The Search for Teen-Friendly Media

Throughout this project, I've been asked by friends and press alike, "If teens shouldn't be reading Seventeen, then what should they be reading?" I've put some thought into this question, and the answer that I've come up with really isn't as cut and dry as a good answer usually is. There isn't a whole lot of teen-specific media on the market "getting it right" when it comes to providing teens with content that is entertaining, relevant, age-appropriate, and not entirely demoralizing. Seventeen makes an effort, but falls short of achieving this goal by addressing teen girls as a monolithic block of people with a unified interest in nail polish, dieting, and winning the attention of swoopy-haired boys. If the perfect piece of mainstream teen media did already exist, it'd be unlikely that I would have ever even found myself motivated to begin this project in the first place. There just would not have been a need.

In an effort to explore some less-mainstream alternatives to Seventeen that are available on the market, I put out a call a few weeks ago on my blog for information about teen-friendly media. Besides this phrasing, the only other qualifications for submissions that I required was that anything submitted must "get it" when it came to addressing teens and the teenage experience. This vagueness was intentional. In failing to define the term media, submissions ended up ranging from movies to music to books to innovative advertising campaigns. People also took liberties with the term teen-friendly, frequently submitting content intended for more general audiences, but that teens could also enjoy without feeling looked down upon or excluded. Ultimately, the amount of submissions that I received from everyone ranked somewhere on a scale between ridiculous and very ridiculous. I decided, for my sanity, to only include on this list things that teens might use in their life as a supplement to or replacement for Seventeen.

What this list is not is a pearl-clutching list of child-friendly fluff. The content included does not consider teenagers to be ignorant to world trends and complex ideas. Thus, if you are a parent or other adult, you may choose to preview this content before sharing it with the young person in your life, though it is likely that their knowledge of these subject areas exceeds your expectations.

I've organized everything loosely into categories for your browsing convenience. Each suggestion is attributed to the person(s) who submitted it. If there is no name, it is a personal recommendation of mine. Feel free to leave additional recommendations in the comments, and I'll add them in as I see fit!

Magazines

The most logical direct substitute for Seventeen.

• Shameless: As their website puts it, Shameless is, "Canada's independent voice for smart, strong, sassy young women and trans youth." As one Seventeen Magazine Project reader put it, "I've always thought of this as sort of the anti-Seventeen." (Submitted by Heidi, also Kim.)
• Justine: If you find Shameless to be too progressive, but can't stomach Seventeen, then you might appreciate Justine, which includes real girls in its pages and focuses on careers and books as much as it does on beauty products. Not perfect, but a definite step in the right direction for younger teens. Link. (Submitted by Brenna)
• Bitch: Though not specifically geared toward the sub-18 set, Bitch has plenty to offer bright, older teens who don't spend all day in their rooms inhaling nail polish fumes and gazing at photos of Justin Bieber (i.e. most of us). This "feminist response to pop culture" includes really interesting book, film, and movie reviews. If anything, this is the closest thing that exists to what I'd like to see Seventeen become. It's hardly high-level, and hardly radical-- just good content in an enjoyable package. (Submitted by Dominique, seconded by me)
• Teen Voices: A really fantastic biannual magazine, Teen Voices tackles everything from sex trafficking to college essay writing to social networking. Articles are written by and for teen girls, which helps the magazine avoid coming off as patronizing, as content written for teens is wont to do. Teen Voices does a fantastic job of treating teen girls as a real, dynamic humans, not a flat set of stereotypes. (Submitted by Laura)
• Sadie Magazine: Sadie deliberately positions itself as an alternative to the hair-and-makeup model of teen magazines. In their mission statement, they say that they strive to empower young girls, not train them to consume. I kick myself for not thinking of this brilliant way of phrasing things, and fully support this line of thinking. Even more awesome, their "centerfold" section actually features interviews with women who are out in the world doing kick-ass things. (Submitted by Anna, and others!)
• Bust Magazine: Bust is a lifestyle magazine that treats its readers like they actually have a life. That is, Bust is full of interesting articles and fun activities with which to fill one's time, not just makeup tips and advertisements. While not technically for teens, I would say Bust's overall message is far less harmful than that which Seventeen sends. It really depends on what kind of parent you are though. I think I'd rather expose my kids to swear words and sex talk than the belief that their natural appearance is inherently flawed. That's just me though. (Submitted by literally everyone I know)
• New Moon: This magazine has nothing to do with the Twilight series. In fact, I'm not sure if New Moon magazine's mission could be farther from that of the consumerist Twilight propaganda. New Moon is an ad-free magazine that challenges girls aged eight and older to confront cultural stereotypes of physical beauty and pursue self-discovery and creativity. I am not one for new-agey things, but this sounds incredible. I wish there was a version of this for teenagers, or even for women.

