self esteem rant?

[hllx3]

                Mainly, I’m talking about Seventeen magazine. I buy it every month, for the hair, the clothes, the free stuff. I don’t like the stories of “real girls” who are nothing like me. For some reason, each tale seems to be about some girl with a pretty face. They may have a tragic story, military boyfriend or messed up family, but they’re

Comments

[pastbelief_x]

The reasons you stated are pretty much the reasons I don't read Seventeen or any other magazines along those lines - they're a bunch of superficial shit, honestly.

And I also agree that role models should be at home.

[lohikaromantisk]

I think it's because Seventeen is tailored to that very specific set of girls- who want to be athletic and only see the average version of pretty. I read Seventeen occasionally, but always with a grain of salt. For different kinds of beauty I try to look for women in power, or who (I think have done amazing things) and I read their stories. It leads me to remember that I there's more than being a silly magazine model. So, yes, I think girls can turn to that. While Seventeen does try to do that occasionally, with their Rock the Vote type stuff, it's ultimately not meant to be an inspiring magazine (even though they advertise some of it that way). Seventeen is a customer based magazine, they send what sells and, often times, when someone buys a magazine (outside of the likes of Times, Scientific American, etc) they aren't looking for that depth of inspiration. However, I do feel that Seventeen could easily tailor the "intellectual stuff", things with more grit to their audience- it certainly wouldn't hurt. So, in my long winded way of