Model Proves She Doesn’t Need Your Stinking Photoshop

By Sherrie Gulmahamad on January 7th, 2010

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Miss Universe 2004 and supermodel Jennifer Hawkins wore only body makeup and no Photoshop layers on the cover of next month’s Australian Marie Claire in order to raise awareness for positive body image. One can quite clearly see a normal dimpled thigh and a bit of a crease at her waistline.

The cover has caused a bit of an uproar — as Hawkins models swimwear, lingerie, and other tiny items of clothing for a living. A quick Google search for her yields YouTube footage of Hawkins comfortably walking a runway in a g-string. An op-ed piece for the Australian summed up some of the criticism:

“More worryingly, the images have prompted women to compare themselves with Hawkins. ‘She wants to make [women] feel more comfortable about how they look, gee thanks, I now feel worse! I’m a size 10 and I still have more rolls than her!’ wrote one.”

The Butterfly Foundation, an Australian non-profit dedicated to helping people with eating disorders, has stepped up to champion the magazine’s decision:

“What we’re talking about here is just one small part of the much wider spectrum of body image, self esteem and eating disorder issues and that small part is actually about digital enhancement and retouching of images.”

Marie Claire’s magazine editors landed upon the idea for the cover when a poll of 5500 readers returned the disturbing result that only 12% of them were pleased with their bodies.

What do you think? Do you think the message was undermined by their choice of Hawkins, or does any nudge in the right direction count for good measure?