Parents and Christian leaders are raising the alarm over a popular teen magazine’s recent article promoting sodomy to its young and vulnerable readers. The article, entitled “Anal Sex: What You Need to Know,” appeared July 7 on the website of Teen Vogue, a popular site and magazine for adolescent girls.
Under the guise of concern for her young readers, author Gigi Engle writes that “there is a lot of stuff on the Internet about anal [sex], but most of what you’ll find is either porn or advice for experienced sexual persons looking to try something new. What about the teenagers? What about the LGBTQ young people who need to know about this for their sexual health?”
The pornographic discussion that follows has prompted an army of parents and others to call for a boycott of Teen Vogue. One of those parents, Elizabeth Johnston (shown), known as the “Activist Mommy” for her popular blog site, launched a national campaign asking local stores and libraries to pull Teen Vogue from their shelves. “I could not believe what I was reading,” Johnston told CBN News. “And the worst part about it was that here you have adults peddling this sexual information to minors, to children.”
“This is not a Republican issue or a Democrat issue,” she told Fox cultural commentator Todd Starnes. “This is not a conservative issue or liberal issue. This is a parent issue.”
Johnston’s campaign included a video of her burning a copy of Teen Vogue magazine, which has so far received at least 11 million views on Johnston’s “Activist Mommy” Facebook page, and is also available on YouTube. “They are teaching children 11 through 17, that’s the target audience of this magazine . . . how to be safely sodomized,” she said in the video.
Johnston’s campaign has received significant traction since she first posted the video. “I went into my local Kroger, grabbed all 9 mags on the rack,” a man named William commented on the “Activist Mommy” Facebook page. “I walked right up to the manager and asked him if he would allow his kids to read this. No joke folks, he literally ripped them up and told his loss prevention team to write them off as stolen. I’m now shopping there for the rest of my life.”
Teen Vogue’s digital editorial director, Phillip Picardi, responded to the campaign with a defense of the article that included a photo of himself kissing another man while holding up his middle finger. He claimed that the online magazine had been “inundated with hate mail saying we promote sodomy and want teens to get AIDS,” and asked, “How can you expect young women to not get pregnant without access to reproductive health care?” Predictably, Picardi insisted that the “backlash to this article is rooted in homophobia. It’s also laced in arcane delusion about what it means to be a young person today.”
To which Johnston responded: “This has nothing to do with homophobia. This is about parents protecting their children from perversion.”
Joining in the condemnation of the article was noted evangelist Franklin Graham, who observed that “Teen Vogue is now in the category of a porn magazine and should be regulated as such.” He added that “some of the advertisers in Teen Vogue are — Macy’s, David’s Bridal, Levi’s, Secret Deodorant, and Burt’s Bees. It’s important that we let them know we don’t appreciate their support of this obscene content aimed at children and teens. Your local drug store or grocery store that is selling this magazine might not be aware that they’re selling pornography. Let’s make them aware and ask them to take Teen Vogue off their shelves.”
Graham also admonished parents: “Teach your children the truth about sexual relations. Warn them against what the socialist progressives want to push on the innocents. This issue of Teen Vogue tells them the lie that, ‘There is no wrong way to experience sexuality and no way is better than any other.’ Schools will not teach the truth, the media will not teach the truth—it’s up to you to raise your children in truth and knowledge.”
Photo at top: Screengrab of “Activist Mommy” Elizabeth Johnston from her “Mom Blogger Burns Teen Vogue Magazine” video
