Dear Rolling Stone Magazine...

Dear Rolling Stone Magazine,

I admit, I was that mom... that mom who grabbed EVERY Rolling Stone Magazine out of the cash register newsstands in Target last week.  I brought it up to customer service and pointed out to the clerk the chest of the scantly-clad Kim Kardashian (who else?).  

Ms. Kardashian may as well have had her shirt off, because she was almost showing pretty much everything!  I told the clerk, "I have sons who I don't want seeing this!  And a daughter, for that matter, too!"  The clerk's eyes scanned the cover quickly and she sighed, "I am sooo sorry.  I agree, but we have people from the magazine companies who come and display these."  I just simply replied, "Then you don't need to display these where my children can see them!"

So, let me continue by saying that I don't care about Kim Kardashian and her gigantic chest.  In fact, I'm quite tired of seeing it.  I tire of seeing her and her barely dressed sisters who seem to care nothing about what influence they may be having on young boys and girls, men, and women, who have to walk past their face, chest, and backside plastered all over the news stands.  

We have to walk past those newsstands to check out.  We have no choice but to see those ridiculously sexualized photos on your magazines.  I agree---you aren't the only magazine that bares more than the average person wants to see.  BUT, I am calling on you because your cover for July 2015 issue was absolutely way too revealing to be out in the open where little eyes could see it.  Please care.  

Perhaps you could use some ideas on how to care about the little ones that may see sexualized material that may add to the pressure to become "sexy" too young.  I know that you most likely won't stop publishing barely dressed women on your covers.  After all, you've been doing it for decades.  

How about not allowing your magazine to be in the main cash register newsstands?  Or how about requiring your publication to be placed behind pocket shields?  Those are two very simple solutions.  

Perhaps you may not make as many sales, but, let me be clear.  You publishing media like that adds absolutely NOTHING of value to our society.  In fact, it adds to a huge epidemic of a sexually desensitized culture that is suffering and struggling with body image, porn, and torn relationships that are killed by the addiction to sexual images.  It adds to the pressure of teen girls feeling like they, too, have to show off their chests to be accepted by men.  

So, why not care about the little eyes that can see your highly sexualized publication?  I am aware that there are probably companies that distribute your magazine to Target and all the other stores.  CONTACT THEM.  Fix this problem.  

Rite-Aid has agreed to cover up Cosmopolitan magazines in their stores due to the National Center on Sexual Exploitation requesting that they did so.  Step up and add something of worth to our society.  A national organization fighting sexual exploitation shouldn't have to contact you to do something about this.  A concerned parent should be enough.  

Thank you.

~A Very Concerned Mother of 3 Young Children

P.S.  If you'd like to read more about the effects of media like yours on our society, you can read these posts.  

An Open Letter to Mothers Regarding Body Image
An Open Letter to Teen Girls and Young Women Regarding Body Image
An Open Letter to Men Regarding the Body Image of Women