Publishing group DPG Media is axing ground-breaking young women’s magazine VIVA after almost half a century because sales have fallen sharply.

The final issue will be on the shelves on July 20 and its associated titles VIVAMama, VIVA.nl and VIVA Forum will also disappear.

VIVA started life in 1972 and became known for tackling feminist issues, like the glass ceiling and body image as well as running tests on sex toys. It famously featured a section called Anybody where ordinary women stripped off to challenge perceptions about female beauty.

‘That discussion is now being conducted by young women in a different way and the number of subscriptions has been falling dramatically in the last few years. We are left with no other choice than to stop,’ magazines director Joyce Nieuwenhuijs told the Telegraaf.

Visitors to the magazine’s online forum said they were disappointed at the news. ‘I have come here half my life,’ one woman said. Another said she had learned a lot by talking to others on the forum and met many of her best friends.

Editor Debby Gerritsen said the forum had been ‘a meeting place where all sorts of topics could be discussed and where relationships have bloomed’.

DPG Media will keep Margriet, a title aimed at women over 50 which has been in circulation since 1938, Flair for younger women and Tina for girls.