This past fall, I was invited back for the 4th year in a row to speak to 1500 7th grade girls at the Young Women’s Leadership Conference in York, PA. After the event, I received a Facebook message from a girl named
Makenna who had attended the conference.
Makenna wrote:
Hey Kathleen. I was at your York College conference. I’m writing a letter to Seventeen Magazine about how they photoshop their pictures and I was wondering if you had any pointers. Thanks.
Not only did I write back to Makenna telling her how proud I was of her for taking action, but I figured it would help more girls if I were to share my pointers in a blog post so that other girls can take action too.
Below is my initial response to Makenna, her first draft of the letter, followed by my suggestions and comments on the letter.
Kathleen’s response:
OMG!!! Bravo Makenna! My best pointer is to use lots of “I” statements so that you’re not blaming them, but encouraging them to make changes. If you say “you” it puts people on the defense and if you say “I” then people will listen without feeling threatened.
So I would start out with a compliment about their magazine… why you like it, what you’ve learned from it.
Then I would say why you’re writing to them and why you are passionate about the topic of no photoshopping or full disclosure when they do photoshop a picture. Tell them how these pictures make you feel and believe in unrealistic and unattainable beauty or how you think this damages girls’ self-esteem and body image.
Then maybe say how you think being real would help girls.
And then end with a giant thank you and say it as if you knew 100% that they were going to listen to you and make those changes.
Feel free to send me the letter before you send it and I’ll make some suggestions.
So proud of you Makenna!!! I think I’ll write a blog post about this so I can encourage other girls to take action.
love,
Kathleen
Makenna’s First Draft:
Dear Seventeen Magazine,
I’m writing to express the feelings of myself, fellow readers and millions of girls around the world. I love your magazine but personally I have only one problem, the pictures. Though these pictures are beautiful they are also deceiving. Every day when girls see these pictures they see a flawless, beautiful model. They say to themselves, “Wow I wish I could look as pretty as she does”. That’s where the problem begins. When girls see these they realize they can’t look like that and feel depressed. How do I know this you ask? Earlier in my 7th grade year the girls went to a Young Women’s Leadership conference at York College. There Kathleen Hassan showed us a video of a typical girl. They took photos of her and with the use of a photo shopping program changed her entirely. From head to toe you would think it was a completely different person. Depression, anorexia and cutting are affects of this photo shopping. We need to put this to a stop. All I ask of you is for a small article in your magazine so I may get my message to girls everywhere and make a change. I may be just a small town 13 year old girl, but I want to make a difference. I need your help to make this dream come true.
Your Reader,
Makenna Peterson.
Additional note from Makenna:
Demi Lovato lashed out on Disney Channel for making fun of anorexia on an episode of Shake It Up, maybe that might be a good point to put in there. So it will show it’s not something to joke about.
Kathleen’s Comments & Suggestions:
OK Makenna – I’ve read through your article and thought about it quite a bit and here are my comments/suggestions/edits and thoughts…
Please take these as constructive rather than as criticism. I’m very proud of you for taking action and it’s a good start!
Your first line opens with “I’m writing to express the feelings of myself, fellow readers and millions of girls around the world.”
You can only speak for yourself unless you have done extensive research and have data to back up your claim of what millions of girls around the world are also thinking.
==> Write only from your perspective
==> If you want to include the opinions of others, use examples like the Demi Lovato story to back up your claim
==> Start a Facebook page and try to get other girls to “like” the page and make comments about whether or not they think magazines should tell their readers if a photo has been photoshopped – or eliminate photoshopping all together. (since the writing of the article, Makenna and I have created a Facebook page called
Photoshop of Horrors: Just Say NO! “Like” this page so we can get millions of girls educated and empowered to stop altering images and the minds of young women!)
The next section:
I love your magazine but personally I have only one problem, the pictures. Though these pictures are beautiful they are also deceiving. Every day when girls see these pictures they see a flawless, beautiful model. They say to themselves, “Wow I wish I could look as pretty as she does”. That’s where the problem begins. When girls see these they realize they can’t look like that and feel depressed.
I wouldn’t change a thing!
Next, I would eliminate “How do I know this you ask?” You’re making the assumption that they are asking and you don’t know that.
I might lead into the next section with something like “I never really gave this much thought before, but recently “me and the girls in my 7th grade class went to a Young Women’s Leadership conference at York College.
Next, you need to explain who Kathleen Hassan is so they know who you are talking about. There
Kathleen Hassan, “the keynote speaker who is a life coach and teen empowerment specialist,” showed us a video of a typical girl. They took photos of her and with the use of a photo shopping program changed her entirely. From head to toe you would think it was a completely different person.
Your next statement,
Depression, anorexia and cutting are affects of this photo shopping is powerful, but again you don’t have statistics or facts to back this claim up… so you may want to say “Depression, anorexia and cutting are just some of the effects that could come from the deception of photoshopping.”
Finally, in regards to the last section you wrote:
We need to put this to a stop. All I ask of you is for a small article in your magazine so I may get my message to girls everywhere and make a change. I may be just a small town 13 year old girl, but I want to make a difference. I need your help to make this dream come true.
They are not going to give you space to get your message out there because they depend on the money they get from advertisers who are selling the products on the pages of their magazines and those advertisers are the ones who are photoshopping the photos! But they may print your article as a “Letter to the Editor,” so perhaps reword the final paragraph and request like this:
We need to put a stop to this. I may be just a small town, 13 year old girl, but I want to make a difference. As a loyal reader, I appreciate your
Body Peace Treaty, but you need to take it a step further and either put an end to photoshopping or force advertisers to disclose the truth when a photo has been altered.
Here is a great website called
Beauty Redefined that is dedicated to helping women recognize the brainwashing by the media and here is their
Facebook Page.
Also, here is the video produced by the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty called
Evolution which shows the complete transformation and alteration of a girl and looks nothing whatsoever like the real girl!
I’m so proud of you for taking action. Please let me know what next step you took so I can cheer you on!!
Thanks so much Makenna
The Media has become fixated on an unrealistic illusion of perfection… everything is retouched… from hair to boobs to whiter teeth! There are 12 alterations to this photo… can you spot them all?
Digital anorexia! Ralph Lauren was forced to issue a public apology after hiring an already thin size eight model, Filippa Hamilton, and digitally retouching their shots of her so that her head actually appeared significantly wider than her waist.
What do you think? Should magazines be required to inform their readers when photos have been digitally altered? Should we ban Photoshop all together?
Take Action Challenge: Make sure to “like” Makenna’s new
Facebook Page: Photoshop of Horrors and add your name and voice to the discussion. You can make a difference!
