One of my favorite rants

The folks who know me IRL know my hobby of mocking women's magazines. The cheapies you can find at the cash register hold true to a certain formula, which I shall illustrate with two weeks' worth of Woman's World.

First up, the 30 November edition:

Note the primary headline, the one paired with the big picture: WALK OFF 20 LBS BY CHRISTMAS! Note, also, the somewhat smaller head: Cupcake fun!

This is Type One for these magazines. Giant cover article on a diet, slightly-less-prominent article on junk food. (Almost always baked goods. You are a horrid wife and mother if you don't produce these things for your family.)

Next up, the 7th December edition (the next week's edition, for those not keeping close track):
This layout is much the same, of course, but with the two primary elements switched. This time, the giant screaming headline is BAKE UP SOME HOLIDAY LOVE! and the smaller head is Negative-calorie foods that BEAT HOLIDAY FAT! Plus, Crash off 4lbs in 3 days!

This is Type Two. The giant head of shitty food, paired with the smaller one of how to lose the weight you gain eating said shitty food. (Disclaimer: I loves me some shitty food. There's a reason I wear a size 16/18, OK?)

Granted, I don't have a huge issue with this, as evidenced by the fact that I pulled both of those magazines out of storage in my bedroom to photograph their covers. In the main, they are harmless little rags, and vaguely amusing. I've never used a diet or a recipe out of any of the issues I've bought over the years.

I must admit, though, it gets to me sometimes. There's a huge contradiction there, and I wonder if other women grasp that. We are constantly bombarded with messages that we're not enough. Not sexy enough, not pretty enough, not thin enough, not good enough cooks or housekeepers or mothers. And we keep on buying into it. And I don't know why. I've never understood why.

What brought all this up today is this: Anorexia Nearly Killed My Wife. Not the story. The little link down at the bottom right of the page. Just because I'm not sure whether it will still be there tomorrow (or even later today), I took a screen shot:


To spell it out: ON THE SAME FUCKING PAGE AS AN ARTICLE ABOUT A WOMAN ALMOST DYING FROM AN EATING DISORDER IS AN ARTICLE CALLED "EXACTLY WHAT TO EAT TO LOSE WEIGHT"

How the hell do these people not die from the irony? (Situational irony.)

Mind you, the staff of Glamour purport themselves to be feminists. I think they need a refresher course in the concept.