Soldiers on the Front Lines of Battling the Sexual Epidemic Praise Walmart’s Cosmo Move

Walmart will no longer sell Cosmo magazine in its checkout lines, partially due to concerns about the magazine’s mature content.

“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,” Walmart said in a statement to Charisma News.

The sexually explicit magazine is often available in full view of children. Headlines frequently include bold sexual declarations and tips.

Soldiers on the front lines of the sexual epidemic battle praised Walmart’s decision.

“This is what real change looks like in our #MeToo culture, and NCOSE is proud to work with a major corporation like Walmart to combat sexually exploitative influences in our society. Women, men and children are bombarded daily with sexually objectifying and explicit materials, not only online, but in the checkout line at the store,” says Dawn Hawkins, executive director at the National Center on Sexual Exploitation.

“Cosmo sends the same messages about female sexuality as Playboy. It places women’s value primarily on their ability to sexually satisfy a man and therefore plays into the same culture where men view and treat women as inanimate sex objects. Further, Cosmo targets young girls by placing former Disney stars on its covers, despite the enclosed sexually erotic articles. … Customers should not be forced to be exposed to this content when they are trying to check-out at the store,” Hawkins says.

Victoria Hearst, granddaughter of publishing tycoon William Randolph Hearst, launched a campaign several years ago to rid stores of the sexually explicit magazine.

“It will protect underage children from being exposed to the magazine’s sexually explicit covers showing scantily clad female celebrities and article title!” Hearst said in 2015. “Since these two companies are now clearly aware of Cosmopolitan’s pornographic content, I pray that they will do the right thing and either stop selling the magazine or obey the Material Harmful to Minors laws in each state that forbid the sale of magazines like Cosmopolitan to anyone under 18 years old.”

NCOSE issued a petition to thank Walmart for its decision.

“When major corporations change their policies to stop promoting sexually exploitative influences in our culture, we are all better off. With this policy change, and by acknowledging and changing the way they influence the culture, Walmart is proving itself a leader in corporate responsibility,” the petition reads.

Here’s what some major players are saying:

Cosmopolitan magazine promotes the hyper-sexualization and objectification of women and girls. The magazine sells the idea that women exist simply to be consumed sexually by men, and that their worth is based primarily on their sex appeal. This kind of messaging is what perpetuates a “porn culture” and in turn fuels the sexual exploitation industries such as prostitution, pornography and sex trafficking. We are pleased to see such a bold and important move by Wal-Mart to remove the magazine from a place where children are unwittingly exposed to its damaging messages.

I’m thrilled to hear of Walmart’s decision to remove Cosmopolitan magazine from its stores. As the father of young sons, I applaud organizations that take into consideration how the products they offer can either positively or negatively impact young minds and hearts. Way to go, Walmart. I encourage you to continue to evaluate how what you display impacts young lives—and I encourage other organizations to follow your healthy lead.

Doug Weiss, author, speaker and executive director of Heart to Heart Counseling Center

Concerning addiction, having women half naked in any store isn’t healthy for teenagers or men to see women as objects.

The culture’s in a moral revival. And finally reevaluating inappropriate images is a signal of more to come, i.e. the #MeToo movement.

Thank God that people are using their rights in this country to morally reform in a polite manner. We don’t have to put guns in the street to get our points across. I think I would like to encourage everyone to go to Walmarts for the next month, buy their groceries there, and let their profits go up to show we support someone who is willing to take a moral position in an immoral culture.

Victoria Hearst, granddaughter of Hearst corporation founder William Randolph Hearst

Thank you, Walmart Corporation, as a company that honors family values, for moving Cosmopolitan Magazine from the cashier racks in your stores to the magazine section.

Thank you, Walmart Corporation, for caring about the welfare of your customers’ children by no longer allowing kids in your checkout lines to stand face-to-face with the barely dressed women and sexually explicit article titles on Cosmopolitan Magazine’s covers.

Autumn Miles, Christian speaker, radio show host and author of Appointed: Your Future Starts Now and the upcoming I am Rahab: Touched by God, Fully Restored.

I am grateful to Walmart for taking a stand against the sexualized views of women presented in Cosmopolitan. In a day where we as a society are becoming more aware of mistreatment of women, there is no place for a publication like Cosmo. I pray this move will be emulated by other retailers, and that the Church will lead the way in supporting empowering, Christ-like views of women in our culture.

Stay tuned for updates throughout the day.