It is realistic. It’s a real body. It’s Jennifer Hawkins’ real body and she should not be the target of anyone’s beef with the industry or the media just because she happens to fit in with what THEY want.

Of course there are problems with using Jennifer Hawkins on a cover of a body image issue, but they’re not insurmountable. And no one here has stopped to consider that J.Haw may have deep seated issues of her own. Sure, she’s gorgeous and ‘perfect’ in the way that women are ’supposed’ to be – but she’s also expected to stay exactly that way or run the risk of failing and becoming less of a woman somehow. I find it interesting that so many intelligent women across the argument would fall for the simplistic defence that she can’t possibly know what it’s like to experience negative body image because she is, for all intents and purposes, the ideal woman.

Besides which, I agree with Karen – why do we find it okay to criticise other women’s bodies just because we place it under the banner of academic investigation?

And Das, I understand that Koraly may feel her body type is underrepresented. But that’s hardly Jennifer Hawkins’ fault, and effectively telling her that an image of her body makes Koraly want to starve herself and therefore Jennifer has a responsibility not to display it is both naive and unfair.

women’s vanity-porn industry is a keeper, by the way.

Personally I don’t think this shot of Jen is degrading, but what I’m taking from Koraly’s article is that she feels (for whatever her body shape/type etc) unrepresented in popular culture. And I don’t think that anyone could argue that pop women’s magazines feature diverse bodies, as anything more than a \Body Image Special\ which generally just fetishizes anyone who is not the norm. For some people who have suffered with eating disorders, connecting a nude shot of Jen (who is relatively flawless according to the standard) to this particular charity almost needs a trigger warning. I’m not saying Jen and people in her professional field don’t have a role to play in promoting healthy body awareness but perhaps there could have been a better way to use Jen’s pull.

As a thinking woman and a feminist, I really resent the implication that women who have been physically blessed more than others (in a socially acceptable manner blah blah blah) have to apologise for their attributes or somehow play them down. What does it say about our own power and self determination and indeed support for other women if we argue that the only way for a cover like this to be legitimate and beautiful is for it to feature a woman who has, dare I say it, more rolls and flaws than a former Miss Universe?

This real women business is total nonsense and, in my experience, has only ever served to pit us further against each other to wage a female driven campaign of body fascism more potent than any media stunt could ever do.

It’s boring.

I don’t resent Jennifer for her body. The picture does look wholesome because it hasn’t been airbrushed but this is not the point. She is trying to promote ‘positive body images for women’. She is supporting an eating disorder charity. This image will invoke different responses with different women but for me, it is not that much different to any other naked woman on the front of a glossy magazine and the thinner they are, the more conscious I am of my own body shape.

“and she is open about how much effort it takes to keep it that way. if you want one like that, do it”
I do not for a second believe that every woman can look like this, no matter how much they exercise and diet. And saying that all you have to do it get up and do it contributes to the problem. I eat a healthy diet and exercise and will NEVER look like that. I’d like to – because that’s what society has conditioned me to want – but why should i kill myself trying? Why is there all this pressure on women to look like this? Why?

does this photo degrade women? i mean, really? i’d like to see more nude bodies that are not hyper-sexualised. this picture is pretty wholesome, and i think [to quote my friend's op ed piece yesterday] resenting jennifer hawkins for her body is like resenting a high court judge for knowing more about the law than you do. she’s a working model! and as models go, she actually looks pretty healthy to me ie. strong, athletic, vital.

i honestly think that women devoting mental energy to criticising other womens’ bodies is such a waste of feminist effort. all women are real women. jennifer hawkins’s body is “real” – it’s really hers! and she is open about how much effort it takes to keep it that way. if you want one like that, do it. if you don’t, forget about it. honestly, i couldn’t care less about whose body is more “real”. i could just be sick for how much women allow so much scrutiny of their own and other womens’ bodies.

the women i find beautiful or sexy have no body shape or feature in common [as with the men] and it’s often their eyes or intellect or confidence or laugh or hair [shallow, yes] that triggers my desire.

why are all drawn into this every time?