Victoria Hearst, Cosmopolitan Magazine 'Pornographic,' Says Born-Again Christian
Victoria Hearst, daughter of the Hearst Corporation founder William Randolph Hearst has slammed "Cosmopolitan," one of the magazines printed by the Hearst Corporation. Hearst, a born-again Christian, has called the magazine "pornographic" and worked with another born-again Christians to request "Cosmo" be sold only to adults.
"I don't know what I'm doing anymore," Hearst prayed many years ago. "You take the wheel. You drive. I'll go wherever You lead." That prayer led her to found Praise Him Ministries in 2001 and work to change the Hearst Corporation's influence on young women.
"About 11 years ago, I contacted Frank Bennack and the Board of the Hearst Corporation and told them that what they are publishing in 'Cosmopolitan' magazine was pornographic. I had the support of two female psychologists and counselors who attest that this content hurts young girls," she told the New York Observer.
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Now Hearst is working with a former model and fellow born-again Christian, Nicole Weider, to change the magazine's distribution. Together the two have formed an online petition requesting that "Cosmo" be marketed, and sold, only to adults and be "put in an opaque bag" in order to cover up its provocative headlines.
"I felt like the Lord was telling me I needed to talk to the company," Hearst told Off the Record. She first sent each board member a selection of articles written by two psychiatrists "one Christian and one non-Christian," in order to test the waters, but she never received a response.
"I had apparently been branded a Christian fanatic," she explained, but that is not deterring her from what she sees as the right thing to do. The petition, which so far has 33,000 signatures, will be delivered to the Hearst headquarters in New York, and a picket has been planned as well.
Hearst is also busy writing letters to the Federal Trade Commission and Senators.
"That's the only way you're going to get the Hearst Corporation to change," she explained.