Blogs

Like magazines, but on the internet!

• The F-Bomb: A blog for teenage feminists, written by teenage feminists. What I particularly like about this concept, besides everything, is the fact that a number of girls contribute, so instead of a single party line, you get a complex discourse on the past, present, and future of feminism. (Submitted by Claire, also Miranda)
• Women's Glib: More bright young women writing about feminism! Also, beauty, education, ageism, government, reproductive rights, masculinity, and a ton of other stuff. Reading this blog makes me so excited to see what my generation will accomplish.... I have no idea where you ladies live, but if you read this and are ever in Philly and want to hang out, email me or something! (Submitted by Miranda)

Advice

(books, online, and otherwise)

• Scarleteen: Scarleteen offers facts about sex for teenagers of all genders and sexual orientations. That's it. No political or moral spin. No connotations. No partisan funding. The writing is casual and often funny. What I love is how the site treats sex as something neither dirty nor sterile, and still manages to communicate its consequences, a rarity in the teenage world.
• TeenHelp: Like writing into a Seventeen for advice, except questions actually get answered, promptly, by non-profit volunteers. TeenHelp doesn't shy away from topics like disability, eating disorders, and rape, but you can also check the site out for general chatting about pets, sex, gaming, and hobbies. (Submitted by Imogen)
• Savage Love Podcast: You can absorb the gospel of Dan Savage, the voice behind this podcast, in the form of a blog, a column, or an iPhone app, but personally I prefer the podcast. Newcomers beware, Savage's brand of advice is not for the weak of stomach or closed of mind. Uncensored and brash, he readily tackles any question thrown at him. On first thought, this may not sound ideal for teen listeners, but he frequently fields calls from the younger set, and what I like most about his responses is that he takes care not to talk down to us. Dan Savage tells it like it is, euphemism and sugar-coating free, a welcome reprise to the candy-coated, pinkified bullshit that is so often sold to us as teens.

Obviously, there is much more content out there that teens can look to for advice and entertainment than the few items included on this list. In lots of cases, what I would recommend is that teens look outside of the teen world entirely, and instead look into the world of interest based content. For instance, if you like photography, why not subscribe to Popular Photography? Into science? How about checking out Wired, a personal favorite of mine? I think that sometimes in their attempts to market to us, mainstream media tends to trap teen girls into a box, both interest and intelligence wise. The items on this list do a good job recognizing my peers and me as a diverse group among ourselves, but I'm not sure how bad it would necessarily be to sometimes allow us to just assimilate into society as a whole. I'm going to put some more thought into this, but sometimes I think that the notion of a separate teen culture is actually hurting teens.

Seventeen and Race

Today's post addresses race, which I understand is a sensitive topic for a lot of people. I put this post together a while ago, but have been hesitant to post it, if only for the fact that I am not that well versed on the subject of race. The town I live in is 95.24% White, so I am not exposed to much discussion about race in my daily life. Any conversation on the subject that I get to observe typically takes place on the internet, which is not necessarily the best place to learn anything, especially a thing that is likely to upset people if addressed clumsily.

That said, I feel like this post is honorable in its intentions. I ask you all to please look at the post for the issue it is trying to explore, and not to crucify me if I have made any offensive missteps in the way that I address it. Instead, feel free to post feedback and constructive corrections in the comments, or email them to me. As a young person with limited exposure to discussions of race, any respectful feedback that could broaden my horizons would be much appreciated.

In selecting models and actresses to photograph, lots of people have recognized that mainstream print media disproportionately showcases white women. Recently, this pattern has been called to the forefront of the blogosphere with the publication of the whitewashed "Young Hollywood" issue of Vanity Fair. Over at Jezebel, Dodai wrote a great article on the controversy. This piece from Racialicious (and its comments section) makes some interesting points as well.

I wondered to what degree this pattern of whitewashing held true for teen magazines like Seventeen. Teen mags often do better in the race department than their adult counterparts, including women of a variety of races and even offering some pretty level-headed advice on interracial dating. Still, out of curiosity, I wondered exactly how the racial content of Seventeen broke down. So I counted!

There are 332 faces in this month's issue of Seventeen. I counted a face as a head with at least one visible eye. That is, backs of heads and disembodied mouths or eyes were not included in my data. I researched the races of the models and celebrities that I could identify. Those whose race I could not determine with reasonable certainty I've excluded from my data, making for 319 surveyed faces.

