Selena Gomez is trying to get away from the Disney image and move on to a more grown-up world, but her latest attempt is getting criticism from parent's groups. Selena appears on the cover of Cosmo, and this magazine is full of sexually explicit material. Not that Selena is inappropriate in her poses or looks, it's the publication that reads very sexual, and most of Selena's fans are still young girls.
The former Disney kid looks wonderful on the cover, showing off her figure in an athletic-looking outfit, but what's displayed all around Selena's picture on the cover is a different ball of wax. "Your Orgasm Guaranteed," "50 Sex Tips," and "The New Tricks Experts Swear By" are materials not meant for young teens, but putting Selena on the cover invites this age group.
One of the main criticisms about Cosmo is its promotion of casual sex; critics say it encourages this type of sexual activity. The American Academy of Pediatrics reports, "exposure to sexual content in music, movies, television, and magazines accelerates adolescent sexual activity and increases their risk of engaging in early sexual intercourse," according to The Improper.
While the twenty something and over set can get some valuable information out of Cosmo around sexual relationships, kids coming off the Disney scene are just too young to read a magazine that offers articles that detail how to have anal sex.
This is a tough call when it comes to the right and wrong of it, with Selena at the age that Cosmo targets, but the same isn't true for her fans. Selena does have the right as a woman heading into her twenties to take this grown-up journey, but where does her liability to her fans factor into all this? Any magazine with Selena donning the cover will entice her young fans to want to read this, but is this Selena's responsibility?
It's still the parents' place to watch what their kids read, so putting this responsibility on Selena isn't fair. She has a right at her age to test these waters, but she is also risking it with her fans. It's not the 12- and 13-year-old kids that spend their money on her records, videos, movies, and Selena Gomez T-Shirts, it's their parents that do this. With Selena taking this leap, which she has a right to do, she's risking a fall-out from the parents of her fans. Is this worth the risk that can only get answered by Selena?