Teen titles to abide by new sex code

Teenage girls’ magazines will have to point out the legality of different sex acts under guidelines agreed with the Home Office and Conservative MP Peter Luff.

As well as reminding readers about the age of consent, magazines will also emphasise safe sex in all of their advice and articles, write only about the sexual activity relevant to their own readers’ specific age groups and encourage teenagers to talk to their parents or other adults before starting sexual relationships.

Luff has now agreed to drop his private members’ bill which called for age ranges to be printed on the cover of teen magazines. Concern about teen magazines was prompted by an advice page in the Attic Futura magazine TV Hits.

Compliance with the guidelines will be overseen by a panel – the Teenage Magazine Arbitration Panel – which will be composed of three experts on sex education and three publishers. The committee will be appointed within the next month.

“Luff has recognised the important role magazines play in the choices teenagers make about sex,” says Louise Matthews, executive publishing director of EMAP Elan. “The guidelines will help us monitor the appropriateness of magazines for certain age groups.”