TWO young Stanhope women have carved out a niche in the competitive world of magazines. SARAH HUDSON reports

We read about them as news headlines and statistics: teenage girls binge drinking, having under-age sex and falling prey to eating disorders.

Erin Young, from Stanhope, Victoria, was so concerned about the issues confronting her age group she decided to do something about it.

"It's hard to know whether it is bad and has been bad for a while or maybe there's just more focus on it and more research being done," says Erin, 21.

"Even when I was at high school, though, some girls drank and had sex at 13."

Two years ago, Erin, together with her younger sister Jean, established Real magazine, with the aim of promoting positive body image and self-respect among the 14 to 18-year-old bracket.

Now, Real magazine has - while experiencing a few bumps - become an inspirational story.

So far it has produced two editions - one in 2007 and just one last year because Erin suffered a prolonged illness - with another two planned for 2009.

The third edition was launched on Monday (June 1).

"The June edition is about love in the age of Wii, YouTube and Blue Ray Disc - in other words how things such as texting and technology affects relationships," says Erin, who also works and studies part-time and volunteers at a women's centre.

"We'll be looking at unsafe sex and the amount of sexually transmitted diseases there are and how not to get them.

"There will also be contributed stories, one from a girl who talks about being a misfit and another about bullying."

Erin's plans do not stop there.

She has just completed a Government Certificate Four in small business management, "just so I know how to do tax and, when we employ people, how to do the superannuation".

The course also involved a forward plan: "by 2012, we want to be in newsagents and be bi-monthly".

Money matters also mean being realistic about the high costs of magazine production.

The first edition's print run in 2007 was 2500 and the second 4000, each run costing about $5500, which came from grants, sponsorship, ads and even Erin's own pocket.

For the upcoming editions, she says she's hoping to get more advertising, with subscription costing $5.95 per edition.

"Libra has promised that they will advertise in every edition, which is great," Erin says.

And, of course, at the moment, Erin and her team all work voluntarily.

The team includes her sister Jean, currently studying Year 12 at Kyabram Secondary College, Echuca girl Felicity Kane and a 25-year-old mum Melissa Wallace.

The original concept for the magazine came out of Erin's own experiences at Kyabram Secondary College where she, like so many girls in her age group, developed an eating disorder, which she now no longer suffers.

"I realised at the time there was no support for issues like this and I could have used the help of something like Real.

"I probably would have travelled down the same path and done the same things but it would have helped to see other girls and be influenced by positive media images rather than negative ones."

Jean, 17, says that, while she has not had the same experiences as her sister, she was motivated to start the magazine for other reasons.

"I wanted to help Erin and a couple of friends who have been sick," says Jean, who both writes and creates the artwork for the magazine, in between helping out on her parents' dairy farm.

"A lot of girls have bad body image and I think this kind of thing can really help - the feedback is showing that."

Erin agrees: "I feel girls are so against each other. Every single girl is going through the same thing in some way, so we should be together rather than the typical bitchiness."