The Parents Television Council (PTC) is lashing out at ‘GQ’ magazine over the ‘Glee’ photo shoot.
The watchdog group says the recent photo shoot cover featuring stars from the hit FOX show ‘Glee’ is too provocative and sends the wrong message to kids.
The ‘Glee’ photo shoot cover and the pictures inside show Diana Argon and Lea Michelle dressed in skimpy outfits draped on their co-star Corey Monteith.
“It is disturbing that ‘GQ,’ which is explicitly written for adult men, is sexualizing the actresses who play high school-aged characters on ‘Glee’ in this way. It borders on pedophilia,” PTC president Tim Winter said. “Sadly, this is just the latest example of the overt sexualization of young girls in entertainment.”
Aside from the ‘Glee’ photo shoot, there is an article called ‘Glee Gone Wild,’ in which Monteith, Michelle and Aragon talk about the sexual politics on set, rumors of discord among the cast and what motivated them to bare so much. Michelle, who is 24, commented “I don’t know how they got me to do half the stuff I did.” And Aragon, also 24, said “I’ve never been shot in so little clothing.”
Glenn Selig, founder of the PR firm, The Publicity Agency (www.thepublicityagency.com), says the stars need to be mindful of how they are portrayed and the messages they are sending, especially when the ‘Glee’ stars do a photo shoot. “Because the stars are in their mid to late 20s, they have very young fans who idolize them,” Selig says. “Many young kids look up to and identify with the characters they portray on ‘Glee’ and admire them as actresses. Racy photos, even if they are published in a magazine that targets an older audience, can send the wrong message to kids about what is appropriate and what is not.”
Winter says what the stars have done is beyond irresponsible.
“Many children who flocked to ‘High School Musical’ have grown into ‘Glee’ fans,” Winter says. “They are now being treated to seductive, in-your-face poses of the underwear-clad female characters posing in front of school lockers, one of them opting for a full-frontal crotch shot. By authorizing this kind of near-pornographic display, the creators of the program have established their intentions on the show’s direction. And it isn’t good for families.”
GQ’s editor-in-chief Jim Nelson released a statement defending the edgy photos: “The Parents Television Council must not be watching much TV these days and should learn to divide reality from fantasy.”
On her blog, ‘Glee’ Diana Agron appears to have some regret and apologized: “In the land of Madonna, Britney, Miley, Gossip Girl, other public figures and shows that have pushed the envelope and challenged the levels of comfort in their viewers and fans … we are not the first. Now, in perpetuating the type of images that evoke these kind of emotions, I am sorry. If you are hurt or these photos make you uncomfortable, it was never our intention. And if your eight-year-old has a copy of our ‘GQ’ cover in hand, again I am sorry. But I would have to ask, how on earth did it get there?”
