I returned home to my parents’ house for Easter break and found Seventeen magazine lying on my dresser. I was surprised because I don’t have a subscription, but somehow it was mailed to me.
I stopped subscribing to Seventeen back in high school because I realized it was toxic. All I was reading about was the hottest clothes, the hottest products, and terrible advice about dating.
I am not here to bash Seventeen, but I will describe my experience with the publication and tell you that the way I felt when I unsubscribed from the magazine still holds true today.
I flip through this new issue that magically appeared on my childhood dresser, and I realize that nothing has changed about the magazine. I remember back in high school they had started to talk about different body types and had some more diverse people on their covers, but I think the magazine has backtracked since then. The headlines on the cover read: Get OMG Hair While You Sleep, Fun & Flirty! CUTEST Outfits Ever, PRETTY Makeup & Quick CONFIDENCE Boosters. Another one reads INSTANT HAPPINESS! 40 EASY TRICKS.
The cover isn’t what’s bothering me. As I flipped through, I find the Fashion section, the Beauty section, Body&Health and Love&Life. In this particular issue, the Body&Health section is a mere 4 pages. The first page is a cover page, the second shows a workout, the third is “snack hacks,” and the fourth is: “is your locker making you sick”?
First of all, 4 pages. Minus the cover, that’s 3 pages.
If we convert 4 pages of the 135-page issue, that is roughly 2.96%.
2.96% of Seventeen magazine is about Body&Health.
This bothers me beyond belief. It is rare that I will nit-pick a magazine and decide what I think is best about it. Through my journalism classes, I have learned to read and expose myself to as much as possible to better my writing. I keep my mind open. But Seventeen magazine has a strong hand in the lives of young girls and teenagers, just like Cosmo has a strong hand in the lives of twenty-somethings.
Body&Health should be the most important section or at least more important to this magazine. Especially since mental health is a huge part of being a teenager, and unfortunately due to magazines and media, teenagers are not getting what they need from it. Instead, they are being distracted and harmed from these images and ideas.
I remember being in high school and living by the words of this magazine when I wasn’t feeling skinny enough or when I wasn’t feeling fashionable enough. This magazine emphasizes the bond between looks and happiness for teenagers. But the truth is, looks do not create happiness. Looks do not bring you peace from inner demons, from bullies, or from the pressure teens deal with in various parts of their lives.
Somehow the next day another issue was in my room, for the next month.
But again, I surveyed the content and found that the Beauty section had a whopping 13 pages of the 112-page issue and Body&Health had just 4 pages. Again, 3 pages without the cover.
4 pages equals 3.57% of this issue.
Seventeen magazine has lead me to believe that Body&Health is such a small portion of their magazine, so that must mean they feel it is a small part of teens lives. Why have the section at all? Why not just make the entire magazine about Beauty and Fashion?
Body&Health is clearly the most important thing in a teenager’s life and it needs to be set that way through magazines, television shows, and social media.
