It looks like the teenage girls of the world finally want to see some real girls in their magazine.
It all started when 14-year-old Julia Bluhm petitioned Seventeen magazine to stop Photoshopping their models back in April. While Seventeen magazine maintains they don’t use the digital tool to alter faces or body shapes, Editor-in-Chief Ann Shoket published a “Body Peace Treaty” in their August issue. While Seventeen will still use Photoshop to get rid of wrinkles on clothing, misplaced bra straps and the odd zit, the magazine promises to be more transparent and publish the before and after shots on their tumblr page.
Now, the attention has turned to Teen Vogue. Sixteen-year-old Carina Cruz and 17-year-old Emily Stydahar have started an online petition to make Teen Vogue print a similar promise in their pages. The younger sister of the magazine bible says they, too, don’t retouch photos. While that’s all fine and dandy, the girls want the magazine editors acknowledge their practices in the magazine for all their readers to see.
The online petition has just 28,000 online signatures. Cruz and Stydahar also hope to stage a mock runway today outside of Teen Vogue’s offices with “models” holding hand-written messages on dry erase boards.
While asking for a no-Photoshop policy is unrealistic, asking for transparency isn’t. Here’s to hoping the magazine’s high powered editors take notice. This is 21st century Girl Power at its finest.
Here’s some Beyoncé to get you in the Girl Power mood:
