Girl's Life Magazine vs. Boy's Life Magazine

[minn]

Comparing Boy's Life Magazine (an official BSA publication) to Girl's Life Magazine (a mainstream style magazine written for tween girls - and not the GSUSA) isn't exactly a fair comparison beyond title similarities.  Still, it's an interesting conversation described by the Huffington Post.  (another media outlet with its own specific point of view).  Check it out here: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/side-by-side-magazine-covers-cause-outrage-among-parents_us_57cee729e4b02c637c57e63f?

 

Edited September 8, 2016 by minn

[ianwilkins]

Classic. They all like pink too right?

 

Easy solved. Don't buy the magazine. If enough people don't buy the magazine, they will either try and work out why, and change, or fold. If people are buying the magazine, then that must be what they want. Just because it's not some peoples idea of what they should want, doesn't mean they shouldn't have it.

[Cambridgeskip]

A long time ago, in a galaxy far far away.....

 

I worked at a department store and one day, about this time of year, I was sent to the loading dock where my job was to unload a lorry which was bringing in the first batch of toys for Christmas. That particular lorry had on board, 3000 barbie dolls. I moved pallet after pallet of them off that truck.

 

I have never seen so much pink in one place in all my life. And it was that particularly nauseating pink. You know the one. In all honesty I had a head ache after staring at it for too long.

 

Seriously though, I look at the girls life cover and I weep.

[SpEdScouter]

But isnt this partly fault of the Girl Scouts for NOT having an equivalent to "Boy's Life"? Just what publication does the GSUSA put out anyways?

[desertrat77]

I have never seen so much pink in one place in all my life. And it was that particularly nauseating pink. You know the one. In all honesty I had a head ache after staring at it for too long.

 

Seriously though, I look at the girls life cover and I weep.

 

Very interesting!  

 

Yesteryear...our troop in California went on an overnight trip to Alcatraz Island, formerly the site of the famous penitentiary, now a national park.

 

We did service projects by day, and then spent the night in the cells (a tale in and of itself!); your observations about pink reminded me of something the park ranger said that day during a tour.

 

In the early days of the penitentiary, the walls of the cell blocks were painted pink.   Officials thought this would have a calming effect on the prisoners (all male).   They quickly discovered that the long-term effect was one of "rage" (the female park ranger's very word).   The walls were repainted.

 

I too weep when I see that cover.  

 

 

But isnt this partly fault of the Girl Scouts for NOT having an equivalent to "Boy's Life"? Just what publication does the GSUSA put out anyways?

 

It's been a few years since my daughter was a Girl Scout, but I don't recall a periodical similar to Boy's Life.  Or a periodical of any kind.   The only message I remember from HQ GSA was "SELL MORE COOKIES!" 

Edited September 8, 2016 by desertrat77

[Torchwood]

As far as I know, there is no GSUSA publication at all. I guess it would cut into those cookie profits. My daughter does read Girl's Life, because she is a tween and does like looking at fashion stuff. But, she has no Barbie dolls- she does have Monster High dolls though. She is also  bored to tears with a lot of the GSUSA activities, although her present Troop leader has asked me for help teaching more outdoor skills to the girls, so there is hope. They are going on their fall Encampment this weekend. The first year she did this, she was the only girl in her Troop who had hiking boots and all the normal gear that us BSA folk automatically pack. Some of the girls thought she was odd for having all this "stuff", but she had a much better weekend than a lot of the other girls did because she was prepared. That should be a motto or something, dontcha think?

[qwazse]

@@minn, welcome to the forums!

 

An artist friend shared this image. It's a shame that BSA has an extreme prejudice against fashionable denim.

 

Over the years, a lot of girls have written in to BL. The editors are aware that its readership is by no means all male. Their current advice columnists are a male-female team. That's partly because boys write in with questions about dating. But also because, girls whose interests will require to navigate traditionally male institutions like seeing the name "Jenny" in the by-line of a boy's mag. in some families, a boy scout may not be interested in the subscription, but his sister will.

[NJCubScouter]

But isnt this partly fault of the Girl Scouts for NOT having an equivalent to "Boy's Life"? Just what publication does the GSUSA put out anyways?

No, it's not partly the fault of the Girl Scouts. If there is "fault" here, it would be with the people who buy the magazine for their daughters. But as ianwilkins said, people are free to buy or read what they want. And the fact that a pre-teen girl is reading about makeup and fashion and other fluff doesn't mean she isn't also reading Popular Science, outdoors magazines, computer magazines or whatever. (Well, statistically, she probably isn't, but the point is that people can read more than one magazine.)

