Making women feel bad about about themselves since 1886

Back in high school I worked at a book store that was in its death throes. I had a lot of down time, and so I spent hours leafing through magazines from our shelves to pass the hours. (Yes, I know I could have been reading Great Literature, or something. Sue me for being human.) In addition to beginning a raging addiction to X-men comic books (such that I was able to grouse that the various recent movies tinkered blasphemously with the "real" storyline), I read a lot of women's magazines. (Yes, yes. How cliche.)

From this reading, I was able to glean some handy tips for conditioning my hair, the ability to name the full pantheon of supermodels (this was during the early 90s, back when the concept of the supermodel was considered culturally relevant in some way), and the realization that women must remain in a constant process of self-modification in order to keep men satisfied. Everything from head to toe must, it seems, be kept glossy, firm, toned, smoothed, lifted, high-lighted or buffed. Our friends at Cosmo, of course, keep their readers up-to-date by telling them all the different ways they should be looking better than they do.

To which the single best response I have ever read can be found here.