Home » US Kids Mag Slammed For Publishing Article That Asks ‘Which Swimsuit Suits You Best?’

12 May, 2016

US Kids Mag Slammed For Publishing Article That Asks ‘Which Swimsuit Suits You Best?’

US magazine, Discovery Girls, has come under a flurry of fire after it published a feature called, ‘Which Swimsuit Best Suits You?’.

Now, this might seem like a fairly typical headline to be splashed across a female mag, except for the fact that this particular publication targets “tweens”, or young girls eight and up.

The feature offers advice for picking the perfect swimsuit to those who are “curvy up top” or “rounder in the middle”, advising them to pick swimmers that draw the eyes away from their body parts they want to disguise.

Naturally, mums on Twitter were out in force:

Hey @DiscoveryGirls, why not include diet tips/surgical options with this? Your readers are 9, after all. Tick tock. pic.twitter.com/5oJI4KqnM6
— Taffy Akner (@taffyakner) May 10, 2016

This is ABHORRENT. Magazine for 8 year olds @DiscoveryGirls reducing their focus to flattering swimwear. Do better. pic.twitter.com/3PYyegNr7H
— Kathryn HowellDalton (@curlyhairday) May 10, 2016

@curlyhairday @DiscoveryGirls In a position to send positive messages and instill confidence in girls, and THIS is what you print?!
— Laurie Spooner, RN (@SpoonerLaurie) May 11, 2016

Weeping for my future daughters. This mag @discoverygirls is for girls 8+ (via @taffyakner) cc: @VagendaMagazine pic.twitter.com/Xboy0aAPkC
— Rhiannon L Cosslett (@rhiannonlucyc) May 10, 2016

In response, the publisher of Discovery Girls Catherine Lee issued an apology on Facebook, thanking her critics for bringing “the swimsuit article to [her] attention” and admitting it had been a “mistake”.

“I am in total agreement with all of you regarding this article,” Lee said. “We want to make sure that our girls know that any article that makes you feel bad about your body is not a good article, and should be questioned.

“The article was supposed to be about finding cute, fun swimsuits that make girls feel confident, but instead it focused on girls’ body image and had a negative impact. Nobody knows better than Discovery Girls how impressionable our girls are at this age and we are ALWAYS mindful of this.”

Lee added that it was “still hard for me to believe that an article so contrary to our magazine’s mission could have been published on our pages. I have been a loss for words for days”.

But even this apology was mocked by the Twittersphere.

Why does the publisher make it sound like she didn’t read her own magazine and this article just “happened” to them? https://t.co/1g50CbPPbH
— Irin Carmon (@irin) May 10, 2016

Ah dear, better luck next time?

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