by Georgia Luckhurst One of the biggest problems many young feminists face is the blatant disrespect their peers have for them. When I first began to get interested in modern-day sexism, and began to wonder how I could change it, I was scared of how my classmates, and worse, my friends, would react. But then…
by Britney Franco Yesterday, we SPARK girls had a mock fashion show outside of the Condé Nast building in Times Square, New York, and publicly voiced our opinion on how Teen Vogue alters the bodies of the girls who appear in their publication. We made sure that people saw how girls were affected by this; after all, 75%…
by Eliana Buenrostro For the past 3 months, I’ve really enjoyed watching The Legend of Korra on Nickelodeon. For those whose don’t know, The Legend of Korra is a follow up to the critically acclaimed series Avatar: the Last Airbender, which aired on Nick from 2005 to 2008. Avatar is heavily inspired by distinct Asian…
Thanks to you, Seventeen Magazine publicly committed to never altering girls’ faces or bodies and to showing a diverse range of beauty. Now it’s Teen Vogue’s turn to step it up, and we think they may need a little SPARKlin’ encouragement. On Wednesday July 11th (that’s tomorrow!), Emma Stydahar, Carina Cruz, and the rest of the…
by Ben Ubiñas Victory. Sometimes, when you speak truth to power, power beats you down. But sometimes, you prevail. SPARK’s campaign to end Photoshopping in Seventeen Magazine has prevailed. The editor of Seventeen Magazine has taken the side of SPARK and the thousands of people who joined them, including me. She got the message and is…
By Emma Stydahar The past few months have been very exciting in terms of how women and girls are portrayed in print magazines. Firstly, after SPARK staged a protest in support of SPARK member Julia Bluhm’s petition urging Seventeen Magazine to change their photoshop policy, in this months issue of Seventeen editor-in-chief Ann Shoket announced…
Ed note: We talk a lot at SPARK about the negative outcomes of girls internalizing impossible ideals of beauty, but not much about the dangers of boys internalizing those ideals. This post, while sometimes harsh and shocking, illustrates an issue that, from where we’re standing, isn’t addressed enough: how impossible media images affect the relationships…
by YingYing Shang She has two large front teeth with a wide gap in between, but a radiant smile. Her eyes are almond-shaped, crinkling into crescents whenever she laughs. Her thumbs are not opposable. My sister Melissa is 9 years old, and has Charcot-Marie-Tooth, a form of muscular dystrophy that in particular, affects her peripheral…