I’m a huge fan of promoting health and healthy living at every age. But, encouraging young women to hate and abuse their bodies? Not for it in the least bit. So when I saw Jezebel’s post about Seventeen Magazine’s BMI calculator, I was far from enthused. I already think the calculator is a bit off in what it deems healthy. The Body Mass Index calculator has been questioned heavily in terms of its accuracy for determining health, especially when looking at Black women. However, it is still widely accepted dictating the ideal weight/height ratio, so I kind of accept. But Seventeen’s BMI calculator encourages young women to strive for portions that are deemed underweight by national BMI standards.

Hopefully, this is something that will be rectified soon. While promoting health, it is very important that we use accurate information and take special consideration of the populations with which we are dealing. It’s not like young women don’t already have enough weight and image issues to process. Hell, grown women struggle with the same issues on a large scale. There’s an online petition against Seventeen’s BMI Calculator. Maybe the petition will gain the same type of notice as the petition against the magazine’s use of airbrushing.