Dispatch wrote about a magabook (just made that up, but it would be a book that is designed to look like a magazine — think Biblezines or Bibles that look like teen magazines) by conservative Christian author Vicki Courtney called "Teen Virtue." From the article:
"From a quick flip through its bold and graphic pages, it would appear that "TeenVirtue" (Broadman & Holman Publishers, 150 pages, $14.95) is a trendy magazine. But it's a book. There are no advertisements, interviews or alternative viewpoints. Just Courtney's philosophical musings and ultra-conservative advice. (She's anti-gay, anti-abortion and anti-bellybutton exposure.)"
The idea to make the book look and feel like a teen mag allegedly came from Courtney's teen daughter. Courtney believes teen mags like "Seventeen" and "Cosmo Girl" "lead young women astray."
This part of the larger trend in Christian Teen Media to co-opt the look and feel of pop culture while infusing whatever media they're using with a Christian message.
Here's what some teens interviewed had to say about "Virtue":
Taiesha Carson, 14, of Hazelwood, was intrigued by "TeenVirtue" until she hit the gay chapter.
"Ohhhh, that's mean," she said, visibly flinching.
Her friend, Tenesha Barley, 20, of Jennings, was standing nearby sporting eight tattoos and three body piercings. She didn't particularly care for the general tone of "TeenVirtue."
"It's the person inside that makes a person good or bad," said Barley, a blood collector for the American Red Cross. "(TeenVirtue) shouldn't be downing people like that. It makes people think the wrong thing in this day and age in 2005."
Ceci Murray, 14, of St. Charles said Courtney's anti-gay rhetoric might make some teens boycott the book.
"When (they) want to say this is wrong or that's wrong, it's kind of creepy," she said. "Teens want to make their own decision. It turns them off."
Categorized under: Christian Teen Media, Magazines
June 26th, 2005 at 1:59 pm
I read this interview in the Post Dispatch and I was very upset with the outcome. They interviewed two girls, when I could bring thousands of girls who would think this magazine is great. The new generation of teenage girls have been raised with almost naked women, cigarettes, beer, and gays on TV, Bilboards, and every other place you can look. It's just a way of life to them. I am very thankful that there still is parents out there that teach thier teenagers morals.
June 27th, 2005 at 12:17 pm
Well, I must say, I looked at the magazine, and I disagreed with what it said. So does almost every person I know. I know people who are homosexual, and they are just as wonderful of people as any other i know. It's not fair that the other commenter here should try to say that I don't know what I'm talking about. Perhaps thousands could be brought in who agreed with the propaganda that the magazine threw at its readers, but most those are not most teens. It isn't that all the rest lack morals, it's simply that we want to make our own choices. If a magazine tells me "homosexuality is morally wrong," i'm not simply going to say "okay, i suppose that's true because this magazine told me." No one wants to be told what to think. And just because this is true does not mean that my parents do not teach me morals. It does not mean that I surround myself with cigarettes and beer and naked women. That is simply not fair. That my beliefs should automatically cause someone to think me immoral reflects poorly on the other, not on me.
Thank you.
July 21st, 2005 at 9:43 am
Well, I must say this one thing, teens have the right to choose, we all do; and they will, but the thing is that we are not to "propaganda" anyone to believing what it is that we should believe. The outcry is to decipher what is right and what is wrong. The media has made it seem glamorous to live a certain way and by that I mean to be tolerant to things that lead to death. Look I am not one to be extreme, but I know that we don't get the full picture from any one source. The deal with this magazine is that its offering another perspective and we are all grown enough to really search for truth. The truth is what we need to look at not what so and so says is true but what the ultimate Creator did. We are not condoning people, they are people and no one is better than anyone else, but the fact is to shine light on the darkness and the deceitfulness of certain aspects that the media has been glorifying for the past century. We must wake up and see that there is no grey area, everything is either right or wrong and that is a fact. We just learn to suffocate our inner voice (our God given conscious) and we go on our merry way, living our "fleshly" lives instead of focusing on our spiritual one. I am not wanting to call anyone "immoral" and there is only one rightful judge- but what I am saying is that there is a right and wrong and that is plain and simple.