Although she believes that girls need their own cultural icons, Brumberg is worried that celebrities inevitably reinforce the notion that appearance is the only source of female power. American Girl, Teen Beat and Tiger Beat have the younger age bracket sewn up. The median age of a Tiger Beat reader is 13, but girls as young as eight are snatching up the magazine. It just goes back to girls' growing up faster. When they begin to get interested in boys, they graduate to other magazines.
Graduation holds an abundance of possibilities.
For its part, Jump has focused on athletics and life-style. Athletics is a positive development in a commercial atmosphere full of repackaged notions. Today a record 2.5 million girls compete on high school teams, compared with 300,000 in the early 1970s. Girls who don't eat literally almost faint, and you need energy for swimming. Companies like Nike are promoting a sports-activist attitude.