[DanaC]

Originally Posted by Zee

How are you supposed to know what the contents of the magazine are if there are modesty bags covering up the front? Some of us read them for the articles you know

Ha! Yes. Good question.

To be honest, I don't actually think that lads mags should be covered up. Personally, I am way less bothered by lads mags showing sexy ladies than I am by something like the Page Three Girls in a newspaper.

My point was not so much that I agree with what this group are trying to do, but that their arguments should not simply be dismissed as crazy or hypocritical, in the way that most feminist arguments get dismissed. They raise valid points and deserve neither the ridicule nor the venom that seems to be the default response to any attempt by feminists (male or female) to change a worryingly unequal status quo.

In answer to your question, though: it's easy. Some gaming/entertainment magazines and most multibuy magazines have a printed cellophane outer cover which allows some of the inner magazine cover to show whilst obscuring other parts. That printed outercover often has a brief rundown of the magazine highlights on it and so it would be entirely possible to show the headline articles whilst keeping the more risque (and potentially damaging to young psyches - and if you think this stuff doesn't have an effect on how both boys and girls view the female body and its role in society then you need to reconsider the possibilities for that) images under wraps.

It isn't about being prudish, or seeking to cover up all the female flesh. It's about the messages that a proliferation of sexualised female imagery in every sphere of our culture sends out. If the bedrock of our culture says women are playthings, what effect do you think that has on the girls and boys who grow up within that culture?