 

As for GSUSA and its publications, I once again turn to Wikipedia, that great source for information that is probably correct on any given day, and seems to be correct in this case, and I learn that between 1917 and 1979 they did publish a magazine, which was called The American Girl for most of its history, and just American Girl (no The) at the end, and which has no relation to the American Girl dolls, which apparently currently has an associated magazine named, of course, American Girl. I have never heard of the GSUSA publication; my older daughter joined the Girl Scouts about 10 years after the magazine stopped publishing.

 

My guess would be that the GSUSA stopped publishing American Girl because not enough people were buying it to justify continuing to publish it. Which is basically why the fluff magazine Girl's Life DOES exist, because enough people buy it for advertisers to want to advertise in it, and it makes a profit for the owners. Otherwise, as my Economics 101 professor would have said, the owners would take their money and instead publish a more profitable magazine, or car, or widget, or whatever.

 

(I should clarify, I have been saying for years that our society pays way, way too much attention to things that are frivolous like hairstyles, fashion, and most of all these days, "celebrity news" in general.  We as a society have a lot of important things to deal with, and yet a lot of people only seem to care about which celebrity is dating which other celebrity.  I can't get through the day without hearing "the latest" about some celebrity who I don't care about.  And I would partly put sports in the same category, especially these days when many of the athletes can't seem to just play the game or whatever, but become celebrities themselves and then we have to hear about THEIR antics along with those of Paris and Kim and whoever else.  And one part of this problem is that society is sending mixed messages to young people, and I think to girls especially.  Yes, get an education, become a scientist, run for President, find a cure for cancer, but at the same time don't weigh too much, don't let the styles of the day pass you by, don't be a "geek" because then you won't be popular, etc. etc.  And we do burden boys with this kind of thing as well, but to a much lesser extent, in my opinion.  This Girls Life magazine IS part of a larger problem, but as I say above, the magazine publisher is not the cause of the problem.  They are just making a profit off it, like thousands of other publications, every media company, every clothing company, etc., etc. etc.  Boy, that turned into a rant, didn't it?  But I think it's all on-topic.  One little magazine is not the issue, even if it happens by coincidence to have a title "corresponding" to our beloved Boys' Life with the science and outdoors in the front, ads for military schools and fundraising candy in the middle, and the bad jokes in the back.)

 

(And now totally OFF the subject, and maybe some will consider THIS trivial, but is that the current edition of Boys Life?  I can see "September" but the year is not clear, and nobody in my household gets Boys Life anymore.  (Actually the one who used to get it moved out a few months ago.)  But here's the thing:  Isn't that an F-117 Nighthawk airplane on the cover, right below the name of the magazine?  Isn't that a retired airplane?  If the cover is all about the future, it seems to me that might not be the right aircraft to have front and center.  It still looks cool, though.)

Edited September 8, 2016 by NJCubScouter

[SpEdScouter]

 

It's been a few years since my daughter was a Girl Scout, but I don't recall a periodical similar to Boy's Life.  Or a periodical of any kind.   The only message I remember from HQ GSA was "SELL MORE COOKIES!" 

This sentence says it all. Notice how in Boy's Life all the fundraising companies advertise to sell their products? Girl Scouts dont want anything to cut into cookie sales.

[NJCubScouter]

It's been a few years since my daughter was a Girl Scout, but I don't recall a periodical similar to Boy's Life.  Or a periodical of any kind.   The only message I remember from HQ GSA was "SELL MORE COOKIES!" 

This sentence says it all. Notice how in Boy's Life all the fundraising companies advertise to sell their products? Girl Scouts dont want anything to cut into cookie sales.

 

So you are saying the GSUSA puts too much of an emphasis on their own centralized fundraising?  As opposed to what?  The BSA?  They have Girl Scout cookies, we have FOS and (in some councils) popcorn sales.  Admittedly the Girl Scout cookie sales are nationally driven and FOS and popcorn sales are council-driven, but to those of us in the local trenches, it is (as we say in my profession) a distinction without a difference.  I would argue that FOS is more intrusive than Girl Scout cookie sales, since BSA National is asking us to dig into our own pockets to (in part) pay the salaries of their executives (hence the half-joking "Fund Our Salaries") while product sales involve our (and our children's labor) to raise money from others.  

 

On the subject of fundraising, I would say that the BSA has a built a glass house, from which we should not throw any stones at another organization.

