Disgusted

I have just finished reading an article in the Good Weekend. I am disgusted.

Following is some extracts from the article titled: “Tips for a top formal”

“I know what’s good for you, so below is my guide to your school formal with very important tips on fashion, boys, beauty, being a slut, drinking, sex, formal behaviour and so much more.”

PRE-FORMAL ISSUES
“It’s really important (especially for the less-hot girls) to get a hot date as SOON as possible. […] Don’t be embarrassed to ask too early. But choose carefully, ‘cause some guys change heaps and can get seriously fugly in their late teens.”
“This might sound weird but it’s really cool to take, like, a disadvantaged person to your formal. If you go with a hot disabled guy or a hot black guy you will totally get heaps of attention and it’ll make you look really caring. When I say disabled I don’t mean like Down syndrome or something, I mean like a hot guy in a wheelchair.”

DOES EVERYONE GO?
“If you’re a nerd, a goth, a fat chick, an Asian (excluding hot Asians) or a lesbian, you’re basically not welcome.”

DRESS
“Whatever you choose, it’s important to look elegant, feminine and a little bit like a slut. […] It’s also a good idea to keep an eye on what your friends are planning to wear. You don’t want them to look hotter than you. Advise them to wear a really fugly colour and lie about how good it looks on them.”
“Wear a ribbon for a charity. Fold a random piece of ribbon and pin it to your dress. It makes you look really compassionate and caring. If you don’t know of any causes, just make one up. Hurricane Katrina is still really cool, so say it’s for that.”

THE BIG NIGHT
“Okay, you have to get smashed at the pre-formal party. There is no alcohol at the formal, remember, so you have to be drunk enough to last until the after-party.”
[it then gives information on what to drink in order to get drunk quickly and how to smuggle alcohol into the formal]

FORMAL ENDS
“This is point in the night where you ditch the guy you came with. He has usually served his purpose by now and you will not get any hotter guys cracking onto you if he’s hanging around. […] If he’s the wheelchair guy you can really easily lose him in a crowd. Another good reason to go with him.”
-Good Weekend (Sydney Morning Herald Publication) 12th Nov 2005 page 33-34

Is this really what we are feeding our teenagers? I know that this magazine’s demographic pitch is 20-30’s. But still.
Is this the type of morality that we want to promote to our teenagers? I know that this article is meant as a bit of a laugh and a joke (well at least I hope that it is), but these views must really be out there for it to be written at all.

Am I overreacting?