Reist makes a fair point about the hypocrisy of claiming to oppose an 'ideal' standard for women's beauty while glorifying the status quo.

However, I don't necessarily agree with Melinda's attack on the glorification of the ideal body standard.

There is a reality here, one that I suspect I'll be attacked for mentioning, but a majority of people are and will always be more attracted to healthy body types.
The same goes for women - how many women do you think find a beer-gut more attractive than a six-pack?

As Reist mentions "Hawkins says she works out six days a week with 90-minute cardio and weights etc and Jess says she gets “super strict about her diet” prior to a photoshoot with an emphasis on carrots etc."

So she works hard to keep her body like this. Note here that she doesn't say she starves herself - she exercises and eats a healthy diet.

Ultimately, the issue comes back to confidence and realising that attraction isn't solely about the perfect body. Believe it or not, when it comes to choosing a partner men don't only consider body issues.
One of the most attractive features is confidence. I do agree with sending out a message that we should try to be healthy, but at the same time, we don't need to conform to some ideal body standard.

But I don't necessarily agree that it is 'lovable's duty to do so. It's an underwear ad.

99% of us, men and women, don't have the perfect body. That doesn't mean we shouldn't attack nor appreciate those who do.

However, when it comes to advertising underwear, I guess I can't blame an underwear company for wanting to choose an attractive body - it is after all, underwear.

The emasculation of the father figure in girls life has opened the door to greedy advertisers and the porn industry being able to exploit the insecurities in girls growing up. When you see parents idiotic enough to allow their girls to buy ga ga or kylie porn let alone attend their porn shows you realize where the battle for decency has been lost. Melinda seems to be attacking the fruit instead of looking at the root of the problem. The national broadcasters are chief champions of degrading young girls through their weekend morning porn shows in the disguise of music. There 'freedom of expression' comes at the price of many young teen girls feeling like they must give every boy what they want and the then feeling used up after a number of encounters. No wonder suicide and anerexia among girls is increasing. It is not rocket science but time for the 'freedom of expression mob' to come out of denial. Unfortunately in the name of 'free speech' we will always have the defenders of porn because it exposes their own immoralities.

MTR

1. Jennifer Hawkins is advertising underwear not car tyres.

2. True, Lovable are complete hypocrites - there are plenty of gorgeous women who are either curvier than Hawkins or even less perfect but still stunning - so valid point there.

3. AND Yes, the food eating/sucking stuff is on the soft porn side of the debate, however most people are sexual and respond to this imagery and if this stuff gets banned then so does this:

http://www.tinyurl.com.au/t7i

4. How about writing more about people RESPECTING each other, rather than trying to control what we choose to view or purchase.

(About choice: I find Loveable bras not nearly as comfortable and flattering as the Bendon range - don't need ads for that just a good lingerie store.)

5. There are some posters here who clearly loathe women and continually disparage them. Then there are those who sexually harass in the workplace - which, BTW, is closely related to bullying. Frankly, we need to concentrate on creating a society where equality of opportunity is simply a given, not something to be constantly fought for.

99% of women think they could be better looking. 99% are right and thinking perfectly rationally. Why tell them that they have a mental health issue called low self esteem?

TRTL

Give me humility over confidence any day. I have no time for a bigger girl who thinks she is god's gift to men.

Benk

I suggest that you are confusing arrogance over confidence. Arrogance is an undesirable trait in either men or women. Think Rupert Murdoch or Margaret Thatcher, neither one could be described as humble.

As for humility, do you mean an honest sense of self or a subservient nature?

Without confidence, could a surgeon, airline pilot, nurse or any number of people perform their careers?

Here we go, Calvin Klein men's underwear advertisements to balance.

http://www.calvinkleininc.com/underwear/men.aspx

With men being the new market for fashion and cosmetics, there is just as much advertising 'objectifying' men it would seem, but no-one is complaining. Goodness gracious, where oh where is MTR and her self-righteous indignation when she is needed?

Then again, maybe the indignation is not needed sometimes.

Quoting Catherine Hakim, a renowned sociologist at the London School of Economics:

“All intelligent, educated women are feminists — but radicalised feminism rejects sex and sensuality. The thing that hit me one day is that there is no difference between the way patriarchy and feminism regard women who make the most of themselves when they aren’t the most brilliantly intelligent thing in the world.

“Not everyone can have a high IQ — so what is wrong with making what they can of the skills and talents they have? I don’t look down on Katie Price or Victoria Beckham. If you don’t want to pay attention to them, then don’t, pass on and read your Proust instead. The whole culture makes women who capitalise on their erotic capital feel less valued and less worthy.”

http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/article7100751.ece

It is always always amusing though, that when the MTRs cast about to blame others for the poor nutritional choices of young women they conveniently forget the preponderance of sites pushing vegetarian and vegan diets which are notorious for causing health problems for young women in particular.

Animal welfare and animal liberation sites are platforms for radical vegetarian and vegan activists to recruit vulnerable young women who for various reasons cannot manage the complicated diet planning, the rigid discipline needed to ensure they get adequate vitamins and protein and the regular blood tests to re-jig the supplements. Then there is the cost. For the overwhelming majority of young women it is disastrous and sometimes fatal to reject the cheap, first class protein available in Australia.