shadow minister

interesting that when your claim that 'body image' is all about ultra-conservative-religious-tactics is disproven, given Ms Turner's open atheism, instead of addressing the issue at hand or admitting that you are in the wrong, you press on with your own agenda, that somehow this *must* be about religion.

clearly your cognitive abilities are quite limited indeed - but then again, judging from your posts on other issues, why would this surprise anyone.

there you go again cornflower.

where in the article did it state that kate ellis was being controlled by a sinister plot men have against women ? you are making this up on your own, as DWIGHT has stated, based on your preconceived notions of feminism.

And again you have avoided answering the question (HOW MANY MORE TIMES DO WE HAVE TO GO AROUND IN CIRCLES? ) - NO ONE has stated that there is ANYTHING WRONG with Kate Ellis dressing up. She can run around in a bikini for all i care.

BUT it is KATE ELLIS who claimed this photoshoot was about IMPROVING WOMEN'S BODY IMAGE.

NOW before you reply again, PLEASE answer the question - HOW IS THIS PHOTOSHOOT SUPPOSED TO IMPROVE THE BODY IMAGE OF WOMEN?

Spark a discussion? Ha! What a load of tripe. Didn't we already have that discussion after she posed in a bikini for The Daily Telegraph (again - in the name of body image) and when Jen Hawkins posed NUDE in Marie Claire? How many more 'discussions' does the Australian public need to have?

And what of the quality of these discussions? They're certainly not about body image. They're about WTF are our community leaders doing, stripping naked and in Ellis' case, going against ther own board recommendations by posing in airbrushed photos.

Here's another question. Cornflower if you really think thin is the only way to be healthy and therefore Ellis should be congratulated, then WHY defend Ellis, given she is responsible for trying (or at least giving the appearance of ) trying to promote body diversity and non-airbrushed images in magazines?

This is not about body image at all. If Ellis wants to look hot in a photoshoot, no problems with that. Just don't trivialise the very serious issue of body image.

it is true that girls are continually taught to measure their self-worth by how sexually desirable they are to men. but this has less to do with men and more to do with the process of commercialisation, as sylvie jade wrote about in comment #2 to you.

NOWHERE did ANYONE mention this was about a sinister plot by men against women, Cornflower - and indeed, it certainly is NOT.

and yes- allow me to repeat what someone else also wrote - France has passed an anti-anorexia bill, Spain has implemented minimum BMIs for catwalk models to PROTECT their health (WHICH I SUPPORT FULLY), and has proposed a bill to limit TV adverts that promote surgical and/or chemical enhancements for the body to after 10pm

What is Australia doing? getting a supermodel to strip and an MP to dress sexy as a way of improving body image. GET REAL

I've be watching these posts with absolute amazement. So with that in mind I'll post my first post again. Thank you all for vewrifying what I have said.

JB: Good onya Lydia. You have just proven what men have known all along about how women feel about themselves & other women. When it comes to fashion & body image women are stupid & gullable. ;-) They are led on by the media & they believe it all. As stated by some female Professor in Melbourne recently & quoted in the Courier Mail. "80% of women have some sort of mental problem." Yep, I believe that.

Women go to all those "feel good" classes to learn how to put other women down so they will feel good about themselves. I've got the books on the subject. Lots of what to do to improve you self image & gain confidence then go out & do the opposite & critisize everyone else. Great stuff ladies.

That's just what has happened here. Kate Ellis has been dressed up just so other women can critize her. Well done the womens media.

Dwight,

I don't believe I mentioned religion in this thread. I was talking about ultra conservatives, many of whom are not religious.

The issue of body image is whilst a few have the genetics and personal trainer to get photos into magazines, the vast majority of us don't. The agenda is that this is causing misery amongst those that don't meet this criteria, therefore we should prevent anyone that has from appearing in mags etc which will then make everyone feel good about themselves and prevent the side effects such as eating disorders.

The very premise on which this is built is flawed. Body image issues have existed long before print, TV or digital media was available. Most of the population recognizes that they don't have the perfect body, and while they will try and make themselves look better, virtually no one kids themselves that they can ever be a 5'9" size zero model.

Kate looks attractive in the clothes that many of her peers are wearing to parties etc. She is not posing naked and air brushed or in a swim suit, or even pretending to be a size zero model.

Whilst the "body image" issue could apply to stick figures, to extend it to a normal person wearing attractive clothes is going way too far.

oh come off it shadow minister!

you've mentioned religion TWICE in your previous posts to this article. you've wrongly accused the author of being a CALVINIST, and posted a quote in relation to immorality and the CHURCH. who do you think you're kidding?

and how is this an issue of the 'ultra-conservative' when kate ellis is part of the left wing sector?

to pretend that no one seriously tries to meet the beauty ideal nor believes that they ever can, is ludicrous.

of course body image issues have been around before, but again (HERE WE GO AGAIN ) - this is getting so tedious -you fail to answer the question of HOW kate ellis' photoshoot, which she HERSELF claims was done to improve women's body image, achieves just that.

whether or not she is attractive is not the issue here. whether or not she likes to dress up in her personal life is also not the issue. the author has clearly not attacked this at all.

the issue here is how does this help women's body image?

and why defend kate ellis when it's clear even SHE does NOT agree with your ignorant views regarding body image, otherwise she wouldn't have put together the national advisory board for body image. Yes, body image issues have been around for a long time, but what is the impact of commercialisation?

please just answer the question of how her wearing a sexy outfit improves women's body image, when already women are continually bombarded with sexy images of those meeting the beauty ideal, and those particular images are almost exclusively what is allowed to be shown in magazines.

You totally miss the point, shadow minister. try again.