After about three months of some fantastic activism spearheaded by 14-year-old Julia Bluhm, a SPARKteam member, and a huge response from body image activists worldwide asking Seventeen Magazine to Keep it Real by quitting the excessive Photoshopping it (and every other magazine) is guilty of, it’s looking like a WIN for a more beautiful reality! People are blowing up the Web about Seventeen editor Ann Shoket’s new statement in the magazine, which we’ll let you read for yourself here:
Image from Upworthy.com
Though we’re admittedly a little weirded out that she claims Seventeen has never been guilty of altering a girl/woman’s face or body in the magazine (which is grade-A baloney), we’re pumped that she and the magazine are taking a more public stance on their renewed commitment to showing us reality — which we believe is WAY more beautiful anyway. See for yourself here!
BUT there’s another more sinister part of this statement that we need to hold Seventeen accountable for. She says, “We want every girl to stop obsessing about what her body looks like and start appreciating it for what it can do!” And we fully agree. But now it’s time for them to back up that claim.
Seventeen, while you’re foregoing extreme Photoshopping, how about you show us some covers and articles that don’t “obsess about what our bodies look like and appreciate them for what they can do!” ”Get your Best Bikini Body,” “Look Amazing,” “Look Pretty,” and ”Look Pretty for Summer” just aren’t cutting it.
We are capable of SO much more than being looked at. It would be great if hugely popular media outlets like Seventeen would help us believe it by showing girls as more than parts to be looked at and “fixed” – rather than just telling us to believe it in an editor’s letter. Whether or not they walk the walk instead of just talking the talk, you can start that positive body image journey for yourself with these stategies.
