In the July issue of Jolie, a magazine insert The State newspaper markets to women, Editor Sarah Gilbert Fox writes in her letter to readers, “This month everyone will celebrate the 4th of July, gather at the beach, have BBQ’s, knock back margaritas, and, well, worry about their weight. Which makes me wonder how much independence do we really have? I’m beginning to think we don’t much like freedom, because when we have it we just end up subjugating ourselves to something else, such as the perfect-body image. So what if we’re a size 12, which used to be an average size. If we can’t fit into a size 4, we’re doomed.”

“It’s all rather shocking,” she writes, “this need to obtain a skinnier self at the expense of a happier self. And it’s a shame to know that these women’s children are constantly exposed to this talk. These daughters hardly have a chance to live a life of self-acceptance.”

She vows to “make a difference” by getting women to stop judging their bodies so harshly or to shut up about it if they can’t.

“I’m a former 82-pound anorexic,” she confides, “and it’s taken me 35 years to get to where I am right now: less boney for sure, but happier, more relaxed, and with enough energy to realize how much I’m really worthy, large or small. Don’t get me wrong – I’m still neurotic and out of touch with most things, but at least body image is not one of them.”

I’m sure she means well, and I applaud Fox’s attempt to address a serious condition afflicting too many women and girls, but her message is lost in doublespeak. And the swipe she takes at herself about being neurotic and clueless shows she has yet to shake that other bad habit women have: self deprecation.

The irony of Fox’s message is the package in which it is delivered. The front cover of this month’s Jolie features a bare-bellied beauty; the back cover is a full-page ad for a plastic surgeon. The pages in between are filled with products and services that promise to permanently remove age spots and sun spots, varicose veins and unwanted hair. Spa ads offer skin tightening, lifting and smoothing, cellulite reduction, Botox and Juvederm, chemical peels and microdermabrasion. Dentist ads offer veneers, teeth whitening, and “beautiful crowns.”

I know that Jolie is really an advertising insert masquerading as a magazine, but it is insulting that it pretends to be about anything more than making a buck. Until the media cops to its role in the commodification of women and its very real consequences, all the attagirl columns in all those “women’s magazines” will die under the weight of the ads that tell women a thousand different ways a thousand times a day that they are not good enough.

Shame on them for cultivating and cashing in on a culture that cares more about how a woman looks than what she thinks. And shame on us for buying into it.

Becci Robbins