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How to Make It in Fashion: June 21, Dream Hotel Downtown, New York

Tuesday July 17th, 2012

Tavi Gevinson Slams Seventeen For Copying Rookie, Calls the Magazine’s Response to Teen Activists ‘Self-Serving’
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Tavi Gevinson Slams Seventeen For Copying Rookie, Calls the Magazine’s Response to Teen Activists ‘Self-Serving’

Despite the fact that Tavi Gevinson is 16–and therefore bang on in the middle of Seventeen‘s demo–the teenage blogger superstar is not too keen on the magazine. Which is kind of the reason why she started her very own (and totally awesome) teen magazine Rookie in the first place. So, you can imagine her ire when Seventeen not-so-subtly ripped off Rookie‘s Ask a Grown Man feature with its Ask an A-lister feature.

For those of you unfamiliar with Ask a Grown Man, it’s this awesome feature that has adult celebrities like John Hamm and Judd Apatow honestly answering reader-submitted questions via a home computer camera–it’s un-produced and completely genuine (and if you haven’t watched the John Hamm one watch it now). Seventeen‘s take however, plays up the celebrity angle and has the so-called “A-lister” done up in hair and makeup and filmed in the magazine’s offices.

“This is the first time that I’ve felt that something I’ve done, or Rookie has done, has been copied,” Tavi told Racked today.

She continued:

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Published at 4:01 PM

Tuesday July 10th, 2012

Teens To Demonstrate Outside Teen Vogue Offices Tomorrow To Demand ‘Real Images of Real Girls’
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Teens To Demonstrate Outside Teen Vogue Offices Tomorrow To Demand ‘Real Images of Real Girls’

Back in April, 14-year old Julia Bluhm petitioned Seventeen to stop digitally altering models’ faces and bodies. She got 85,000 signatures, staged a demonstration outside Seventeen‘s offices and met with Seventeen EIC Anne Shoket, who, in response, published a new “Body Peace Treaty” in the teen glossy’s latest issue promising to “Never change girls’ body or face shapes (Never have, never will).”

While Shoket doesn’t actually state that the magazine will stop using Photoshop, and in fact just vows to continue current practices and be more up front about what goes into photo shoots, Bluhm was happy with the results.

Now, Carina Cruz and Emma Stydahar, 16 and 17-year-old members of advocacy group SPARK, of which Bluhm is also a member, have launched a similar petition on Change.org asking Teen Vogue to “Follow Seventeen’s example and pledge not to alter any model’s body or face and to celebrate beauty in all its forms,” which so far has over 26,000 signatures.

Yesterday, Teen Vogue‘s PR director Erin Kaplan (remember her?) released the following statement in response:

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Published at 5:17 PM

Thursday July 5th, 2012

Seventeen Announces New ‘Body Peace Treaty’ In Response to Petition Lead by 14-Year-Old
Magazines

Seventeen Announces New ‘Body Peace Treaty’ In Response to Petition Lead by 14-Year-Old

Back in April, we told you about 14-year-old Julia Bluhm, who started a petition on Change.org urging teen glossy Seventeen to post one unaltered “real” photo spread per month, with the hopes it would help girls feel better about their bodies. At the time, the petition had collected a respectable 7,000 signatures; now it’s close to 85,000 and Bluhm, along with an organization called SPARK, staged a demonstration outside Seventeen‘s New York offices, launched a Twitter campaign, and met with Seventeen EIC Anne Shoket, who, as we’ve learned from Ad Week, has finally responded to Bluhm’s request.

The August issue of Seventeen features a page dedicated to the new “Body Peace Treaty.” Here are the most relevant “vows:”

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Published at 4:00 PM

Monday April 30th, 2012