"By assuming that skincare is the first thing on their minds, magazines like Seventeen are telling young women that their minds are unimportant. By teaching young women that the most important things in a woman's life should be her looks and her relationships to men."
- Kimberley Phillips, Media Awareness Network writer
Seventeen is one of the most popular magazines for young women, but it's nothing different from other magazines aimed towards women and teens. Their covers pretty much sell themselves. I'm not surprised to see this cover, telling us we need to have the perfect hair, smoothest legs, and look amazing. The somewhat small headline that borders this cover let's us know that there's a unknown mistake we're making when it comes to guys.
On another note, the 1950s is labeled as a depressing era for women, where society pressured them to give up college and career to get a man and to become the perfect, pretty housewife. How is this Seventeen's cover's headlines any different from the '50s society (besides the opportunities of college and career)? Society still tells us that looks and impressing guys are all that matters.
Photo and quote courtesy of: http://www.media-awareness.ca/english/resources/articles/gender_portrayal/seventeen.cfm
I so recommend looking at Jamie Keiles' "Seventeen Magazine Project" blog. She made it a project to try to live her life according to the advice received in Seventeen--and she blogs about the results in very smart, readable prose. Here's the link to the very first post: http://www.theseventeenmagazineproject.com/2010_05_21_archive.html
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