Growing Up Too Fast?

As I went to pick up this month's ELLE magazine I had a little pause for thought moment while looking at the cover.  Dakota Fanning. She's 17.  I'm not all together comfortable with this.  I'm buying a woman's magazine and there is a child on it trying to look like an adult.  I've changed my mind.  I don't want it anymore.

Maybe it's because I'm getting older or because I now have children of my own but more and more I'm noticing young girls being posed as and talked about as if they were adults. 

I feel uncomfortable as to what I am supposed to be thinking. 

I'm not sure I would want my daughter looking like this or looking at this (my sons either).

Whatever message these sort of images are sending about beauty, youth & possessions I don't feel are positive or appropriate.

To the older (about 27 and up at this stage) the message seems to dish out a selections of complexes regarding age and beauty. To the young it seems to be holding out an ideal of empty values and issues they are clearly not ready to understand or handle.

Why does the media seem so anxious to make girls grow up so fast? I wouldn't say it's out of concern for their welfare and self esteem. 

So am I just being funny about this?  Has having these sort of images slipped into our magazines caused us to become indifferent?  Or do we have an unsettling feeling that we just keep to ourselves because otherwise we "don't get it"?

In any case it's not something I want to get used to or OK with.

What do you think?

-Vievie Xx