Rebecca Moore rejoices at girls' magazines bid to promote ability over looks

Girls are amazing. No, seriously: girls really are amazing.

And thanks to Girl Talk Magazine, that message is about to go viral among young girls across the land.

Girl Talk Magazine’s editor Bea Appleby was astounded when the results from a poll revealed that 87 per cent of her young, female readership, placed looks above ability. Which, frankly, comes as no real shock. But it is nonetheless terrifying.

However, rather than shrugging their shoulders and continuing to force the usual airbrushed ideals of perfection down the next generation’s neck, the good folks at Girl Talk Magazine have decided to change things. The magazine is aimed at girls aged seven to 11, and according to the editorial staff its material can be devided into three distinct phases: phase one was the period in which they printed Whigfield’s, Saturday Night recorder sheet music. Genuinely.

They define this phrase as wholesome but I imagine the parents of any recorder players may have used other words for it.

The second phase involved a lot of High School Musical paraphernalia and this is where the swerve towards celeb-worshippers really took a wrong turn, with Zac Ephron’s face plastered everywhere.

We’re still dealing with the fall-out.

And then came the third phase, summed up in one helpful image by former Disney child star Miley Cyrus swinging, half-naked on a wrecking ball. As Appleby puts it: mainstream celebs in 2004 were, on the whole, just much more innocent than they are in 2014. You can say that again, sista.

This made Appleby realise that “we had to take on some responsibility for our readers’ attitudes and make a change. We had to accept that we’re the ones feeding them the celebrities they admire”.

Glad somebody in the magazine industry has finally realised.

But at least they’re willing to do something about it: the magazine is going to change its content to place more emphasis on ability, career choices and the success of women role models who have achieved through work and intelligence rather than through squeezing into the smallest hot-pants.

I imagine trying to sell this to young girls will be a delicate balancing act but at least they’re out there on the high-wire, giving it a go.

The magazine also encourages its young readership to take the Girl Talk pledge, which includes statements such as “I love myself the way I am” and “I accept other people for who they are”.

See how amazing a group of editors can be when they decide to put the wellbeing of their readership above the pressure of societal norms? AMAZING.