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Introduction Liz Jones When Liz Jones, Who Was Then Editor Of The Women's ...




Introduction
Liz Jones
When Liz Jones, who was then editor of the women's magazine Marie Claire, resigned from the magazine, it was not a sudden decision. It was, rather, the culmination of a lifetime of experiences as a female member of society, followed by years working in a business that had a great influence on females in society. Quite simply: she had had enough. She explainedpubliclythe reasons she decided to step down from her position as editor at Marie Claire, and she did so with heartfelt emotion and compelling clarity. First, she described her feelings earlier that year as she sat through another season of high fashion: modeling spectacles in which all eyes are upon myriads of unnaturally thin young womenthe ‘supermodels':
For those used to the fashion industry there was nothing unusual about the shows at all. But for me it was the end, it was then that I decided to resign as editor of Marie Claire magazine. I had reached the point where I had simply had enough of working in an industry that pretends to support women while it bombards them with impossible images of perfection day after day, undermining their self-confidence, their health and hard-earned cash (Jones, 2001).

Jones goes on to explain the sequence of events that, together, resulted in her resignation. One of the most important factors was the considerable effort she had put into a campaign to effect profound change on the media's approach to and impact on young women. The campaign was met with such vehement hostility that she found it extremely difficult to continue to be involved with this part of the industry. Just one year earlier, she notes, she had optimistic beliefsunrealistic, perhapsabout the prospects for change: ‘I believed wholeheartedly that we could stop magazines and advertisers using underweight girls as fashion icons' she wrote (2001). She had already proscribed articles about diets and weight-loss, which was an action that was far ahead of its time. This was clearly a step in the right directionbut she knew that it was not enough.
As part of an experiment, she decided to publish the same edition with two coversone of size-six Pamela Anderson, and one with the fleshiersize twelveSophie Dahl. Marie Claire then asked readers to choose ‘between the skinny, cosmetically enhanced perfection, or a more attainable, but still very beautiful curvy woman' (2001). There wasliterallyno contest; Sophie Dahl clearly won the support of the readers. The reaction that followed the contest was ‘staggering', Jones noted. A media frenzy ensued; universities wanted to include it in their course curricula; filmmakers made documentaries about it; and, perhaps most tellingly, an unprecedented number of readers reactedand respondedwith enthusiastic and overwhelming support.
However, the one group whose cooperation was most expected and most neededother members of the industryrefused to rally.


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