The classes were inspired by research that shows one in four teenage girls are hurt by a partner, and a third of girls in relationships are victims of unwanted sexual activity. Despite these statistics, only half of girls receive any sort of education about domestic violence. To remedy this, beginning in 2011 schools will teach students about healthy relationships and the unacceptability of abuse. An unnamed contributor to the plan says that the classes would be separate from sex education:

It's nothing to do with teaching them how to put a condom on. It's about teaching boys not to be violent and girls that being a sex object isn't the only way to be validated.

Schools minister Vernon Coaker says the classes will be "age appropriate." Rather than being taught about romantic relationships, younger children might learn not to bully or call names. Christine Barter, a researcher in the area of teen violence, says what's especially scary is that teenage girls keep this violence to themselves. Classes starting at a young age might encourage them to seek help when they need it — and might teach them that violence is unacceptable and should be reported. But not all parents are behind the measure.

Margaret Morrissey, of the group Parents Outloud, says, "This political correctness is turning our children into confused mini-adults from the age of five to nine." Nick Seaton, of the Campaign for Real Education, concurs:

Youngsters should naturally know not to do these sort of things and must be called to account if they do. But teachers have enough to do in teaching English, maths and science to a reasonable level without addressing issues that parents should be dealing with.

Teaching young girls to report abuse and rape — and teaching boys not to commit these acts — is hardly mere "political correctness." But Seaton's criticism echoes an age-old debate about education that goes beyond "English, maths and science" — what should schools teach, and what is the province of parents? In this case, it's unfortunately untrue that "youngsters naturally know" not to abuse each other. And since violence is still so widespread, it doesn't appear that parents "naturally know" how to deal with it either. Parent-child relationships are complicated by a lot of emotions and expectations — parents may feel, for instance, that their son would never hurt a girl, or that their daughter would never stay in an abusive relationship. Teachers may be able to take a more dispassionate approach, especially since they will undergo special training before teaching the new classes. Ideally, all parents would teach their kids never to commit domestic violence, and to speak out immediately if they suffer it. But teenagers aren't getting this message, and school may be a good place to fix that.

Classroom Drive To Curb Violence In Relationships [Guardian]
School Lessons To Tackle Domestic Violence Outlined [BBC News]
Lessons On Equality And Domestic Abuse For Children Of Five [Daily Mail]

[London, November 24. Image via Getty]

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 24: Intisar Alobady, an anti-war protester, holds an Iraqi flag outside the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre on the first day of The Iraq Inquiry on November 24, 2009 in London. Chairman of the Iraq Inquiry Sir John Chilcot will lead a committee of Privy Counsellors who will consider the period from the summer of 2001 to the end of July 2009, embracing the run-up to the conflict in Iraq, the military action and its aftermath. (Photo by Oli Scarff/Getty Images)

As someone who spends a lot of time reading - and writing about - American ladymags I thought that, for a change of pace, I'd investigate a few foreign ones. So a few weeks ago, I bought four British magazines and four French ones to see how they stack up against their American counterparts.

I was particularly interested in how these foreign editions treat single readers: Does the strategy for love and romance veer from what American women are used to reading? Are there tips? Is being single considered a blessing or a curse? Do they want women to be more or less assertive? Let's take a look:

More! - Oct. 19th edition
Dannii Minogue, sister of Kylie and a reality tv judge in the UK, is on the cover. Almost the entirety of her interview is devoted to her "gorgeous boyfriend" Kris, a rugby player six years her junior. "He accepts me in my tracksuits and my UGG boots and no make-up and my hair in a [headband]," she gushes. "He's The One." It's no wonder she's obsessed with her boyfriend-her friends and family sound psychotic. "When he met all of my family and friends, they all came back to me going, ‘If you mess this up, we won't be your friends any more because, seriously, we thought you'd be single forever.'"

