Teen Vogue’s Political Activist Writers

Teen Vogue is a political publication, with writers who have policy objectives and ties to political organizations.

For example, Allegra Kirkland, the politics director of Teen Vogue, was previously a reporter (and later senior editor) at Talking Points Memo, a left-biased news website, where she covered “extremist groups, voting rights, and the Trump administration.” Her articles at TPM included criticisms of Ron DeSantis, William Barr’s “absurd defenses” of Donald Trump, and GOP gerrymandering.

Colleen Hamilton, a contributor to Teen Vogue and author of the article “Healthcare for Trans Kids: How Parents Are Fighting to Get Their Children the Care They Need” boasts even clearer political ties. According to her website, her reporting focuses on “grassroots movements for social justice, queer liberation.” She is also a “nonprofit communications consultant” and has worked with organizations such as the gun control advocacy network March for Our Lives.

More Activists

Kirkland and Hamilton are far from the only Teen Vogue employees with political activist backgrounds. Lexi McMenamin, Teen Vogue’s news and politics editor, has a long history of working for political organizations. McMenamin had a stint working at the Center for Popular Democracy (CPD), a liberal organization focused on creating a society “where people of color, immigrants . . . and LGBTQ communities thrive together.” The CPD works with other left-of-center organizations like CASA de Maryland and Action Now in Illinois.

After leaving the CPD, McMenamin worked as a field organizer for Carol-Shea Porter (D-NH) on her campaign for Congress in New Hampshire. Shea-Porter is a former Democratic member of the U.S. House of Representatives and served as vice-chair of the 2020 Democratic National Convention.

McMenamin also interned twice at the Urban Justice Center (UJC) before working as the UJC’s media coordinator. The UJC is a left-of-center legal foundation that notably runs the Sex Workers Project, which provides legal services to sex workers in New York City.

McMenamin’s history of voter advocacy continued at NextGen America, an organization that dedicates millions of dollars to electing Democrats, as a political organizer in New Hampshire, where NextGen worked with SEIU International and Planned Parenthood Votes. After NextGen America, McMenamin worked for Public Justice as a communications associate. Public Justice is a nonprofit legal firm that focuses on lawsuits against the government and major businesses.

Them

Teen Vogue writer James Factora, a “queer trans movement journalist,” is a prolific contributor to both Teen Vogue and Them, which are sometimes one and the same because, in addition to sharing writers, Teen Vogue also cross posts articles from other platforms, such as Them. In a post on Them’s website, Factora refers to the Republican Party’s “quest to obliterate Black History Month” and writes dozens of indictments of Republican policy at both the state and federal levels.

Them is an LGBT magazine owned by Conde Nast, the same parent company that owns Teen Vogue. Teen Vogue is only one arm of Conde Nast’s media empire, which includes the left-leaning publications Them, Wired, and the New Yorker.

The Teen Vogue Echo Chamber

In all my time reading through the Teen Vogue website and investigating its writers, I found no articles with a conservative lean and no writers with explicit (or implicit) ties to conservative organizations or viewpoints.

If your teen is reading Teen Vogue, be aware that the content they are consuming includes highly political and sexual articles. Teen Vogue’s politics and identity sections are echo chambers that promote only one point of view. Teen Vogue employs writers with left-leaning political experience, and they are cultivating readers who could become the next generation of employees at organizations like NextGen America and March for Our Lives.