Just last month, 14-year-old Julia Bluhm was invited to Seventeen magazine’s HQ, where she met with editor-in-chief Anne Shoket and presented her petition asking the magazine to run just one non-photoshopped spread per issue. As Jezebel put it, the magazine said “thanks but no thanks” and did not appear to have any plans to listen to Bluhm’s pleas--not to mention the 25,000 others she brought along with ... Read More

Many women have a love/hate relationship with the media. We grow up with it, are practically raised by it in some cases, and come of age looking to the media for clues as to the type of people, the type of women, we should become. According to the current beauty standards, the type of woman we should aspire to be is thin, white, wealthy and able-bodied. The most pervasive of those expectations in fashion magazines, at least, is thinness--we ... Read More

Last month, 18 year-old Jamie Keiles caught the attention of several women’s Web sites when she announced her plans to embark on an unprecedented experiment into the female adolescent experience: The Seventeen Magazine Project.  For her final month of high school, Jamie would live her life strictly adhering to the tips and advice in the June/July issue of Seventeen then blog about her daily endeavors and ... Read More