Media by and about and supportive of real girls is why New Moon Girls exists. That sums up our mission and our work. Our passion and our vision, year in and year out.
It’s why my daughters and I created the print magazine led by the Girls Editorial Board way back in 1992. It’s why we added the safe social network in 2008 and the e-magazine in May.
It’s why we’ve never photoshopped an image of a girl or woman. NEVER. And we never will.
Miss Representation, Spark Summit, I Am That Girl and LoveSocial launched the #KeepItReal campaign to tell other magazines–the vast majority of magazines–that they should pledge to publish one feature per issue with non-photoshopped images.
We support the campaign wholeheartedly. Change in mega-media is greatly needed and very welcome. At the same time we don’t want the attention focused on the problem of mega-media to miss the significance that New Moon Girls and a few others have always done the right thing by not photoshopping.
Why have we gone against the industry norm and never photoshopped? Because a photoshopped image weakens the believability of any article it accompanies. I can’t trust an article about “feeling confident” when it includes photos of airbrushed, flawless-looking girls.
Girls can’t trust those articles either. And seeing them in magazine after magazine can sadly make a tween or teen girl question her own accurate perception of reality. The photoshopped images undermine the nurturing and healthy messages that the magazines claim they are putting forward.
See how 12-year-old Ava says it affects her.
Instead, New Moon Girls uses photos and illustrations of girls as they are in daily life. We know how important it is for girls to see themselves and others like them in the media that influences their thoughts and dreams.
As the Geena Davis Institute for Gender in Media says, “If She Can See It, She Can Be It.” Of course, when what girls see is photoshopped fake perfection, they can never “be it.” And we don’t want them to!
New Moon Girls helps girls accept and value themselves for who they are–imperfections and all. They CAN be what they see in our publications and on our social network. It’s true and it’s real. Always.
Girls deserve nothing less. And our goal is to give them everything they deserve to get from media: inspiration, support, community, new perspectives, more understanding of the world, articles and images that respect them and give them courage.
