Scripts of sexual desire and danger in U.S. and Dutch female teen magazines: a cross-cultural content-analytic comparison

This content analysis investigated the coverage of sexual desire (i.e., sexual wanting, and pleasure) and danger (i.e., sexual risk, and negative physical/health consequences of sex) in teen girl magazines. We examined how the coverage (a) varies for girls and boys, (b) differs between the United States and Netherlands, and (c) how gender differences vary by each country. Drawing on feature stories from the 2006, 2007, and 2008 issues of US teen girl magazines Seventeen, CosmoGirl!, and Teen, and the Dutch teen girl magazines Fancy, CosmoGirl! NL, and Girlz!, we found gender differences for sexual wanting, sexual risks, and the negative physical/health consequences of sex; and country differences for all four indicators. Moreover, significant interaction effects between gender and country occurred, with boys in the US magazines being depicted as having more sexual wants than any other group, and girls in the US coverage depicted as experiencing the most sexual risks.