Founded in 1944 by Helen Valentine, "Seventeen" magazine was the first modern 'teen magazine'. An immediate success, it became iconic in establishing the tastes and behaviors of successive generation of teen girls covering the last half of the 20th century. Kelley Massoni has written the first cultural history of the origins of "Seventeen" and its role in shaping the modern teen girl ideal. Using content analysis, interviews, letters, oral histories, and promotional materials, Massoni is able to show how "Seventeen" helped create the modern concept of 'teenager'. The early "Seventeen" provided a generation of thinking young women with information on citizenship and clothing, politics and popularity, adult occupations and adolescent preoccupations, until economic and social forces converged to reshape the magazine toward teen consumerism. With a chapter on the 21st century, "Seventeen" brings the story to the present. "Fashioning Teenagers" will be of interest to students of popular culture, sociology, gender studies, mass media, journalism, business, and American studies.

About the Author

Kelley Massoni, Ph.D., is a lecturer in sociology at the University of Kansas. Her long-standing research program on Seventeen magazine has resulted in articles in Gender & Society and Journal of American Culture.

Reviews

"What's interesting about Massoni's approach is that she simultaneously traces the magazine's history while describing the behind-the-scenes internal politics that took place at Seventeen.... Fashioning Teenagers: A Cultural History of Seventeen Magazine is likely to appeal to those interested in magazine history, as this particular magazine led the charge in the creation of the host of teen-oriented publications that followed. It also may appeal to those interested in learning more about advertising, marketing, and promotion, as it shows how creative advertising and promotional techniques can really make a difference in influencing consumer trends."
--Andi Stein, The Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication