Sorted's golden Olympic dream

As deputy editor of Sorted magazine, I have the privilege of reading every article and piece of text before it hits the pages. 

I also get to see it laid out using all the fancy techniques the design team has at its fingertips. Seeing as I’m not really the artistic type, I’m always impressed when the dry text turns into such eye-catching spreads.

So when I got my first glimpse of the printed Olympic edition a few weeks back I shouldn’t have been surprised at its quality; but I have to say that I was.



I may be a little biased, but I genuinely think it is our best issue yet. It’s packed with stunning images and layouts, but also offers something wholesome and informative that just doesn’t seem to be available from other men’s magazines.

But while it makes for a great read, there’s an even more important reason for it to be such a special edition. Sorted has an Olympic dream to distribute 250,000 copies of its special London Games edition across the capital as a fantastic evangelistic opportunity.

“Our goal is to provide a world-class giveaway and flood London with free copies of our special Olympic edition of Sorted,” said the magazine’s publisher and editor, Steve Legg.

“Our dream is to distribute quarter of a million copies through our innovative network of free distribution points: tube and rail stations, Eurostar carriages, Olympic campsites and tourist locations, including open-topped red buses. Plus free copies in the Athlete's Villages during the 2012 Games.

“The reality is, at this moment in time, we can only do 30,000, but we are believing and praying for support and financial provision to reach our original goal.”

This is the biggest edition ever of the magazine, featuring more than 100 pages and including exclusive interviews with Steve Redgrave, Jessica Ennis, Phillips Iduwo, Rebecca Adlington, Tom Daley and Victoria Pendleton.

Steve believes this edition of Sorted will really complement outreach events taking place this summer: “The London Games is a once in a generation opportunity and is too good to miss. Churches have opportunities to get involved with the national Torch Run, plus showing the Games on big screens at their own premises.

“Sorted is such a high-quality yet non-threatening giveaway that we are making available at super reasonable price (from just £1.25 a copy). Giving a magazine away is the easiest form of evangelism going, yet could have profound results.”

TV adventurer Bear Grylls, who is a regular contributor to the magazine, said: “This is the best Sorted issue ever. It embraces the courage of Olympians and the sort of faith that can help you run like the wind.”

To order your copies of Sorted or to donate to this Olympic outreach opportunity, visit the Sorted website today.

Boobs and banter, or dangerous drivel?

As a girl, I find it hard to avoid making eye-to-boob contact when I see lads’ mags in the local newsagent’s, so I can only imagine what it must be like for a hormonal male. You might think me prudish, but I don’t think the likes of Nuts, Loaded, Zoo and FHM should be placed within arm’s reach of our kids.

And it seems I’m not the only one. In February, a number of supermarket chains and petrol stations agreed to place lads’ mags on the top shelf and some even introduced modesty covers.

But it seems children aren’t the only people at risk from their content. What impact are these ‘soft-porn’ magazines having on their target audience (teenage boys and men)? And how do they affect men’s attitudes towards women, sexual abuse and domestic violence?

This may sound a little far-fetched, but a new study from psychologists at Middlesex University and the University of Surrey suggest lads’ mags could be legitimising and propagating hostile, sexist attitudes.

Psychologists presented men aged 18-46 with a range of statements, some taken from magazines and some from convicted rapists. The sources were only disclosed in certain cases.

When presented with descriptions of women taken from lads’ mags, and comments about women made by convicted rapists, most who took part in the study could not distinguish the source of the quotes.

Most men who took part identified themselves more with the language expressed by the convicted rapists. When told which quotes were from lads’ mag, they identified more with these, despite the fact some were actually taken from rapists. 

In a separate study, the researchers found that both men and women rated the quotes from lads’ mags as more derogatory than those from the rapists.

 
Dr Miranda Horvath, lead researcher at Middlesex University, said: “We were surprised that participants identified more with the rapists’ quotes, and we are concerned that the legitimisation strategies that rapists deploy when they talk about women are more familiar to these young men than we had anticipated.”

Dr Peter Hegarty, from the University of Surrey’s Psychology Department, added: “We are not killjoys or prudes who think that there should be no sexual information and media for young people. But are teenage boys and young men best prepared for fulfilling love and sex when they normalise views about women that are disturbingly close to those mirrored in the language of sexual offenders?”

Experts are calling for magazine editors to moderate the content of their magazines more effectively. Anna van Heeswijk, campaigns manager for human rights campaign group OBJECT, said: "This crucial and chilling piece of research lays bare the hateful messages which seep out of lads' mags and indoctrinate young men's attitudes towards women and girls.

“When the content of magazines aimed at teenage boys mirrors the attitudes of convicted rapists, alarm bells must ring.

“If we are serious about wanting an end to discrimination and violence against women and girls, we must tackle the associated attitudes and behaviours. This means tackling the publications which peddle them.”

What do you think? Are lads’ mags just a bit of cheeky fun? Or could they be doing real harm? Do you or someone close to you buy them?

You’ll have to excuse the shameless plug, but if you’re looking for a wholesome men’s magazine that is packed full of interesting interviews, reviews, sports news and practical lifestyle tips, why not give Sorted a try?

(Lads’ mag quotes were taken from FHM, Loaded, Nuts and Zoo. Rapist quotes were taken from verbatim interview transcripts in The Rapist Files: Interviews With Convicted Rapists (Sussman & Bordwell).)