Teen magazine with nude pics? Yes, in Germany

Sandra, 16, looks coyly up from the magazine, wearing a black choker and nothing else. Boyfriend Elias, 18, grins from the opposite page, also pictured fully in his natural state. "Tell me, why do you love each other?" reads the headline. And the young couple tells why - and, explicitly, how. Sell this in America, and risk a long sentence for child pornography. But this is nothing illicit. It's Bravo, the most popular teenage magazine in Germany and one of the most widely read general-interest youth publications in Europe. Target reader age: 10 and older.

Sandra's parents gave permission for her to pose nude. [...] Bravo's editors say the full-frontal pictures are intended not to be lewd, but to be instructive and reassuring to teenagers just learning about the birds and the bees. This is the work of "Dr. Sommer," a pseudonymous column in Bravo that has become an institution, guiding generations of German teenagers through the everyday angst of young life, love, piercings, broken friendships and yes, sex.

Nudity is common on European newsstands. But in a teenage magazine? "We take this very seriously," said Bravo's deputy editor-in-chief, Alex Gernandt. "It is not pornography. It deals with naked people, but in a very sensitive way. We try to portray young people to tell readers, 'You are not too fat, not too thin. You are OK the way you are.'"

source: Article 'Teen magazine with nude pics? Yes, in Germany' By Elisa Ung; seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/artsentertainment/2003256360_teenmag13.html; The Seattle Times; 13 September 2006