Seventeen Magazine Partners With NEDA

Seventeen magazine – August 2012

“We
vow to … never change girls’ body or face shapes. (Never have, never
will),” Says Seventeen magazine. This is in regards to the “Body
Peace Treaty” that is featured in the August 2012 edition.

This
treaty was created after a push led by a Maine 14-year-old to combat the
practice of altering pictures and picking models whose appearance give teens an
unrealistic perspective on what is attractive and trigger eating disorders.

The
treaty and accompanying note by editor-in-chief Ann Shoket promise that
Seventeen will “celebrate every kind of beauty” and feature
“real girls and models who are healthy,” while vouching that the
magazine always has done just that.

However,
more than 84,000 people who signed a Change.org petition, started by teenager
Julia Bluhm, clearly believed Seventeen and other publications didn’t always
present the full, human truth in their magazine images.

The
petition said, “Those ‘pretty women’ that we see in magazines are fake.”
The petition went on to request one unaltered, real , photo spread per
month.” “They’re often Photo shopped, 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.”

In
addition to going public in its commitment, Seventeen states in its latest
edition it is partnering with the National Eating Disorders Association and the
Commission for Positive Images of Women and Girls.