Being a 14-year-old girl can be awkward. Trust me, I was a pre-teen who flipped through the pages of Seventeen Magazine and felt strange in my own skin as I saw photo after photo of seemingly perfect models.
I would imagine that it's even harder to be a teenager now in the digital age, when the majority of photographs in today's magazines are Photoshopped. Models are digitally enhanced to be skinnier, their lips made to be a deeper red, their teeth a piercing white, and their skin blemish free with the simple tap of a button. It's enough to make a young girl feel just plain ugly.
Julia Bluhm, a 14-year-old from Waterville, Maine, grew tired of watching the girls in her ballet class compare themselves to the unrealistic, retouched photos in magazines. She decided to take a stand against it.
She launched a petition at change.org, demanding that the editors of Seventeen Magazine publish one untouched photo spread an issue and show behind the scenes of photo sessions so that teenage girls could see the reality of what takes place in the studio. From Bluhm's petition letter,
I want to see regular girls that look like me in a magazine that’s supposed to be for me. For the sake of all the struggling girls all over America, who read Seventeen and think these fake images are what they should be, I’m stepping up. I know how hurtful these photoshopped images can be. I’m a teenage girl, and I don’t like what I see. None of us do.
In the end, Bluhm stood in solidarity with fellow protestors and hand delivered 84,000 signatures to the magazine's headquarters. Ann Shoket, the magazine’s editor-in-chief, listened and wrote in the editor’s letter in the July 2012 issue that the magazine had written a Body Peace Treaty. Shoket wrote,
Recently I've heard from some girls who were concerned that we'd strayed from [our] promise to show real girls as they really are. [...] And while we work hard behind the scenes to make sure we're being authentic, your notes made me realize that it was time for us to be more public about our commitment. So we created a Body Peace Treaty for the magazine staff -- a list of vows on how we run things here so we always made you feel amazing!
It was a huge victory for teenage girls everywhere as Seventeen vowed to never change girls' bodies or face shapes, always to feature real girls and models who are healthy, and be totally upfront about what goes into their photo shoots by showing behind the scenes on Tumblr.
Now, Bluhm's crusade and SPARK Summet are charging toward Teen Vogue with another petition, asking them to follow Seventeen’s example and pledge not to alter any model’s body or face and to celebrate beauty in all its forms.
Do you think that magazines need to stop retouching photos of models? Parents of daughters, do you worry that photos in fashion and lifestyle magazines can distort a girl's self-image? Please share your thoughts and experiences in the comments.
Dave Ballard
6:57 am on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
I have one (or more) young, beautiful daughter(s). She is active, an athlete and a performer. She is smart, she is ridiculously witty, and can hang with nearly anyone in her chosen activities.
That said, she is not a size three. (She is not a size 23 either, she's not even a 13.) She has hips. She has curves. She weighs more than she thinks she needs to, and finds fault with herself, even though there is absolutely nothing wrong with her shape or size. I can only guess that it's because she's been told by people she knows (friends, teachers, instructors, whatever) that she could always "stand to lose a few pounds," for whatever insane reason. Fashion magazines and movie/TV images don't help; they simply perpetuate the idea that this tiny fraction of normal represented by actors and actresses is actually the standard.
I'd have less of a problem with magazines, etc., but when children's role models, instructors and even physicians are repeating the message -- "Be thin (but big-chested!), or be ugly!" -- and every image on the movie/TV/computer screen is reinforcing it, it sometimes feels like even trying to deliver a bit of perspective is a losing battle.
Rebecca McCarthy
8:24 am on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Dave, the best advice I got from my best friend when my twin girls were born: get the TV out of your house. So, we did. It's like removing a critical cranky relative from the house: no one is constantly telling my daughters they aren't good enough. Your daughter sounds amazing. I hope her accomplishments help her weather whatever derisive messages she's getting.
Dave Ballard
9:20 am on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
I think she (they?) will. I just hope that people will take the time to recognize the powerful (often negative) influence of popular culture, not just on young people, but on the people who teach them who they are, and who they can or should be. Turning the cable TV off is probably a great start.
Thanks for the good thought, Rebecca, I do appreciate it.
Leigh Hewett
4:37 pm on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
You're so right on about this. Society is no help. Even if the magazines change, it will have to be an effort from all of us to combat those messages that make girls feel insecure.
Erin Lashley
9:34 am on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
The marketing to the low self-esteem of girls and women is insidious. You watch TV or read a magazine and it's diet product ad, beauty product ad, ad for delicious food, then another diet ad. But it isn't going to stop anytime soon. The models in the magazines, and the altering of them, are just extensions of the products being advertised. Better for me to tell my kid that advertisers will say anything to get you to buy their product. And then tell him again. Also, people need to open their eyes and look around them to see that nobody actually looks like the people in the magazines or on TV. The ad people are using this technology to improve images simply because they can, but people will get tired of looking at it the same way people are tired of looking at CGI in movies, and the pendulum will swing back to natural.
Leigh Hewett
4:39 pm on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
I hope so. It would be great to see the pendulum even swing to not immaciated.
Jesse
10:37 am on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Wow! This is a great story. I'm impressed that a 14 year old pulled that whole thing off. How amazing and inspiring. If a teenager can make a difference then I can certainly work harder to do my part. I think it's crucial that we talk to our children about the unrealistic world presented by the media. Hopefully, this move by Seventeen will be the catalyst for other magazines to follow.
Leigh Hewett
4:41 pm on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
One way we can help out is to sign the latest petition asking Teen Vogue to take the same pledge that Seventeen did. Here is the link to the petition.
http://www.change.org/petitions/teen-vogue-give-us-images-of-real-girls
Stephanie Gross
10:53 am on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
I hadn't heard of this story. Thanks, Leigh, for bringing it to our attention. It's great to see that this teen took action and made a difference.
Leigh Hewett
4:42 pm on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
I was really excited to share this story. I really hope that it's a step in the right direction.
Shaye
4:07 pm on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Sadly, many young women these days almost DO look like these images. They've starved and tanned their bodies, dyed their hair and spent tons of money on make up to be almost carbon copies of the models and actresses they see every day. One of my FB friends said not long ago that she would never allow her daughter to consume fashion magazines. I said "good luck!" because that's exactly what I said when my daughter was younger. That's not possible to control once your teenager has her own money and access. While I believe, yes, advertisers are the main culprits, I also believe, sadly, that our culture has a penchant for portraying women as important to society exclusively for the sexual pleasure of men. In a recent movie, "Rock of Ages," Mary J. Blige's character, the owner of the strip club where Sherrie, the female protagonist, eventually begins working, gives her this advice after she is repeatedly harassed as a waitress: "Girl, you wanna get respect? Get up on that stage!" How awesome is that? You want to be respected in this society as a young woman? You better make sure you look and act like you're available for sex 24/7 and not just any sex, the super hot porn/stripper kind, so make sure you get to your pole dancing class every week!
Leigh Hewett
4:42 pm on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
You just gave me a heart attack.
Linda Labbo
7:02 pm on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
I've seen documentaries that show how "average" most models look BEFORE they schlep into a photo session. After a team of beauty experts work on them for several hours, they all look totally amazing for the AFTER pix. Wouldn't it be terrific if at least once in a while those glam magazines actually did a before/after so young women could get a better understanding of the process? I also recently heard an ex supermodel talking aout how awkward she was as a teen.. and how she suffered from low self-esteem. She was really tall and at 14 towered over all of her friends and the boys in her class. Her mom stood in front of a mirror with her and wouldn't let her leave until she found at least one thing she could be happy about.. with her body. They continued to do this ritual and she slowly began getting a clearer picture of "herself"... not in comparison with supermodels.. just her. There's a nice lesson to be learned from that exercise! Moms take note.
Scarlet Buckley
9:41 pm on Wednesday, July 11, 2012
Yes! I am most definitely concerned with the images that girls are seeing all of the time. And it starts way too young with all the t.v. shows that are marketed towards the seven and eight year old girls. I love the advice to get rid of the t.v. I am very inspired by Bluhm, and am happy to see that Seventeen listened.
Md Aks
3:52 am on Saturday, July 14, 2012
Wow!! it is a definitely excellent article. you will be glad to know that in the meantime i have read your whole article attentively. it's a definitely important as well as informative. tv shows is too favorite. a lot of thanks for your excellent article.
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Susan
10:31 am on Wednesday, October 24, 2012
So why is it that men seem to be so totally captivated by J-Lo's big behind?