I thought it would be an interesting exercise to compare the race content of Seventeen with the most recent Census Bureau estimates of race demographics in the U.S. Personally, I don't think its reasonable to expect an entirely equal distribution of race in every issue, but it does seem reasonable (and logical) to expect that a modern magazine would have a race breakdown that is similar to the race breakdown of the country in which it publishes, in this case, the United States.

I'm actually surprised at how close Seventeen came to having a breakdown comparable with the United States statistics. Noteworthy, though, are Seventeen's underrepresentation of people of Hispanic ethnicity, and their inclusion of more biracial and multiracial people percentage-wise than live in the U.S. Anyone have any thoughts on why this might be?

Thought it might also be interesting to look at the racial breakdown of males and females in the magazine. It seems like Seventeen's idea of female beauty is more varied, while the races that are considered attractive for males are extremely more limited.

I also separated the data by faces in Seventeen produced content, and faces in advertising content. There didn't seem to be any significant difference in the racial breakdown between these two categories of pages, except for the exclusion of Hispanic models in the advertisements.

Overall I was pretty surprised at how inclusive Seventeen was. Obviously, there is some room for improvement, but I would venture to say that Seventeen is better at including people of color than most other publications of its kind. Otherwise, I have no real conclusions to draw from this data. What does everyone think?

P.S. Expect some fluffy fashion and beauty posts for the rest of the week, as this Friday is my PROOOOOM.

In Pursuit of the Teenage Dollar

Seventeen Style Council member Anna, age 20, feels "remarkably 'West Coast'" in her cutoff sweatshirt. To be honest, I am not sure to which west coast she is referring. This photo is featured in the June/July issue of Seventeen. Even in my tee shirt variation on this outfit, I was sweltering amidst eastern Pennsylvania's high-80s temperatures. I can only imagine what it would be like wearing this in mid-summer Los Angeles. The full face of makeup I am wearing didn't do much to help me keep cool. Neither did the "sultry waves" that I styled last night. Perhaps Anna summers on the west coast of the Antarctic Peninsula. Seems like the only logical explanation for a sweatshirt in July being described as "West Coast."

I always question how real these "real girl" fashion bits are. With the number of teen magazines that have folded lately, I've lately assumed that every article of clothing/accessory spotted in the pages of a magazine was the result of some sort of lucrative product-placement deal. Some investegation revealed that Anna, 20, is indeed a real person-- in fact, she goes to Columbia University and has Twitter. I wonder if she actually chooses the outfits she wears in the magazine. What sort of authority do you think the Style Council has? Can they veto official style bills?

I had difficulty finding information regarding how much compensation Seventeen receives for including items in the magazine. I'm going to continue to look into this, because I am curious to see how much of what is being suggested to teens is actually thinly-veiled advertising. In the mean time, however, I decided that the actual ad content included in Seventeen was deserving of some scrutiny.

Magazines profit from ad sales more than they do from newsstand sales or subscriptions. From a business standpoint, the essential purpose of magazines (or television, or radio) is to round up a group of similarly demographic'd consumers that advertisers can easily target. I figured that the advertising content might have something to say about what the average Seventeen reader is imagined to be like. In the 171 page issue, there were 91 ad spaces. Here is how the content broke down:

This amount of data was too overwhelming. I decided to group products into categories to see if I could discern some sort of trend.

Unsurprisingly, over 75% of the advertising content in Seventeen is "stuff that makes you look better."

I'm not heading toward any sort of conclusive argument with these graphs. Just thought it was an interesting exercise to explore how low the bar is set for Seventeen readers when it comes to what advertisers think will interest them. Products advertised definitely skew more toward tangible than experiential, and more toward short-term use than long-term investment. It would be interesting to do a similar data sample with the Economist or the New York Times. Wonder if this way of thinking is something that applies to all demographics, or mostly just teens.

Tomorrow I'll be riding in Critical Mass, a decidedly non-Seventeen activity. I'm going to break character for a second and encourage people in metropolitan areas (or anywhere) to get out and ride their bikes tomorrow (and every day!).

The rest of the weekend I'll be at the shore solemnly commemorating our fallen soldiers, along with the hundreds of other Philadelphians who head towards Jersey's beaches to get a more firsthand perspective on what it was like to be on they beaches at Normandy. JK we're all actually going there to get bronze, go shopping, and participate in other Seventeen-approved activities.