The Daily Mail, the newspaper that has the largest proportion of female readers, is well known for its voyeuristic portrayal of women's bodies, especially if they are famous.
Today's issue contains a classic of the genre, as the headline, "Portrait of a slightly saggy supermodel", indicates.
Underneath is a picture of Kate Moss in a bikini and an accompanying article, written by columnist Liz Jones, that supposedly "deconstructs" every aspect of Moss's body. It details her supposed "dried-out décolletage", "belly bloat" and "blobby bottom."
An anorexic since her youth, Jones is renowned for her obsession with her own body. And her Mail columns reveal that she is also preoccupied by the bodies of other women.
Therefore, her involvement in this tasteless little exercise is to be expected. But I wonder whether the women who read the Mail, let alone those who work for it, feel entirely comfortable about such nasty stuff. Or am I, on reflection, guilty of being hopelessly naive?
