Reading Between the Lines of Seventeen Magazine

Can you imagine modeling your life after Seventeen magazine? That’s exactly what 18-year-old Jamie Keiles has decided to do. Over the course of the summer, Jamie has patterned her life on the advice of Seventeen, imitating their style tips and recommendations. Jamie’s blog, The Seventeen Magazine Project, offers a witty analysis of the magazine.

Her posts have analyzed the racial breakdown of models who appear in Seventeen (which surprisingly wasn’t that different from the racial breakdown of the country) as well as the content of the ads in the June/July issue (which were, not so surprisingly, 56 percent beauty ads).

Now, magazines like Seventeen are all well and good in their place—something light, fun and easy to read. But I think (even more so after reading Jamie’s blog!) that Seventeen speaks to girls as if we’re only interested in beauty and buying more stuff, but that isn’t what most girls want.

Jamie Keiles is proving that teenage girls are interested in more than just makeup and products. We’re invested in ideas and the world around us, as well. Maybe Seventeen will take a look at Jamie’s blog and expand their ideas about what girls want.