Later in the issue, the magazine ask forty men to answer the rather cheerful question "How Can We Tell if You're About to Dump Us?" And there's a feature called "I've Never Had a Boyfriend," in which four attractive twenty-something women confess that they've never had a serious relationship and a nebulous-sounding "relationship expert" tries to understand how exactly that could happen. Sample advice: "Between now and Christmas I want you to get to know men with a good relationship track record so you'll know what to look for in future relationships."

However! I am willing to take back anything I might be inclined to say about the obsession with monogamy that this magazine appears to have because there, on page 100, was the Position of the Week. This week's is called The Cat and it's reenacted step-by-step by an interracial Barbie couple. Plus!! There's a bonus tip that involves a vibrator "to maximize your pleasure." And if that was not enough, there are five readers profiled who were paid to try it. Yes, that's right, our British sistren can get paid £30 to try out sex tips in magazines. It is times like this that I question whether the American Revolution was a good idea.


Marie Claire (UK Edition) - -November 2009
"In the midst of this doom and gloom, I feel inclined to spoil myself more." Ah, another article on the minor luxuries women won't give up during the recession! Except this is a pretty serious, reported article called "The Pleasure Boom" that claims that the recession has resulted in a kind of golden age for sex toys in Britain.

Moving on from gold-plated vibrators, they address the age-old "Should I Tell Him How Many Men I've Slept With?" question by encouraging evasiveness. I loved this: "When men want to play the numbers game, I stick to my ‘more than one, less than a hundred' line, and remind them that all of my experiences have made me into the sexually confident woman that I am today." I usually cringe at any mention of the O-word-oxytocin-but I appreciate that they warn women that the "cuddle hormone" can "lead to inappropriate bonding with that random one-night stand."

General bonus: this magazine came wrapped with a giant bar of chocolate to celebrate Chocolate Week 2009.

Glamour (UK Edition) - November 2009
I was not particularly moved by any suggestions in "Happy Couple Tips to Try Tonight, Tomorrow and Forever." Is there anything new in "Brag publicly about him," "Spoil him," or "Think back on all the reasons you fell for him"? Plus I'm not sure that using a photo from Gossip Girl of Dan and Serena making out is the best way to illustrate eternal love.

There is a fairly depressing piece on what men talk about when we're not around. From "Overheard at a football match": "She's got the premenstrual with the cramping and bloating and terrorizing, then the menstrual, then the post-menstrual. No shit, she's fit for habitation for only, like, ten days a month." Not only in there no analysis of this comment but there is no indication that this kind of casual misogyny-fed to us in a women's magazine, no less!-is completely unacceptable. What's next? "Top Ten ‘Take My Wife, Please' Jokes"?


Cosmopolitan (UK Edition) - November 2009
This month's Cosmo quiz is dedicated to all the single ladies, namely Agyness Deyn, Alexandra Burke (the winner of the American Idolesque X Factor), Kate Hudson, and Lily Allen. "They're all gorgeous, sexy and single. What can your celeb relationship twin tell you about your love life?" I took the quiz, answering questions like, "If a friend invites you out on the same night you've got a date, you'd cancel to go out with a friend." My single celeb soulmate is Kate Hudson and our shared problem is that we are prone to judging too quickly. "Like Kate, you're not ready to settle for one guy. Perhaps that's because in the back of your mind you're always thinking someone else might come along."

There's an interesting article on women who have had to move back in with their parents-whether for financial reasons or because of a bad breakup-and who think it's the best thing they ever did.

In an advice column, an 18-year-old asks whether she should go out with her coworker who is ten years her senior. The casual response seems like something that would probably never see the light of day in American magazines: "In a couple years' time, 10 years between you and a boyfriend will make much less difference to anyone."


Cosmopolitan (French edition) - November 2009
My favorite part of French Cosmo is the special psychic supplement that comes with the November issue, which includes a punch-out tarot deck and a quiz called "What Kind of Love Witch Are You?" I took it, and apparently I'm the kind that loves "eternal adolescents who don't take anything seriously, especially not love." My inner goth could only be happier if it came with love spells.

