Name: A teen just trying to figure it out
Uploaded: 2012-05-05T13:58:32Z
Duration: 7 min 13 s
Description: Fifteen-year-old Tavi Gevinson had a hard time finding strong female, teenage role models -- so she built a space where they could find each other. At TEDxTeen, she illustrates how the conversations on sites like Rookie, her wildly popular web magazine for and by teen girls, are putting a new, unapologetically uncertain and richly complex face on modern feminism.

Fifteen-year-old Tavi Gevinson had a hard time finding strong female, teenage role models -- so she built a space where they could find each other. At TEDxTeen, she illustrates how the conversations on sites like Rookie, her wildly popular web magazine for and by teen girls, are putting a new, unapologetically uncertain and richly complex face on modern feminism.

A teen just trying to figure it out

Many girls are taught to chase one-dimensional versions of strength, but real empowerment means acknowledging contradictions and complexity. Rookie magazine launched with 3,000 submissions in its first call, proving teens crave spaces that reflect their messy realities. Fiction and pop culture often flatten women into stereotypes, yet embracing imperfections makes characters—and people—relatable. Owning confusion, doubts, and contradictions leads to a richer, more genuine sense of self.