Walmart announced the they will be removing Cosmopolitan from their checkout lines, and an anti-pornography organization claims it’s their doing, CNN reported.
The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, the anti-pornography group, had been in conversations with Walmart leading up to the decision. In their statement about the removal of the magazine, Walmart mentions “concerns raised” as a reason for pulling it from the shelves, said CNN.
USA Today said that Walmart’s statement, released by spokesperson Meggan Kring, said “As with all products in our store, we continue to evaluate our assortment and make changes. Walmart will continue to offer Cosmopolitan to customers that wish to purchase the magazine, but it will no longer be located in the checkout aisles. While this was primarily a business decision, the concerns raised were heard.”
In response to Walmart’s statement, The National Center on Sexual Exploitation released their own. Haley Halverson, vice president of advice and outreach for The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, said ”You can go through and buy your groceries with your family knowing you don’t have to be exposed to this graphic and often degrading and offensive material. Instead, all of these magazines will be moved, in isolation, to the magazine racks,” according to USA Today.
NPR reported that The National Center on Sexual Exploitation has been trying to get Cosmo off of the shelves in stores for years because they believe that it is porn. The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, formally known as Morality in Media, said in another statement that “Cosmo targets young girls by placing former Disney stars on its covers, despite the enclosed sexually erotic articles which describe risky sexual acts like public, intoxicated, or anal sex in detail. Customers should not be forced to be exposed to this content when they are trying to check-out at the store.”
However, fans of the magazine and members of the media were quick to call-out the decision and the org’s justification as willfully misunderstanding the momentum from #MeToo movement.
As Michelle Ruiz wrote for Vogue, “I’m embarrassed for Hawkins because she just broadcasted to the entire country that she is a woman who has no idea what #MeToo means. ICYMI: #MeToo is about unwantedsex and sexual attention, sexual assault, and harassment. While Cosmopolitan is a magazine and a brand best known for its sex tips (including my personal favorite, a suggestion to ring a donut on a guy’s penis)—it is all about consensualadult sex. Your sex life, your business, NCOSE, but in the pages of Cosmo and elsewhere in the real world, neither sexting nor BDSM are crimes among consenting adults. And in no way does the magazine market content about these topics to minors.”
(Photo Credit: Cover)