Teen’s guide to Trump
LOTS of adults started paying attention to Teen Vogue recently. It started with an opinion article by Lauren Duca, the magazine’s weekend editor, called Donald Trump Is Gaslighting America. “Gaslighting” is a form of psychological abuse that causes the victim to question his or her own sanity, Duca writes, “and that’s precisely what Trump is doing to this country”.
While some were surprised to see a magazine for teenagers making such a strong political statement, Teen Vogue has been speaking frankly about more than fashion for a while.
The magazine, whose top editor, Elaine Welteroth, and digital editorial director, Phillip Picardi, took over earlier this year, has been ramping up its political coverage since the primary debates. Aimed at teens and young women, the website and quarterly print magazine combine beauty tips and features on teen celebrities with stories about young activists, gender roles and LGBT rights. An explanation of the dangers of the Dakota Access Pipeline by two young women from the Standing Rock Sioux tribe was among the magazine’s mostwatched videos ever.
Teen Vogue isn’t the first publication to steer teenagers and young adults to hard news. Picardi has acknowledged Teen Vogue’s debt to Rookie, an online magazine TeenVogue. for teenage girls, and Sassy, a now-shuttered teen magazine known for its frank coverage of sexuality and culture. Mikki Halpin, a writer and former deputy editor at Seventeen, said that teen magazines have long offered substantive coverage of reproductive rights and health. Adults often underestimate teen media, Halpin said, “in the same way they underestimate teens”.
Teen Vogue’s decision to cover politics may be in part financially motivated, said Tavi Gevinson, founder of Rookie. “Teenagers on the internet clearly care a lot about activism, feminism, anti-racism,” she said. “These are stories that get widely circulated.”
Teen Vogue said it plans to stay the course and cover Trump’s policies aggressively, particularly as they affect young people. Part of the strategy, Welteroth and Picardi say, is to let teenage girls tell their own stories of how political issues affect their lives, whether it’s a Dakota Access pipeline video or a first-person account of getting an abortion in Ohio.
Picardi, who is gay, has seen the power of personal narrative in interactions with his own family. “If you hear someone’s story,” he said, “you are more likely to let your guard down.”
In November, Teen Vogue told the story of a young woman who voted for Trump, and Picardi wants the magazine to speak to Trump’s sup- porters as well as to his critics. Teen Vogue aims to educate and enlighten all readers, said Picardi. “No matter what side of the aisle you’re on, it’s important to know what’s happening.”
As Teen Vogue’s writers and editors cover the Trump presidency, they may get help – and constructive criticism – from their readers. Gevinson said teenagers are used to seeing a wide variety of perspectives online, and they know that for every argument, “there will always be a counterargument.” And young readers today, Halpin said, are comfortable calling out errors or missteps on social media. In other words, it may not be easy to gaslight teenagers.