Teenage Girl Petitions Seventeen to Stop Photoshop
A change.org petition started by a 14-year-old Maine girl is attempting to persuade Seventeen magazine to limit its photoshop use—and it’s garnered nearly 15,000 signatures in less than two weeks.
Eighth-grader and ballet dancer Julia Bluhm started the petition, titled "Seventeen Magazine: Give Girls Images of Real Girls" just 12 days ago, asking simply for the glossy to print one unretouched photo spread per month.
“To girls today, the word ‘pretty’ means skinny and blemish-free,” Bluhm wrote in the petition. “Why is that, when so few girls actually fit into such a narrow category? It’s because the media tells us that ‘pretty’ girls are impossibly thin with perfect skin.
“Here’s what lots of girls don’t know. Those ‘pretty women’ that we see in magazines are fake. They’re often photoshopped, air-brushed, edited to look thinner, and to appear like they have perfect skin. A girl you see in a magazine probably looks a lot different in real life... That’s why I’m asking Seventeen Magazine to commit to printing one unaltered—real—photo spread per month. I want to see regular girls that look like me in a magazine that’s supposed to be for me.”
Bluhm’s original goal was to get 10,000 signatures on the petition—now, she’s at 14,594 (with more signatures being added by the minute). Supporters can sign the petition here.
It’s an admirable campaign for the teen, who blogs for SPARK, an organization dedicated to ending the sexualization of women and girls in the media. So far, Seventeen editor in chief Ann Shoket hasn’t commented on the petition.
