Every check-out line is ridden with an assortment of candy, gum, tabloids and magazines, and chances are, a number of those magazines are littered with ways for women to satisfy their partner in bed. This isn’t the local porn store – welcome to any grocery supermarket or drug store across America. The latest issue of Cosmopolitan, which also comes in British and Spanish editions so no female is left out on these amazing secrets, boasts a session on how to “blow his mind,” in addition to “turn-on tricks” and “three seductive new looks” to accompany the material.

And although Glamour’s February edition addresses “why getting too thin is bad for your looks” and “the depression only women suffer from,” their cover also includes “guys tell what’s sexy (and not sexy) in bed.”

And these titles aren’t conveniently in time for Valentine’s Day. Every month, a handful of women’s magazines employ these re-hashed sex tips complete with another anorexia-ridden model exploiting her cleavage for the sole purpose of pleasing someone else.

By doing so, the women’s magazine industry is telling women and men alike that a woman’s sole purpose is to sexually please her partner.

Perhaps if the industry were to focus on how people should learn to appreciate themselves before attempting to please others first, we would have a more content society. If the headlines suggested ways to be happy with one’s self before trying to make our partners happy, we’d probably be less co-dependent. But instead, people become exposed to this concept of the need to rely on others for happiness as soon as their eyes can peer over the check-out counter.

Due to the sexual models and equally suggestive headlines, some grocery chains have decided to cover selected magazines, chosen on an individual basis, with a plastic shield to prevent small children from viewing the material.

Last month, one Publix supermarket implemented the shields after one mother complained her 6-year-old had read the headlines aloud. However, there is no policy or uniformity regarding what is and is not covered.

The principle problem lies with those who are old enough to read the information, yet young enough to absorb it and learn that it should be a priority over their own needs and well-being. This individual believes this is reality, becoming addicted to further ways to please her boyfriend or husband. This type is the same impressionable person who thinks she needs to be toothpick-thin and look identical to the cover models in order to attract anyone.Besides, no one displays magazines instructing men how to pleasure a woman at check-out counters. But sex sells, and although this is not always a bad concept, there are certain places for certain material to be discussed. The concept of satisfying someone is not a foul notion.

If people are interested in how to please their partner, there are a number of easily accessible books in almost any bookstore explaining the same information. What makes the idea crude is the magazine industry pushing it onto women’s minds that sexually fulfilling their significant other is the primary notion they should be thinking about.

Or at least take the magazines out of blatant view for everyone to see. Don’t drill the submissive female model into anyone else’s head.

And isn’t reading about Bat boy’s five-headed triplets a much more entertaining read?

• Lindsay Foster is The Oracle features editor.oraclefeatures@yahoo.com