Teen Vogue, until recently known as just a fashion magazine for teenage girls, came under fire last month when contributor Lauren Duca wrote a piece entitled "Donald Trump is Gaslighting America" that scathingly addressed Trump's policies, how they will impact teen girls, and what they could do in light of his being elected. Wrote Duca, “Refuse to accept information simply because it is fed to you. If facts become a point of debate, the very definition of freedom will be called into question.”
Since Duca's piece was published, many mainstream news outlets, such as The New York Times and The Atlantic, have been diving into what has made Teen Vogue so different from other news sources. Slate writer Mark Joseph Stern wrote that Teen Vogue tends to highlight parts of issues that major news outlets sideline or even ignore, especially with LGBTQ issues. Last spring, Teen Vogue ran several articles that highlighted how North Carolina's HB2 would impact particular people through interviews. Stern said that some articles are often better than his own pieces.
This brand of coverage at Teen Vogue, however, is not entirely new. The teen fashion magazine has long covered inclusive stories between its pages: from models of color, to fashion and beauty happenings overseas in Japan and Korea, to asking celebrities about their stances on feminism and other issues during interviews. The real change is how often these pieces--related to activism, identity, politics, and feminism--are produced, which can be attributed to new leadership at the magazine.
In May 2016, Elaine Welteroth, longtime contributor to Teen Vogue, took over as the new editor-in-chief while Phil Piccardi became digital managing director. Welteroth is only the second black woman to be in charge of any of Conde Nast's subsidiaries, and both Welteroth and Piccardi have been leading a more progressive agenda at the magazine.
Teen Vogue posts articles on social media platforms like Twitter frequently, which is where a lot of the political content is shared, as the magazine sets out to continue as a quarterly rather than monthly magazine this year in an effort to cater to online readers. On teenvogue.com this fall, the most shared video was of teenagers of the Sioux tribe spoke in regards to the Dakota Access Pipeline. Teen Vogue also ran a story in November of a young woman who voted for Trump, concluding that "no matter what side of the aisle you're on, it's important to know what's happening." And on the homepage of the website on January 11, only politics were featured. Not all political content is online, however; in just the September 2016 issue, an essay by Hillary Clinton, a conversation between The Hunger Games actor Amandla Stenberg and famous feminist Gloria Steinem, as well as an interview with Attorney General Loretta Lynch were featured.
“People write off teen girls as some separate species living in a bubble made of lip gloss,” Duca said to online magazine Salon. “Young women have the right to equal ownership of the political conversation.” And in reality, teen girls seem to be the ones pushing for this type of coverage. Many celebrities have been grilled on their stance on equality for the past several years for multiple publications, making feminism more mainstream. Teens are also exposed to a lot of politics and call out culture on social media platforms, which Teen Vogue has used frequently in between printings. In recent months, coverage on more substantial topics has helped Teen Vogue to combat its years of declining circulation numbers.
While Teen Vogue will never fully give up its coverage on fashion, beauty, and celebrity happenings, it is committed to staying the course and reporting how policies that come about under the Trump Administration will affect young people in the coming months and years.
