Are you Seventeen?

When I was around the age 14/15 I was really into Seventeen magazine.

Yes, Seventeen Magazine!

**Use picture above for reference, and please note that most months the person on the cover looks nothing like Beyonce, most recent cover girl Rhianna, or me.

I can’t remember where we were or what we were doing; but I do remember being really absorbed into one of my magazines, when my mother who has never been one to hold her tongue asked me a question. A question that at the time I thought was stupid, unnecessary, and extremely annoying! She looked at me and said in a sarcastic/serious tone “Tasha, Why are you reading Seventeen Magazine? You’re not Seventeen”. She then simply said that the magazine was not appropriate for someone my age, and told me to stop reading them. Although I did not stop reading Seventeen right away, eventually my relationship with the magazine ended.

I have not opened a Seventeen magazine in years, but this morning on my way to see Mary J. Blige in Central Park (One more thing on my summer to do list; done!), I had the opportunity to skim through a recent issue of the magazine I once loved!

After spending most of the train ride reading the magazine I really wised that I could go back in time to the day my mother asked “Tasha, Why are you reading Seventeen Magazine? You’re not Seventeen”. Because, today I would have to admit to her that she was right, Seventeen magazine was inappropriate. I would even have to tell her that eight years later, at the age of 22 I was never, and will never be Seventeen.

Today I flipped through pages of ads, columns, and articles that reinforced the idea that being a size 0-2 is the way to be, and anything above needs to be corrected through intense diet or exercise. I flipped through pages that also reinforced the idea that clothes make you the person you are. I skimmed over Advice columns and letters from loyal Seventeen readers that told girls its ok to “Hook –Up” with random guys, that having a cheating boyfriend is norm, and that eating cereal for breakfast lunch and dinner is the epitome of a healthy diet. I was bombarded with images, and articles that tell Black Girls/teenagers that being Seventeen, is something that they can never be. You see Seventeen Magazine in no way begins to cater to the needs of the average Black girl, Not the hair style or makeup suggestions, the fashion advice, or letters from the “Average” Seventeen reader. Honestly, not much has changed since the last time I've read the magazine.

There were several times on my train ride were I actually laughed out loud at what I was reading, and at the fact that I actually once enjoyed it all!

I have nothing against the magazine, and can understand and accept the fact that there are probably thousands of girls out there who can relate to and appreciate everything in Seventeen magazine; but when I sit back and think about it, I’m kind of glad that I never was or never will be Seventeen.

Because Being Seventeen is Simply just… Not me!