Editing Teen magazine (section)

== Critical reception ==
The experience of reading teen magazines can result in heavy psychological impacts on their readers.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal = Business Ethics Quarterly|volume = 10|issue = 2|pages = 371–398|jstor = 3857882|last1 = Bishop|first1 = John Douglas|title = Is Self-Identity Image Advertising Ethical?|year = 2000|doi = 10.2307/3857882}}</ref> Teen magazines may give implicit suggestions on how women should or should not behave.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Mass Market Mortification: The Developmental Appropriateness of Teen Magazines and the Embarrassing Story Standard|jstor = 10.1086/380851|journal = The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy|date = 2004-01-01|pages = 1–20|volume = 74|issue = 1|doi = 10.1086/380851|first = Amy S.|last = Pattee|s2cid = 143818059}}</ref> The teen magazine, with its images of corporeal perfection and promises of social success, can be seen as evidence of a social ideal to which developing teens may aspire when reading the magazine. Self-development is influenced by an individual's alignment with a social group.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Mass Market Mortification: The Developmental Appropriateness of Teen Magazines and the Embarrassing Story Standard|jstor = 10.1086/380851|journal = The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy|date = 2004-01-01|pages = 1–20|volume = 74|issue = 1|doi = 10.1086/380851|first = Amy S.|last = Pattee|s2cid = 143818059}}</ref> Sexualized content in teen magazines, including contradictory advice of abstinence and sexual exploration, has been criticized for its effects on teenage girls.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Preteen girls, magazines, and the negotiation of young sexual femininity|journal = Gender and Education|pages = 700–713|volume = 27|issue = 6|doi = 10.1080/09540253.2015.1078453|first1 = Tiina|last1 = Vares|first2 = Sue|last2 = Jackson|year = 2015|s2cid = 145427598}}</ref> Teen magazines may influence teenage girls' understanding of work, with emphasis on professional occupations and the entertainment industry.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal = Gender and Society|volume = 18|issue = 1|pages = 47–65|jstor = 4149373|last1 = Massoni|first1 = Kelley|title = Modeling Work: Occupational Messages in Seventeen Magazine|year = 2004|doi = 10.1177/0891243203259133|s2cid = 145126551}}</ref>

The embarrassing stories column that is popular in most, if not all, teen magazines, is constructed not only to entertain the reader but also to offer behavioral guidance. The texts of these columns, titled, “Say Anything” in ''YM'', “Trauma Rama” in ''Seventeen'', and “Why Me?” in ''Teen'', consist of a collection of embarrassing incidents in the magazine readers’ lives. Readers are encouraged to write to the magazine's editors with their own tales, which, if published, are rated by the magazine staff. These ratings imply an mutual empathy and personal interaction between the author of the story and the reader.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Mass Market Mortification: The Developmental Appropriateness of Teen Magazines and the Embarrassing Story Standard|jstor = 10.1086/380851|journal = The Library Quarterly: Information, Community, Policy|date = 2004-01-01|pages = 1–20|volume = 74|issue = 1|doi = 10.1086/380851|first = Amy S.|last = Pattee|s2cid = 143818059}}</ref> The teenage reader, made aware of the risks of certain behaviors in certain scenarios can, by study these columns, and develop an understanding of societal rules.<ref>{{Cite journal|journal = Business Ethics Quarterly|volume = 10|issue = 2|pages = 371–398|jstor = 3857882|last1 = Bishop|first1 = John Douglas|title = Is Self-Identity Image Advertising Ethical?|year = 2000|doi = 10.2307/3857882}}</ref>