Consumerism is the new black

Confessions of a botox convert
Painted lady
It's a wrap
Naked ambition
How I get dressed
Rock bottom
Ex files
Shop: our guide to the best shoes and handbags for spring
Shhh: I'm still wearing boot-cuts!

From the titles of the articles above, you wouldn't believe you were reading The Observer – bastion of left-wing Sunday journalism for many years. But then these all appear in their Women magazine, a new monthly supplement aimed at . . . well, actually, I'm not sure who it's aimed at. Certainly not at any woman who thinks of herself as interested in intelligent debate about women in 2006: All but two of the articles in this supplement were about fashion and make-up – cue lots of pictures of handbags and shoes (and thus some nice advertising dollars for the coffers and freebies for the editors). There were two "serious" articles: One woman's experience with depression and another on the sexy new feminist who's making a packet selling t-shirts with "witty" "feminist" slogans like "The only bush I trust is my own" and who promotes her new book by appearing naked wherever possible. This is supposedly a jumping off point for a discussion on "whither feminism in the 21st century", but the author and magazine's editors fail to see the irony of bemoaning women's lack of engagement with politics while ramming rampant product placement down our throats on every other page. Why don't young women identify as feminists? Because we've been turned into consumers, not citizens. Our concerns are about what shoes we buy and what wrinkles have appeared, not whether our current salaries or future pensions are good enough to allow us to fritter money away. Shop frequently or die! Buy more clothing, more cosmetics, more procedures, more stuff, or suffer the consequences! If you don’t consume, you don’t exist!

It shouldn't have been too difficult to redirect the focus of some of these pieces to make them more informative, more challenging, and more relevant. The piece on depression, for example, was well written but very 'personal'. I would have liked a discussion of whether women are experiencing higher levels of depression now, and why? How does the health service treat women who are depressed? Are they taken less or more seriously than men? What alternative treatments exist? How well do the drug companies treat the developing world, and how can governments and consumers encourage an ethical medical system? The piece on Diane van Furstenberg could have examined the challenges of setting up your own business; how to overcome business problems and bankruptcy. How does a female designer view her male counterparts and their differing reactions to the female form? And don't get me started on Confessions of a Botox Convert, the cover story . . . if I hadn't been in a hotel room, I would have been flinging this across the room with great force.

And do women even need a separate supplement at all? Isn't this just a return to the idea that women shouldn't bother their pretty little heads with all the "difficult" topics like politics, business, and (heaven forbid) sport – leaving those to the men, while getting their own stories on important subjects like cosmetics and clothes. If The Observer offered a monthly section called Men and one called Kids, then maybe – just maybe – I could buy into the notion of a separate women’s mag. But no. It's just for us women.

Ugh. I am very disappointed. And angry. Maybe some shopping will calm me down . . .