There's a long reported story that feels a bit behind the times on online dating and another depressing story about men. This time it's a list of the ways (by text, via the silent treatment) in which men leave us. There's another story told from the point of view of men on what their girlfriends do better than anyone else ("walk wearing stilettos," "read my thoughts").

The last page is an ode to wearing garter belts by a female writer who claims they're "comfortable, practical, and they makes me feel more sure of myself." Very French.


20 Ans - October 2009
20 Ans (it means 20 Years Old) is something that doesn't really exist in America: the sexually frank magazine for teenagers. But it's less like Sassy than a hybrid of Bonnie Fuller-era YM and Maxim.

There's an article on what men like to do in the morning (Sleep in! Eat a ton of cereal! Have sex! I have never heard of a woman enjoying any of those things!) that is pretty vapid, but I did enjoy the the Ten Good Reasons to Sleep with Someone article: "there's nothing on tv," "you're young, beautiful, and sexy," "you have nothing better to do," "you want to." They also include a few reasons not to: "you haven't shaved," "you have a sex toy," "it's too hot out," and "you don't want to."

Later, there are several stories prepping girls for adult relationships. And by "adult relationships," we mean "male disappointment." There's an article on why your man doesn't do what you tell him (the answers: "because he doesn't want to" or because you're a nag), another of tricks to get your guy to get off the phone/internet/tv (parading around in lingerie is encouraged), and a quiz on whether he's happy with you.


Glamour (French edition) - November 2009
Can I be honest? I have never encountered a women's magazine with so little love advice to dish out to their readers. There's a story on how to catch a man's eye, and another about fantasies women have about yoga teachers, bakers, and surfers but the vast majority is taken up with articles on that don't make finding and keeping a man your life's central conceit. Which, of course, doesn't mean they're breaking much new ground; you'll find stories on how to build your own bookshelves, the return of the smoky eye, and women who love their thigh-high boots.

Bonus merch: This month's issue comes with a tote bag that says BAG GLAMOUR BAG on one side and a line drawing of last month's cover on the other.

Biba - November 2009
There's a quiz for couples to take on whether you're sexually compatible and a food story on recipes for seduction (raspberry tart, berry muffins). There's a roundup of women's stories about guys who tried to pick you up and failed: "He began to guide me through poses, murmuring that I had a great body… What he didn't know was that I was the sub for yoga class that day." There's not any new ground here, but I did appreciate a reported piece on whether girls and boys are raised differently, and whether sexism comes from imposed gender rules on kids.

These British and French women's magazines have the occasional bit of advice that feels a bit more risqué than anything published in the US, but overall, the familiar far exceeds the exotic. I do think that our lady mags could take a cue from their foreign counterparts and start illustrating sex tips with Barbies and giving away cute totes. If anything can help sagging newsstand sales, I'm sure it's free chocolate.

[London, November 11. Image via Getty]

A woman wearing 3D glasses during a screening of the preview screening of 'The Queen In 3D' at the Channel 4 studios in Central London on November 11, 2009. AFP PHOTO/Ben Stansall (Photo credit should read BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images)

Britain's Liberal Democrats have been pushing for airbrushed ads to carry notice saying they've been altered, and for retouching to be banned entirely in ads aimed at children under 16. As a result of the campaign the A.S.A. has received more than 1,000 complaints about Photoshopped ads in the past three months, but it has refused to tackle the issue because none of the complaints provided scientific evidence that the ads are harmful, according to The Daily Mail.

Now 44 doctors, psychologists, and academics from Britain, the United States, and Australia have submitted a report to the A.S.A. based on more than 100 academic studies worldwide that says:

Media images that depict ultra-thin, digitally altered women models are linked to body dissatisfaction and unhealthy eating in girls and women.

And argues that the advertisements promote:

Unhealthy dieting regimes and problematic eating behaviours (starving, bingeing, and purging), clinical eating disorders (anorexia, bulimia), cosmetic surgery and extreme exercising.

