So, I recently wrote a letter to Seventeen Magazine for my Psychology of Women class, and this is what I said….
Dear Seventeen Magazine,
You are serving as a guide to young women who are at the most vulnerable and insecure age of their lives. At a time when most girls believe that they are awkward and ugly, they need to hear over and over again that they are perfectly fine just the way they are. Instead, you choose to tell them how they can appear more graceful and beautiful, which furthers their anxiety when they cannot reach the standards that you’ve set for them. Why do all of your cover girls always have an unnecessary amount of make-up on? Why is their hair always done up perfectly, and why do they always seem to be in expensive designer clothes? What is so wrong about a woman being make-up less and wearing a t-shirt, jeans, and her hair in a bun? You are a magazine directed at teenage girls, and yet the message that you are sending with your models, beauty guides, and fashion spreads is that girls aren’t good enough in their natural form. The girls you reach have all the potential in the world. They should be focusing on living full, enriched lives filled with hard work, discovery, wonder, and joy. Instead of encouraging them in this, you tell them that their main focus should be looking and acting in such a way that they achieve the approval of others, especially men. It makes me sad that you have such an influential role in so many girls’ lives, and yet you waste that role on teaching them how best to conform to society’s unfair expectations of them.
Tagged as: Seventeen magazine. feminism. I tried not to sound like a crazy angry feminist. Even though Seventeen Magazine does make me mad sometimes. promoting the social well-being of women.
-
yourstruly-candy liked this
-
brunettebaby18 liked this
-
thefeistyfemale liked this
-
salvagedbeauty reblogged this from treeshugme
-
andyqueersack liked this
-
treeshugme posted this
