For your central Jersey real estate needs: JudyNJHomes.com
Catch Kat in The House Bunny in theaters nationwide NOW! fandango.com
Teenagers Ashley Allred and Lauren Kovacs pored over November's Seventeen magazine while hanging out at Woodfield Shopping Center.
They looked at the magazine's Body Peace project, which implores girls to stop obsessing over thinness and criticizing their own figures.
"We're at war … it's us against our bodies," the article declared.
But Allred, 17, and Kovacs, 19, both of Elgin, don't see teenage girls reaching a truce anytime soon.
"I don't think it is possible to make peace with our bodies because of stereotypes," Allred commented.
Indeed, stereotypes of super-thin celebrities confront girls everywhere -- from television shows, movies, ads and magazines like Seventeen itself.
Bone-thin celebrities peek out from tabloids. Some stars, like Mary Kate Olsen, have struggled with anorexia, and international runway models have died from the eating disorder.
Seventeen editors say they hope to counter these waifs by enlisting their own celebs declaring Body Peace. They're close to the age of Seventeen's readers, and include Kelly Osbourne, who chafed when US Weekly called her "fat" when she was 15, and Ashlee Simpson, who was at one time reported to be suffering an eating disorder.
Actresses Hayden Panettiere and Amanda Bynes and singers Pink, Ciara, Fergie and Katharine McPhee round out the list.
Well, if "round out" is the right term. Even if none of them has legs like broomsticks, their photos in Seventeen show off their slim and trim figures.
Seventeen editor Ann Shoket, in a telephone interview, pointed out that even though these celebrities may look good, they have struggled with body image.
"A lot of these girls have been criticized," Shoket said. "But this is not about looking good. It's about feeling great about your body no matter what shape it is."
She started planning the Body Peace project when she became editor last January.
"It's hard for young girls to navigate this. Tabloids publish reports about how many ounces celebrities gain," she says. "Girls have no barometer of what's normal and healthy."
While Seventeen can't erase those "scary skinny" images, it can provide balance. In its staff-produced editorial content, it does offer fashion spreads showcasing models of different ethnic groups, skin colors, body shapes (including ample bodies) and hair textures.
And next month, it will kick off a column by Jessica Weiner, a body-image expert. She'll give girls practical tools and exercises to think about their shapes in new ways, Shoket says.
Weiner will have plenty to contend with. A survey co-sponsored by Seventeen and the Dove Self-Esteem Fund found that 91 percent of teen girls feel anxiety or stress about some part of their looks when getting ready in the morning.
That didn't surprise young women shopping at Woodfield.
"Ninety-one percent -- that sounds about right," conceded Reyna Soto, 22, of Chicago.
"There are so many thin celebrities that girls think that's what's normal -- the skinnier the better. They brainwash you."
No single magazine can undo that brainwashing -- especially when its pages are filled with beautiful women. While Seventeen's editorial content may show curvy girls, its ads feature models without a gram of cellulite.
Though many young women remain skeptical that girls could make peace with their bodies, one teen shopping at Woodfield at least acknowledged that celebrities need a lot of expensive assistance to maintain their looks.
"Celebrities don't all have perfect bodies," observed Dominique Cherry, 15, of Chicago. "They've got personal trainers to help them out. They're normal, too."
Believing that is a start.
There are actually pro-anorexia websites that exist. Scary.
I couldn't find an article about Kat and this project on the magazine's website, but they do have a couple of rating polls about her looks/fashions:
VH1 Big in '06: http://www.seventeen.com/fashion/love-it-leave-it/katherine-mcphee-fli-1206
Chuck & Larry premiere: http://www.seventeen.com/fashion/love-it-leave-it/katherine-mcphee-flili-0907
Katharine McPhee fans around the world