The paper points out that altered images can be harmful to boys as well, saying pictures that exaggerate a model's muscle development encourage, "unhealthy muscle-enhancing behaviors" like taking steroids, and can cause men to suffer from low self-esteem, reports The Telegraph.

Member of Parliament Jo Swinson, who has been leading the campaign, said:

Airbrushing means that women and young girls are being bombarded with images of people with perfect skin, perfect hair and perfect figures which are impossible to live up to.

Making it clear that retouched images represent an unrealistic ideal is a good start, but the campaign only hints at the larger assault on women's self-esteem. According to The Sun, the report mentions the disturbing fact that:

Girls aged 5½ to 7½ reported less body esteem and greater desire for a thinner body after exposure to images or thin dolls.

Barbie may be part of the problem, but the Liberal Democrats aren't taking on Mattel. The party has acknowledged that thinness isn't the only factor giving girls body image issues by calling for cosmetic surgery ads to include success rates. However, the report submitted to the A.S.A. challenged the idea among advertisers that "thin and sexy sells," by citing research that says ads featuring models who are a U.K. size 14 are as effective at selling products as those featuring extremely thin models as long as they are equally attractive. Would every image featuring an actress with a nose job require a disclaimer letting girls know that her perfectly-proportioned face is "impossible to live up to" without the help of a good plastic surgeon?

While there seems to be scientific proof that retouched images are harming women and the Liberal Democrats mean well, it seems unlikely that a disclaimer will make many people stop hating their bodies. Even if retouching were banned altogether, images can still be distorted with lighting and camera techniques. The hope is that that advertisers will start using more natural models, but sadly, the industry would probably just pressure models to be even thinner if their thighs can't be whittled in Photoshop. Larger models may not be the answer either, since a recent study found that overweight women feel worse about themselves after looking a photos of models, whether the models were skinny or not. At any size, models still represent a beauty ideal that most women can't achieve without turning to extreme diets or cosmetic surgery. The idea that there's a certain beauty ideal women should keep striving (and spending more) to attain may be rooted in advertisements, but it's now too ingrained in our culture to be undone by disclaimer in the fine print.

Call For Ban On Airbrushing Ads That Leave Girls Loathing Their Own Bodies [The Daily Mail]
Airbrushed Images Harming Girls And Boys, Experts Say [The Telegraph]
Faked Model Photo Danger For Girls Aged 5 [The Sun]

Earlier: British Lawmakers Take Stand Against Photoshop
Study: Even Plus-Size Models Lower Self-Esteem

[London, November 2. Image via Getty]

LONDON, ENGLAND - NOVEMBER 02: A girl takes a picture of a window display at Selfridges department store on Oxford Street on November 2, 2009 in London, England. Figures released today by consumer research firm Mintel, suggest that shoppers expect to spend around the same this Christmas as last with consumer confidence rising to it's highest levels in 18 months according to research by the British Retail Consortium. (Photo by Dan Kitwood/Getty Images)

[London, November 2. Image via Getty]

A dancer from the Rambert Dance Company performs 'The Comedy of Change' during a press preview at the Sadler's Wells Theatre in central London, on November 2, 2009. The Rambert Dance Company will perform at the Sadler's Wells Theatre from 3 to 7 November. AFP PHOTO/Shaun Curry (Photo credit should read SHAUN CURRY/AFP/Getty Images)

[London, October 29. Image via Getty]

LONDON - OCTOBER 29: Tourists and onlookers poke their heads through the gates of Buckingham Palace during the launch of the XIX Commonwealth games at Buckingham Palace October 29, 2009 in London. The Indian President and her husband, Dr Devisingh Ramsingh Shekhawat, are concluding their three-day state visit to the UK during which they have stayed in Windsor Castle. (Photo by Suzanne Plunkett - WPAPool/Getty Images)

[London, October 27. Image via Getty]

