Eighth Grader Gets Seventeen To Stop Photoshopping The Girls In Its Magazine

[kpete]

Eighth Grader Gets Seventeen To Stop Photoshopping The Girls In Its Magazine
By Annie-Rose Strasser on Jul 3, 2012 at 2:13 pm

Eighth grader Julia Bluhm was tired of hearing her friends in ballet class complain about being fat, and knew that they were basing their self-conscious opinions on altered magazine images of themselves. So she started a petition asking Seventeen magazine to stop photoshopping the women in their pages. Julia asked for one unaltered image of a “regular girl” in every issue.

“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,” Julia wrote. “I know how hurtful these photoshopped images can be. I’m a teenage girl, and I don’t like what I see. None of us do.”

Today, with the petition at more than 81,000 signatures, Seventeen responded — and went even further than what Julia had requested. The magazine committed to Julia and organizers at SPARK a Movement to represent a range of women of all shapes and sizes in its magazine — every month, every model — without any photoshopping of their bodies (they will still be using photoshop to take wrinkles out of clothes and hide flyaway hairs):

Win! After over 84,000 people signed Julia’s petition and she and her fellow SPARK Summit activists hand-delivered the petitions to the executive editor of Seventeen, the magazine has made a commitment to not alter the body size or face shape of the girls and models in the magazine and to feature a diverse range of beauty in its pages.

Julia’s message to all her supporters: “Seventeen listened! They’re saying they won’t use photoshop to digitally alter their models! This is a huge victory, and I’m so unbelievably happy. Another petition is being started by SPARK activists Emma and Carina, targeting Teen Vogue and I will sign it. If we can be heard by one magazine, we can do it with another. We are sparking a change!”

http://thinkprogress.org/media/2012/07/03/510564/eighth-grader-gets-seventeen-to-stop-photoshopping-the-girls-in-its-magazine/

[LynneSin]

1. Personally I think there should be truth in advertising with these photoshopped images

Just put a comment in the corner that says 'The model in this ad was photoshopped'.

That way people know what they are looking at.

[Posteritatis]

6. A few places are starting to actually do that

if I remember correctly, Israel's requiring magazines to say when they altered models.

[HopeHoops]

2. Good. My dad subscribes to "Teen Vogue" for my daughters and one of them was totally fake.

The cover looked like an anime cartoon. I had to look at it several times to determine that it was based on an actual human. It looked that fake.

[BrendaBrick]

12. There's currently a petition for Teen Vogue too!

FYI:

http://www.change.org/petitions/teen-vogue-give-us-images-of-real-girls

[FSogol]

3. Well done, Julia Bluhm.

Keep up the good work.

[TheMadMonk]

4. Obviously not the European publication with the same name. /nt

[pansypoo53219]

5. we need to attack vogue and other 'beauty' mags.

some of the photoshoping is downright ludicrous. they are eliminating anatomy.

[SoCalDem]

7. Distorted body image is a big deal..especially with girls

Most young boys can deal with the fact that they will probably grow taller and that their muscles will "arrive", but for a teen/pre-teen girl who has extra pounds "skinnified" pictures of girls in magazines is a bad idea all round.

All you have to do is to find old magazines and look at what was once normal and pretty...and compare it with the overly made up, altered bodies of rail-thin
waifs..

[redqueen]

8. K&R

[cthulu2016]

9. This will, of course, increase demand for skinnier models

Some models who were "acceptable" in the photoshop world will no longer be able to model for Seventeen.

Just noting the obvious.

[Liberal_in_LA]

11. it's a start though

[BrendaBrick]

10. The petition originated from Change.org

http://www.change.org/seventeen

Which, by the way, is the organization Molly Katchpole used against BoA to cancel plans for that $5.00 debit card fee...the same organization where South African Woman Forces Government to Fight "Corrective Rape"..the same organization where USDA Offers Schools Choice on Pink Slime and the same organization where Apple Vows to Protect Workers in Chinese Factories and the same one where Charges Were Brought Against Killer of Trayvon Martin:

http://www.change.org/victories

I'm not sure if many here are aware of the great changes that can happen when anyone can start a petition on Change.org... And what's more - they are hiring!!!

Change.org is a rapidly expanding and profitable social venture, growing by more than a million new members a month by empowering people across the globe to win social action campaigns on a wide range of issues such as human rights, global poverty, and environmental protection. Our current partners include hundreds of the world’s largest nonprofits, including Amnesty International, Sierra Club, Human Rights Campaign, and the United Nations Foundation. (bold = mine)

Link: http://www.change.org/hiring

[LadyHawkAZ]

13. NICE!

Way to go Julia!