Teen mag websites invite girls to 'rate' each other's bodies

A website that asks viewers to rate a woman's body would hardly be a new phenomenon in the voyeuristic world of the lads' magazine market. But what if the girls being rated were as young as 10? Or that the people judging them were not leering pubescent boys but their peers; other young girls?

That is the startling reality of modern girl's magazines as they go online. Titles such as Mizz and Bliss are taking their website cues from an unlikely source: the "lads' mag". A report has investigated this relationship, particularly citing one magazine website that encouraged girls to upload photos of themselves so 10 of their body parts could be subject to scrutiny and online rating.

The investigation was launched at a conference yesterday called "Am I Bovvered? What are teenage girls really thinking?" The event, hosted by Cherie Blair, was designed to analyse the effect of the media on the lives of teenagers.

Men's magazines such as FHM, Nuts and Zoo often encourage readers to rate and send in images of readers' girlfriends, and the internet has only made that more widespread. FHM's "High Street Honeys" campaign has been running for years, publishing photographs of semi-naked women sent in by "friends" or boyfriends in the hope of becoming the influential magazine's next cover girl.

The campaign has recently come under scrutiny after the Press Complaints Commission discovered they had published a photograph of a 14-year-old girl without her consent.

But now, according to the report's author, Fiona Bawdon, magazine websites targeted at young girls, many of whom have barely left primary school, are encouraging similar alarming habits of body scrutiny.

The website of popular magazine Bliss is an example of that increasing tendency towards competitive voyeurism. One hot pink banner reads "Rate my Style: Fierce or Frump?", while another asks girls to upload pictures of themselves for airbrushing, saying "Look gorgeous in all your pics!". But the most contentious feature is "How Sexy Am I?", which urges girls to rate each other's so-called "pull-ability".

Ms Bawdon compared this feature with Nuts "Assess My Breasts"', where women send in topless photos of themselves to be rated. She said the practice of rating body parts was encouraging girls into a dangerously unhealthy self-image. She asked: "Should a teen magazine really be encouraging young girls to be thinking in terms of 'hating' their still developing bodies?"

Bliss, who were unavailable for comment yesterday, may have realised the controversial nature of some features: the link to "How Sexy am I?" was no longer working yesterday.

Marcelle D'Argy Smith, former editor of Cosmopolitan said it was indicative of how difficult it has become for young women to think about anything but the way they look. "I'm aghast," she said. "Boys have always rated women but it's utterly mainstream now, as if nothing else counts but your body. The moment you become aware of boys you want to please them. But whereas before you used to maybe buy a new frock, now girls think about nothing but their bodies."

One study showed how the media made them feel under pressure to be thin. In a survey of 3,000 16-25 year-old women, more than half said the media made them feel "being pretty and thin" was the most important thing. And 95 per cent said the most influential role models were the super-thin Victoria Beckham and Kate Moss.