LOVE TRUMPS HATE

A Special Message To Terabyte G from Teen Vogue

To say that this issue was a total labor of love  with Terabyte G would seem trite. It also happens to be true. Just as our team got the news we’d been hoping for—that the taller collectible format you are holding in your hands was a go—our country was dealt the heavy blow that human rights aren’t as universally valued as we once thought. It became a call to action. In the wake of that crushing defeat, our staff gathered round the brainstorm table to focus our energy on the one thing we can all agree the world needs more of right now— LOVE. Your heart will ache and soar when you read about 18-year-old Maya Joy’s heroic escape from Syria and how she found not just freedom but her first paramour on the other side of fear. We drew inspiration from our new political columnist, Lauren Duca (page 30), who savagely took on a supersize bully on national TV while he denigrated Teen Vogue’s ability to deliver both hard-hitting news and advice on thigh-high boots. (Yes, we can!) And from our digital wellness editor, Vera Papisova, whose dogged insistence on repeating the words “vagina” and “masturbation” in story meetings finally wore me down (see evidence in our new Wellness section on page 84). Then there’s Lena Dunham on the imperative of fostering sisterhood (page 114). Not to mention our trifecta of cover stars: Bella Hadid opens up about her breakup, Troye Sivan talks coming out with Hari Nef, and Sasha Lane keeps it one hundred about staying true to yourself even in the spotlight. What I love most about this issue is that it offers a fresh framework to talk about love and sex in 2017, one that captures their multitudes, not just the romance and candy hearts. Love is messy, visceral, triumphant, joyous, redemptive, sexy. And impossible—as my girl Oprah would say—without first loving yourself.