Children wave Indian and British flags as they await a Ceremonial Welcome by Queen Elizabeth II for India's President Pratibha Patil as she begins a State Visit to Britain in Windsor, on October 27, 2009. Indian President Pratibha Patil received a red-carpet welcome from Queen Elizabeth II on Tuesday at the start of a three-day state visit to former colonial power Britain. Patil, the first Indian woman to be elected to the ceremonial role, was taken in a state carriage procession to the Queen's Windsor Castle, where she will stay during the trip and where she was treated to a Guard of Honour. AFP PHOTO/BEN STANSALL (Photo credit should read BEN STANSALL/AFP/Getty Images)

[Chester, England; September 25. Image via Getty]

CHESTER, ENGLAND - SEPTEMBER 25: Four-year-old Ella Roberts holds the hand of her father Lance Corporal Steven Roberts as he and comrades of 1st Battalion The Royal Welsh parade through Chester to say farewell to the city before deploying on operations to Afghanistan on September 25, 2009 in Chester, England. Carrying fully-loaded rucksacks and much of the equipment they will use in Afghanistan the fusiliers 'tabbed' (tactically marched) from their base across country to parade through the ancient Roman city of Chester. (Photo by Christopher Furlong/Getty Images)

[London, September 11. Image via Getty]

A mother and daughter look out of the window as they watch anti muslim protestors being arrested by the police in Harrow, North London on September 11, 2009. Riot police intervened to quell clashes between Muslims and anti-Islamic extremists protesting outside a London mosque on the anniversary of the September 11 attacks. AFP PHOTO/Carl de Souza (Photo credit should read CARL DE SOUZA/AFP/Getty Images)

[Bath, U.K.; August 20. Image via Getty]

BATH, UNITED KINGDOM - AUGUST 20: Jessica Bevan (L) and Harriet Lacey (R) from Hayesfield Sixth Form react as they open their A-level results at Hayesfield Girls School on August 20, 2009 in Bath, United Kingdom. Results published today for more than 310,000 students across England, Wales and Northern Ireland showed that a quarter of A-levels were graded an A as students across the UK celebrated another year of record results. (Photo by Matt Cardy/Getty Images)

[Golcuk, Turkey; August 17. Image via Getty]

A Turkish woman reads the Koran next to a gravestone for her relatives in a cemetery where the quake victims were buried near the northwestern Turkish town of Golcuk on August 17, 2009, on the tenth anniversary of the deadly Turkish earthquake. Turks commemorated the anniversary of the quake, which measured 7.4 on Richter scale, killed more than 17,000 and left 600,000 homeless AFP PHOTO / MUSTAFA OZER (Photo credit should read MUSTAFA OZER/AFP/Getty Images)

Britain's Liberal Democrats would like to ban Photoshopping entirely in ads aimed at those under 16, and require all other ads to carry a disclaimer describing the extent of their alterations. They also recommend "media literacy" lessons to teach kids about advertising techniques. Member of Parliament Jo Swinson says,

Today's unrealistic idea of what is beautiful means that young girls are under more pressure now than they were even five years ago. Airbrushing means that adverts contain completely unattainable perfect images no one can live up to in real life. We need to help protect children from these pressures and we need to make a start by banning airbrushing in adverts aimed at them.

Coverage of the proposed ban cites the recent removal of Gisele Bundchen's baby bump, and an Olay campaign that appears to have polished Twiggy's face into that of some non-existent twenty- or thirty-year-old. Says the Daily Mail's Richard Simpson of the 59-year-old model,

Out on a grocery shop to her local London Marks and Spencers, a brand she also promotes, she appeared to be the age of, well, a woman of 59.

With slight jowls and only hairline wrinkles around her eyes and mouth, Twiggy does indeed look good for her age.

However she bares very little resemblance to pictures, apparently of her, recently distributed to advertise Olay, whose catchphrase is 'Love the skin you're in.'

Twiggy's campaign is especially upsetting given that she has publicly eschewed plastic surgery and Botox, and advocated "embracing" aging. "I'm grateful for my lines of wisdom," she has said. Apparently Olay isn't.