[SpEdScouter]

So you are saying the GSUSA puts too much of an emphasis on their own centralized fundraising?  As opposed to what?  The BSA?  They have Girl Scout cookies, we have FOS and (in some councils) popcorn sales.  Admittedly the Girl Scout cookie sales are nationally driven and FOS and popcorn sales are council-driven, but to those of us in the local trenches, it is (as we say in my profession) a distinction without a difference.  I would argue that FOS is more intrusive than Girl Scout cookie sales, since BSA National is asking us to dig into our own pockets to (in part) pay the salaries of their executives (hence the half-joking "Fund Our Salaries") while product sales involve our (and our children's labor) to raise money from others.  

 

On the subject of fundraising, I would say that the BSA has a built a glass house, from which we should not throw any stones at another organization.

 

I'm just saying that many troops do a variety of fundraising and many of those companies advertise in Boy's Life. Selling trash bags, wrapping paper, cookies, candy, popcorn, wreaths, etc...

 

Thing is with GS cookies those are pushed like crazy. Look at how they have their own merit badges and awards for being top sellers. On the GS website they sell EZ bake ovens to make them.

[SpEdScouter]

Back to the topic.

 

In both magazines the goal is kids look thru them and say "I want to do that". Hopefully our Boy Scouts look thru BL and see ideas for trips, outings, and activities. The girl scouts really should have a similar one.

[CalicoPenn]

More manufactured outrage from social media outrage-a-holics (did anyone else notice that the Boys Life is a subscription copy and not a newstand copy?  You can see the printed address on the cover).  My response to those who are outraged?  Suck it up and get over yourselves.

 

Girl's Life magazine follows the same grand tradition as Seventeen, Teen, and other classic magazines for girls.  It does so because it sells.  It sells because, like it or not Mom and Dad, your precious little snowflake who you've been telling all her life can aspire to be anything they want, is interested in these things.  Demanding that the magazine change its covers and focus is a Don Quixote move.  No publisher with a successful magazine is going to completely change its focus without knowing that there is, in fact, a market for the kind of "empowering girls" magazine you want them to be.  The fact that there isn't such a magazine should tell you something about the market for it.  Sure, maybe you'll buy it and give it to your daughters, but how do you know your daughter wlil actually read it?  A publisher isn't going to publish a magazine aimed at teen (and tween) girls that isn't going to be mostly purchased by the girls themselves - and they don't make decisions about what kinds of magazines to publish without doing extensive market research.

 

Go ahead and write letters to the editor and publisher all you want - it's not going to actually change anything.  For the vast majority of you letter writers, they know this is just the "cause of the day" for you and you will completely forget about it in a week.  For those who really want to see a magazine for girls that is more like Boys Life, stop demanding that other people do it for you and publish it yourself - but don't take a mortgage out on your home to fund it, and make sure one of you keeps your day job, so that when it fails, as it is likely to do (the success rate of new magazines is very poor), you don't become a burden on society by becoming homeless and jobless.

 

As for the Girl Scouts not publishing a magazine, they stopped publishing American Girl because despite having a "built-in market" for it, the market actually didn't want it.  Both the Girl Scouts and the Boy Scouts included their magazines as part of annual dues - and did not separate the subscription from dues untl the late 70's - and when American Girl got separated from dues, there weren't enough people who kept the subscription to keep the magazine viable.  The BSA keeps the subscription price cheap - that's the only reason it still exists - ask your boys if they would buy it from the newstand if they weren't getting it in the mail - and the answer is probably not - it's stereotypical but boys don't tend to buy magazines as much as girls do.

[NJCubScouter]

I went looking for Boys' Life circulation figures, but I couldn't go on after finding this at boyslife.org:

 

David: Why did the broom get a poor grade in school?

Dan: I don’t know. Why?

David: Because it was always sweeping during class!

 

Submitted by David L., Hicksville, N.Y.

 

Nice to see they are still running the same jokes as when I started reading it, which come to think of it, would be 50 years ago, to the month.

 

Thank you, David L. of Hicksville, New York.

Edited September 12, 2016 by NJCubScouter

[desertrat77]

I went looking for Boys' Life circulation figures, but I couldn't go on after finding this at boyslife.org:

 

Nice to see they are still running the same jokes as when I started reading it, which come to think of it, would be 50 years ago, to the month.

 

Thank you, David L. of Hicksville, New York.

LOL, that's great!

 

My Venture Scout daughter receives Boy's Life.   

 

I too thought some of those BL jokes looked awfully familiar!