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On women's glossy magazines
Jan. 4th, 2008 10:12 amMy sister, I've mentioned on these pages before, is lots cleverer than me. To illustrate this, she has a degree in advanced cleverness from Oxbridge University, whilst I studied a social science at a former polytechnic - which intellectually means that my eyebrows grow together and my knuckles drag along the ground.
In the light of this it always surprises me that she seems to have an odd addiction to the astonishingly brain-dead glossy magazines which fill the 'womens lifestyle' shelves at WHSmith in drifts. She's an avid reader of Vogue for instance, although it's a mystery to me how anyone can 'read' it - there don't seem to be any words in it, just page upon page upon page of endless pictures of overpriced shoes and handbags.
Sometimes she brings home a copy of something like Red or Marie Claire, which at least have some writing in them, and occasionally an article with a title like "Sex - what he's really thinking" which are always good for a laugh.
Last night she came gamely tripping along with a copy of Easy Living, the cover of which declares it to be the 'New year weight loss issue - your ultimate guide to losing weight!'. Now, over Christmas I accidentally fell face-first into a tin of florentines and had to be cut free by the fire brigade so I might have gained the odd ounce here and there, so I picked it up for a browse to see if I could pick up any tips.
By the time I'd finished reading the 10-15 page feature on losing wieght for the new year I was nigh-apoplectic with shock. In the space of those 10-15 pages and thousands of words of text not once - and I went back and checked - was the word 'exercise' used. Not once. Nor was 'gym', walking', or 'try moving around a bit more'. The whole thing, all of it, was just articles and features on what to eat and how to make your diet work. All of this despite the first article in the feature acknowledging that research indicates that diets alone do not work, with 93% of dieters ending up heavier than when they started - but is there any indication of what you might add to 'diets alone' to make them work? There is not. Instead we get a lengthy piece on 'Your relationship with food'.
I don't know about you but I'm not sure that I have a 'relationship with food'. If I do, it's roughly similar to the 'relationship' I'd have with girls I met in the Union Bar when I was a student - I've got a hearty appetite, I'll help myself to other peoples if they're not looking, and any still there in the morning can be warmed up for second helpings.
There's a lot of text about various dietary supplements to suppress appetite or prevent your body digesting fat, but nothing whatsoever about how you might help your weight loss intentions by occasionally moving more than rummaging for the remote control down the back of the sofa. It beggars my comprehension how you can run an 'ultimate' guide to weight loss without suggesting that burning extra calories might in some way aid the process, but somehow Easy Living manages it.
Easy Living sells more then 200,000 copies a month and claims more than double that number of actual readers - that's over 2% of the adult women in this country reading this fatuous crap. The feature goes on to say Show me a woman, and I'll show you someone who is on a diet, has been on a diet, or is going on a diet. That can't be strictly true, can it?
Can it?
[Poll #1115516]
In the light of this it always surprises me that she seems to have an odd addiction to the astonishingly brain-dead glossy magazines which fill the 'womens lifestyle' shelves at WHSmith in drifts. She's an avid reader of Vogue for instance, although it's a mystery to me how anyone can 'read' it - there don't seem to be any words in it, just page upon page upon page of endless pictures of overpriced shoes and handbags.
Sometimes she brings home a copy of something like Red or Marie Claire, which at least have some writing in them, and occasionally an article with a title like "Sex - what he's really thinking" which are always good for a laugh.
Last night she came gamely tripping along with a copy of Easy Living, the cover of which declares it to be the 'New year weight loss issue - your ultimate guide to losing weight!'. Now, over Christmas I accidentally fell face-first into a tin of florentines and had to be cut free by the fire brigade so I might have gained the odd ounce here and there, so I picked it up for a browse to see if I could pick up any tips.
By the time I'd finished reading the 10-15 page feature on losing wieght for the new year I was nigh-apoplectic with shock. In the space of those 10-15 pages and thousands of words of text not once - and I went back and checked - was the word 'exercise' used. Not once. Nor was 'gym', walking', or 'try moving around a bit more'. The whole thing, all of it, was just articles and features on what to eat and how to make your diet work. All of this despite the first article in the feature acknowledging that research indicates that diets alone do not work, with 93% of dieters ending up heavier than when they started - but is there any indication of what you might add to 'diets alone' to make them work? There is not. Instead we get a lengthy piece on 'Your relationship with food'.
I don't know about you but I'm not sure that I have a 'relationship with food'. If I do, it's roughly similar to the 'relationship' I'd have with girls I met in the Union Bar when I was a student - I've got a hearty appetite, I'll help myself to other peoples if they're not looking, and any still there in the morning can be warmed up for second helpings.
There's a lot of text about various dietary supplements to suppress appetite or prevent your body digesting fat, but nothing whatsoever about how you might help your weight loss intentions by occasionally moving more than rummaging for the remote control down the back of the sofa. It beggars my comprehension how you can run an 'ultimate' guide to weight loss without suggesting that burning extra calories might in some way aid the process, but somehow Easy Living manages it.
Easy Living sells more then 200,000 copies a month and claims more than double that number of actual readers - that's over 2% of the adult women in this country reading this fatuous crap. The feature goes on to say Show me a woman, and I'll show you someone who is on a diet, has been on a diet, or is going on a diet. That can't be strictly true, can it?
Can it?
[Poll #1115516]
