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December 7, 2001
Escape from the teen mags
They trade in illusion, making girls think they aren't as beuatiful as they could be. Let's pick our own standards.
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Illustration by Chiara Bautista / Staff
It's all about image
In the November issues of Teen and Seventeen magazines, the majority of articles and advertisements are devoted to image. About 30 percent of the articles in Seventeen concern image. In Teen, it's 67 percent. The ads in both magazines deal with image in one way or another, whether it concerns makeup, clothing or toiletries. Articles sport headlines like "TV's Best Butts," "Would You Get Voted Off Style Island?" and "Look Your Best: All You Need to Transform Your Style From OK to Oh-Wow."
Relationship issues are another main topic. It isn't covered in depth within the magazines, but boys and relationships are clearly addressed on the cover, with headlines from Seventeen like "Does Sex Hurt the First Time?" and "Is He Into You?"
Articles about "crazy, cool internships" and in-depth interviews sporadically surface. However, the majority are about one thing: image.
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By Jill Peddicord
During their impressionable pubescent years, many young girls have harbored secret longings to be just like the women plastered on magazine covers and television screens. Indeed, I was no exception, for I longed to impress people with a set of pearly whites, big breasts and long legs. And I never gave these assets much of any thought until I reached the age where playing "house" just wasn't cool anymore, but music and boys were. That is where I fell victim to such culprits as Teen, Seventeen and YM magazines.
Their glossy covers have gorgeous models and such catchy headlines as the "Get-A-Guy Guide," "500 Dudes Spill How to Get Their Attention Now" and the ever-present "Sexy Beauty Secrets for Perfect Hair and Makeup." Not many young girls would let such enticing offers slip.
Yet, when I look back I realize the sheer superficiality of these magazines and how I wasted a perfectly good $3 each month.
They disillusion young girls into thinking they aren't as beautiful as they could be or that their personality isn't what it should be. It gets frustrating when no matter how hard you try to mold yourself into a perfect statuette, the teen magazines say that you should be something more, whether it's thinner or more beautiful. Magazines and TV don't share all of the blame for some girls' low self-esteem and such disorders as bulimia and anorexia, but the images they display surely don't help the average girl feel great about herself.
Although pictures of models sporting clothing over a size 10 and articles like "Love Yourself and Your Body" occasionally surface on the teen circuit, there is an underlying message bombarding young girls: If you look and act this way, only then are you really cool.
While the appeal of teen magazines remains strong for many girls, it faded for me. The experiences and lessons that have enriched my life did not come from delving into the depths of Seventeen for answers. Only after rising from beneath the muck of magazines was I able to determine my own standards. And those standards don't include the rigamarole of how to get a guy's attention or beauty guides.
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