Casual reading....

Jennica and I made our usual stop this morning after her occupational therapy appointment in Olympia--the grocery store. Its our weekly chance to stock up on whatever gluten-free/dairy-free/egg-free/peanut-free supplies that we're running low on.

Anyway, getting to the point, I'm standing in the checkout line this morning with my 5-year-old, and my eyes wander over the fronts of the magazines, reading headlines. My eyes settle, a bit startled, on the cover of this month's Cosmopolitan. Best Sex Ever. Followed by some other words in smaller print. One of which was Badass. And then lower on the page, a title stated Bitch Something-Or-Other. Okay???.........Hmmm.

I've thought about this a lot today, and tried to think about exactly WHY it bugs me. To me, those are pretty adult-type words emblazoned in large print across the front of a very public newsstand. If you buy that magazine and find those types of articles on the inside of the magazine, so be it. You are then the consumer......and have made a choice to spend your money there. All the more power to you. I may not choose to spend my money in the same way, but I will defend to the death your right to make your own choices.

But standing in the checkout line, I found it offensive to realize that my children, simply by standing in a checkout line, are subjected to terminology and vocabulary that we deliberately try to avoid in our home. No.......Jennica can't read yet, but Tiersten can! And Jennica is getting close! We're trying to raise our children that you treat others with respect, and words like "bitch" and "bad-ass" are not terms that we choose to use. I don't think this is overly prude-ish of us. We don't live an overly-sheltered life.

So.....what happened to keeping the trashy stuff on the inside of the magazines? Have I missed something? When did we become so complacent that BITCH can be printed in very large letters on the cover of a magazine, and stacked at eye level in the grocery store aisle? Am I THAT old?? Sheesh. The Cosmo cover that I'm attaching is not this month's issue, but has several other words emblazoned on the cover that aren't rated E, for Everyone.

I guess this is further proof that sex sells, huh?