The Black Talk Media Project is calling for concerned parents of teenage girls and others in the community to petition Essence Magazine about its upcoming layout of a photo shoot featuring Gabby Douglass in their October and November issue.

Based on the images that have been released, we have concerns that this beautiful Black role model for our youth is going to be sexualized in media like so many other teenage "celebrities".

This type of media has been shown in numerous studies to be harmful to our teenaged girl's mental, emotional and physical health. Essence Magazine should be careful to only publish age appropriate photos. Thank you.