UK Attitude Magazine Coming Out with a Gay Teen Version
The gay lifestyle magazine Attitude has launched a spin-off aimed at teenagers, the first time a gay publication has been specifically aimed at a teen audience.
The first edition of the digital magazine aTEEN features a photoshoot with the 20-year-old diver Tom Daley, who came out as gay at the end of last year.
Charlie King, who was on the reality TV show The Only Way is Essex, appears on one version of the cover and writes a “coming out diary” in the magazine, detailing the bullying he suffered at school as well as a period of depression in his twenties.
An alternative cover features Jaymi Hensley of the boyband Union J who, along with his fiancé, appeared in an advertising campaign for the menswear chain Moss Bros earlier in the year.
The magazine also carries relationship and dating advice, information about safe sex, and other articles by young gay men.
Though currently only available in tablet form, either with the regular edition of Attitude or standalone, publishers say aTEEN could become a quarterly print magazine if the venture proves successful.
Christian Guiltenane, an assistant editor at Attitude and former editor of OK!, who was behind the launch, said he wished a magazine like aTEEN had been around when he was growing up as a gay man.
“There was nothing that appealed to a 16-year-old outside the metropolis - the established gay mags tended to be aimed at an older audience with a large income and a lifestyle far removed from my own,”he said.
Attitude celebrated its 20th anniversary in March and counts David Beckham, Daniel Radcliffe, Stephen Fry and Sir Ian McKellan as previous cover stars.
Comments