Spark Movement Protest 'Seventeen' Magazine

NEW YORK, NY -- A group of teenage girls held a mock photo shoot outside Seventeen Magazine's headquarters today to demonstrate that they love their bodies "just the way they are." Fourteen year-old Julia Bluhm orchestrated the event with the girl-led SPARK Movement after creating a popular petition on Change.org calling on Seventeen to feature a photoshop-free spread each month.

Julia Bluhm an eighth grade ballet dancer, then delivered more than 15,000 petition signatures to the magazine's editor-in-chief, Ann Shoket, and reiterated her call for a photoshop-free spread in Seventeen each month.

"I'm a teenage girl, and I know how it feels to think you're not good enough," said Bluhm, who launched the campaign on Change.org. "I want girls to be able to feel good about themselves, and being able to relate to the images in the magazines we read will help."

"I started this petition to help girls see that they're not alone," Bluhm added. "Seventeen Magazine is supposed to be a relatable magazine, right? How can we relate to computer altered photos?"

Live signature totals from Julia Bluhm's campaign:

Photos of the event.

SPARK Movement

SPARK is a girl-fueled activist movement to demand an end to the sexualization of women and girls in media. SPARK collaborates with hundreds of girls 13-23 and more than 60 national organizations to reject the commodified, sexualized images of girls in media and support the development of girls' healthy sexuality and self-esteem.

Change.org

Change.org is the world's fastest-growing platform for social change — growing by two million new members a month, and empowering millions of people to start, join, and win campaigns for social change in their community, city and country.