Is ‘Seventeen’ Strong Enough To Stop Photshopping?

A teen girl who collected over 30,000 signature on an anti-photoshop petition has been somewhat succesful.

Julia Bluhm, who is just 14-years-old, wants Seventeen Magazine to stop selling fake images and bad self-esteem to girls.

• Girls want to be accepted, appreciated and liked. And when they don’t fit the criteria, some girls try to “fix” themselves. This can lead to eating disorders, dieting, depression, and low self-esteem…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.

Since submitting this petition Bluhm has had a meeting with the Editor-in-chief of Seventeen and they have promised to work with her on the issue. Seventeen also said that ” Julia left understanding that Seventeen celebrates girls for being their authentic selves, and that’s how we present them.”

It’s great that they are working with her on this issue, but the fact that their message still seems to be that they publish “authentic” images is not very encouraging at all!

They may be real girls, and some may be slightly more “average” that what other magazines show, but that doesn’t excuse the fact that these girls are airbrushed and made to look smoother, thinner, and more perfect that what girls look like in real life.

Bluhm’s main goal was to get Seventeen to publish one real photo spread per month, with no airbrushing whatsoever.

While I applaud her activism and drive, and I hope something comes of these meetings, I worry that it’s all just lip service and our girls will continue to be airbrushed and encouraged to have low self-esteem and body issues.

If you want to sign the petition it is still online and is up to over 42,000 signatures now.

You can also check out the activist group Bluhm belongs to, SPARK (Sexualization Protest Action Resistance Knowledge).

Contact the author here: mack@morningquickie.com