So should Photoshopping really be banned? Britain and western Europe have historically been more comfortable with speech restrictions than the United States, and it's unlikely that such a ban would ever go down here. But plenty of Americans are angry about the process of retouching — so widespread, according to an LA Times article that namechecks us, that "it's quite possible that the vast majority of images seen in the public arena have been altered." Professor of pop culture Montana Miller tells the Times that advertisers may consciously tailor images to make women feel bad about themselves, thus convincing them to buy more products.

Scott Kelby, president of the National Association of Photoshop Professionals, counters that Photoshop just makes the camera as forgiving as the eye. He says,

If you met Faith Hill in person, you would think she's absolutely beautiful. And when you take her picture, you will see every flaw that you never saw in person. Those flaws not only become visible, but magnified. . . . If I were talking to someone, I'd look at their eyes, not at the blemish on the side of their face. But as soon as you open up that photo on a 30-inch monitor, you'd say, 'Oh my gosh, where did that come from?'

But retoucher Amy Dresser unwittingly reveals multiple pressures that result in photos like Twiggy's. She says,

When it comes to notable people, I feel like embracing the details of that person's face is what I'm supposed to do. Obviously a person wants to have a nice picture of themselves, and the photographer doesn't want to look bad, and I don't want to look like a lazy retoucher, and the magazine wants an appealing image, so you have to find that middle ground.

According to the Times, she also "says she doesn't take liberties, such as over-softening facial features and turning subjects into plastic-like dolls, a look often seen in rookie Photoshop work. She abhors that style, leaving in freckles and moles and sometimes drawing in stray hairs to retain a person's humanness."

It's pretty sad that our visual culture dictates that someone has to add stray hairs to "retain" a celebrity's humanity — and that an ad for anti-aging treatment has to use a digital anti-ager on its spokesmodel's photograph. Extreme as it seems, a ban could return us to a time before magazines were populated by vaguely human-like cartoons — if advertisers actually abided by it. On the other hand, lets not forget that Photoshop is also force for good — like these photographs of Wolverine and George Clooney without pants.

Photoshopped Images: The Good, The Bad And The Ugly [LA Times]
Don't Beef Up Keira's Bust! Lib Dems Take Aim At Advertisers Over Altered Images [Independent]
Airbrushing Of Photos Should Be Banned, Liberal Democrats Say [Telegraph]
The Two Faces Of Twiggy At 59: How Airbrushing In Olay Ad Hides Truth Of The Skin She's In [Daily Mail]
Pantsed Celebrity Photoshopping Contest [BoingBoing]

A British court has granted the woman anonymity, but she reportedly comes from a wealthy family in Saudi Arabia, and is married to a member of the royal family. (Her husband and her relatives have cut off contact with her.) Her fears of stoning are not unfounded — 40 women have been executed in Saudi Arabia since 1990, and one currently awaits stoning for adultery. (She had a child six years after her husband died.) Another princess, Mishaal bint Fahd, was executed by "gunshot to the head" after admitting adultery in 1977. After a British documentary was made about her execution, the Saudi government expelled the British ambassador, pulled members of their royal family out of Britain, and canceled lucrative export contracts.

It is likely fear of such retaliation that makes the British government keep asylum deals like the princess's a secret. Robert Verkaik of the Independent writes that to make public such deals "would in effect be to highlight the persecution of women in Saudi Arabia, which would be viewed as open criticism of the House of Saud and lead to embarrassing publicity for both governments." (Interestingly, the Obama Administration, as reported last week, is softening the United States' stance on granting asylum for victims of domestic abuse.) But in keeping secret Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses, Britain is essentially protecting the Saudi government from any international pressure to change.

Note: The Muslim pilgrims pictured are stoning a pillar as part of a religious ceremony; they are not participating in an execution.

Princess Facing Saudi Death Penalty Given Secret UK Asylum [Independent]
Saudi Princess Given Asylum In UK Over Fears She Faces Execution For Having Illegitimate Child With British Lover [Daily Mail]
Saudi Arabian Princess Seeks Asylum In Britain Over Illegitimate Child [Telegraph]