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My partner is a fiercely sceptical health and science journalist.

A couple of weeks ago, she was invited on a promotional tour of a wellbeing resort. There were zero-carb meals, mindfulness lectures, warnings about the dangers of fluoride, and advice on matching your microbiome to your blood type.

Gluten, she was warned, could cause her skin to split; a yeast cleanout was promoted for $690.

None of this will raise an eyebrow to anyone who has spent time on Gwenyth Paltrow’s Goop storefront, not that the resort was related to Goop.

Gwyneth Paltrow at a Goop event in 2020.Credit: Getty Images

What intrigues me is the targeting. I did not get an invitation. I rarely get pitched New Age or “woo-woo” stories or products. My social media feeds are full of ads for health insurance, share trading and watches.

“I think women are incredibly targeted,” says Annie McCubbin, who in 2021 published a book entitled Why Smart Women Make Bad Decisions.

“Of course men are vulnerable to mis- and -disinformation. But women, having to be young, fit, spiritually plugged in, vegan, sexy, the whole thing … The pressure on us, under the male gaze, is huge.”

In........

© Brisbane Times