Teen Voices

As a former intern for Teen Voices, I may be biased, but I really think that what they are doing is amazing. Their magazine focuses on real things that teenage girls can relate to like teen pregnancy, suicide, family issues, body image issues, and many other topics, as opposed to how to get a boy to like you, how to lose weight, or what kind of make up to use. Teen Voices aims to empower young females by helping to give them the confidence that they need and letting them know that they are not alone.

I ordered this magazine and Teen Ink in late 2005 as Christmas gifts for my teen daughters. We've received a few issues of Teen Ink since then, but no sign of Teen Voices as of May 2006.

This magazine focuses on real issues and is written by real girls. A feminist bias is apparent at times, but usually it focuses on what everyone has to say about date rape, racism, pregnancy, abortion, etc. For girls 13-21 who like Seventeen but need something a bit more focused (i.e., without fashion and beauty spreads.)

This is probably the first magazine of it's kind for teen girls. Most of these other teen magazines, such as Teen People (I like it, but sadly it's true), YM, Seventeen (check the cover; it becomes obvious that this isn't a magazine for younger teens), and Cosmogirl are too fashion/gossip/make-up/boy obsessed. Instead of focusing on all of that stuff, Teen Voices covers world issues and controversial topics. Some of the topics they have featured in past issues of the magazine have been the many different faces of the female, the way girls feel about their bodies, relationship with their family members, vegetarianism, and the flag controversy. One point the magazine makes is that it's a magazine for teens by teens. As proof of this, all the stories are written by teens. For lighter reading this magazine does have an interview with a celebrity. However, none of these celebrity interviews are fluffy; the selected celebrities are intelligent and can make some good points. For those people interested in this magazine, I recommend also checking out the website. My final recommendation on this magazine is that it's great for any teen girl who wants to know what's up in the world without having to sort through all the fluffy stuff to find it.