Girls Need Better Magazines

Posted on September 20, 2016 at 8:00 am

Women You Should Know ran an article comparing the covers of Girls’ Life and Boys’ Life Magazines. The girls’ magazine touted articles like “Wake Up Pretty,” “My First Kiss,” and “Your Dream Hair!” The magazine for boys had articles about learning and adventure.

I loved the follow-up article, where graphic designer Katherine Young created a better version of the Girls’ Life Magazine cover, featuring, instead of a model, the real-life Google Science Fair Grand Prize Winner Olivia Hallisey, with article tiles like: “Girls Doing Good,” “Your Dream Career,” and “My First Miss” (about overcoming mistakes and setbacks).

I know magazine revenues come from advertisers, but surely there are some companies out there who want to sell girls technology, books, and sporting equipment, not just makeup and clothes. Our girls deserve better.

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14-Year-Old Teaches 17 Magazine About Real Girls

Posted on July 9, 2012 at 8:00 am

I used to tell my daughter that she could read fashion magazines as long as she understood that everything in them, the articles and the ads, was intended to make her feel bad about her looks and buy a lot of stuff she did not need. Now a 14-year-old girl has persuaded one of the most successful and influential magazines for teenagers to show girls as they really are, with all of the photos in the magazine showing “real girls and models who are healthy,” and promising to “celebrate every kind of beauty.” I especially like their commitment to putting pictures from their photo shoots on Tumblr so girls can see the edits and their promise not to make changes to the models’ faces or bodies.

Julia Bluhm started an online petition after girls in her ballet class were complaining that they were fat. With 25,000 signatures in just a few days, she made a compelling case and Seventeen invited Bluhm and her mother to visit them. Bluhm says she will now work on Teen Vogue. This is a wonderfully empowering development, not just because it will show girls more realistic models but because it shows girls they can make a difference on issues that concern them. Hurray for Julia Bluhm!