She said the magazine’s editors have also tried to incorporate images of women of more realistic sizes and shapes throughout the magazine, not only in select features, but integrated throughout the magazine.
Gardner said she wished that magazines would move away from the detached, “you’re pear-shaped, this is the page for you” idea common in mainstream women’s magazines. However, she said that editors run into problems casting more full-figured models because they tend to be underrepresented by modeling agencies.
She also said that the steps YM magazine has made are small, and that much progress is still needed. With this month’s cover articles ranging from “How to Talk to Boys” to “Get Cute Hair,” Gardner said that she hopes readers “feel better about themselves” after reading the magazine, “but at the very least not feel worse.”
—Staff writer Lisa M. Puskarcik can be reached at puskarc@fas.harvard.edu.