Young girls internalize the language of teen magazines but find it too embarrassing to say aloud, says a professor of semiotics and communications theory at the University of Toronto's Victoria College.
Pre-teen girls find terminology such as "scoping out the dudes" or "jonesin' for a hottie" acceptable on the pages of teen magazines yet would not dare utter those phrases for fear of ridicule from other girls, says Anne Urbancic of Italian studies. "Much of this secret language deals with attaining the ultimate prize - a boyfriend - one so idealized and vulnerable that he couldn't possibly exist in real life. Those girls who do verbalize these phrases in front of their peers are the ones most likely to believe that they not only can be improved but that they need to be improved."
Urbancic, who conducts language workshops for Grade 6 male and female students in Toronto, discovered the girls rely on the magazines as "friends" which offer a constant diet of tips on how to be more popular by changing appearance and behaviour. However, unlike an actual friend, the magazine's advice on hairstyles, skin colour, weight and attitude is one-sided. "The reader isn't able to challenge or discuss in length all this so-called helpful advice the way she would with a human friend."