Walmart pulls Cosmopolitan from checkout aisles

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Walmart has decided to pull Cosmopolitan magazine from its checkout aisles at 5,000 stores across the United States after years of pressure from an activist group that accuses the publication of being "hyper-sexualized" and "degrading."

The National Center on Sexual Exploitation, a Washington-based nonprofit formerly known as Morality in Media, said it had long singled out Cosmopolitan - as opposed to, say, the National Enquirer or other provocative content available in the checkout line - because the Hearst-owned magazine was "targeting young girls with its advertisements."

The group credited the #MeToo movement for finally convincing Walmart officials to do so. "We would say that any magazine should not be using sexual objectification to sell its magazine, but Cosmo also really wraps itself in this faux-feminist mystique, claiming that it's actually liberating women by talking about sex," Halverson told The Post. "But we need to raise the dialogue a little bit. . . . Just because we're talking about sex in a magazine doesn't mean we're talking about it in an empowering way."

When asked to provide examples of publications that were discussing sex in a manner the group felt was appropriate, Halverson declined. However, she compared Cosmopolitan's messages about sexuality to that of Playboy "because it reduces women to objects for males' sexual entitlement."

Walmart confirmed the magazine would no longer be located in checkout aisles but would be available elsewhere in its stores. "As with all products in our store, we continue to evaluate our assortment and make changes," Walmart spokeswoman Meggan Kring said in an email. "While this was primarily a business decision, the concerns raised [by NCOSE] were heard."

A Hearst spokesperson declined to comment directly on Walmart's decision but said the company was proud of Cosmopolitan, one of the publisher's flagship magazines, which bills itself as "a bible for fun, fearless females."

"Cosmopolitan is the most successful global media brand for young women, with award-winning content produced by leading female journalists," Hearst said in a statement. "With our focus on empowerment, we are proud of all that the brand has achieved for women around the world in the areas of equality, health, relationships, career, politics and social issues."

Walmart's decision drew mixed reactions. Some supported the aggressive push by the nonprofit group, which celebrated the retailer's move as an "EXCITING victory!" Others said that choosing to focus on bringing down Cosmopolitan was "blatantly distorting" the #MeToo movement, with some even threatening to boycott Walmart.

"There can and should be discussions about how Cosmopolitan helps and hurts women," Kate Taylor wrote in a column for Business Insider. "But to blame a publication primarily aimed at and created by women for the systematic harassment and assault many women endure - often at the hands of men - is an embarrassing repurposing of the #MeToo movement."

Many on Twitter pointed out that the magazine also covered substantive topics, including health, politics, relationships, as well as sex.

As businesses are run by conservatives, they are more apt to be influenced by the threats of religious conservatives.

My stepfather has the opposite view. He thinks pretty much every business besides Walmart is run by liberals. He especially hates Amazon and Target. The strange thing about him is that he doesn't like Jimi Hendrix because he "smoked dope" and he loves Willie Nelson but what does he do? Why, smoke dope, he does!

If a woman wants to pay $4.99 for a stack of advertisements, that is her business.

But these mixed messages have to stop.

To be sure, there are liberal run businesses, but most business people are at the very least economic conservatives, if not also to the cultural right.
Is there perhaps a racial component to how your step dad regards Hendrix and Nelson, as pot has been associated with both?

He didn't say it directly but he does make negative racial comments towards other ethnic groups if they say or do something to irritate him so I don't doubt it that has something to do with it. The thing is that he would call someone from Armenia a "sand n****r" despite how Armenians are actual Caucasians and Armenia was the first nation to ever declare itself a Christian nation, long before rednecks ever existed.