The bit that really pisses me of is that, under her “Like all women out there should, I love my body� quote, tmz.com says “if you say so.� She's not exquisite enough to escape your riducule, so how dare she say she likes herself.

That being said, I wish this controversy involved anyone but Jennifer Love Hewitt. One time when I was 13ish years old, I was at a friend's house with a mixed gender group. Party of Five was on the TV, and one of the boys unfavorable compared my flat chest and stick legs to Hewitt's body. Repeatedly. Including the next day. I was already so ashamed of the way I looked, and I really started to hate Jennifer Love Hewitt because of that; every time I saw her in her underwear on a magazine cover, I wanted to cry. I know it's irrational, but I still have some bizarre animosity toward her.

TMZ is the most hateful site/TV show I've ever experienced. Has anyone seen the show? There is a roomful of pathological harassers and they sit around laughing about the public figures they've made miserable, intercut with the pettiest 'stories' I've ever seen. I'm not a big fan of celebrities generally -I think they're over-paid and spoiled generally -but this show has really tipped the scales for me in favor of people, even public figures, over those who would hound them in the name of entertainment. It's truly hateful.

Good for JLH. I'm not a fan, but good for her for standing up for herself. She frames the issue in a way I might not, but since the issue is her body I think she's the only person who has a legitimate opinion on the subject anyway.

Are we counting down for the arrival of a *concerned* party now?

Good for her and all, and the underlying body-positive message is great, but I personally also yearn for the day someone (a celebrity) takes it a step even further and questions / unpacks our feeling that we "want" to / have to *wear a bikini* at all.

If you click to the TMZ sight, do not read all of the comments. Many were defending her and I was excited for once that people outside of this site are defending women, but then I came across a gem stating that "I'd still do her, but I would humiliate her first" that proceded to tell exactly how he would humiliate her. It doesn't take much to see the disturbing and pervasive attitude so many people have towards women.

I think it will be a long wait for you charity. do you draw any difference between a bikini and a two-piece swimsuit? (one designed for activity, one usually not)

This whole issue with JLH is quite interesting. Makes a lot of sense to fight against the insane body image issues hollywood creates, a shame so many people seem to have already forgotten what Jaime Lee Curtis did a few years back. Breaks my heart though when I see people using this body image issue to embrace unhealthy lifestyles, either eating disorders trying to live up to the image or being extremely overweight/obese and getting off on the "all shapes and sizes" arguments.

Who doesn't get defensive when someone calls them a name or calls them fat. I think she did a laudable job of saying "your body is beautiful - celebrate!"

As for the "put on a bikni" statement - she is wearing a bikini in the lambasted photos so I'm sure that's why she used that example.

It's definitely cool that she's responding to this in this way and I always appreciate when celebrities speak out about this issue. Remember Tyra -- "you can kiss my fat ass!"

I would, however, have liked her comments a lot better if she didn't say that she's a size two. It seems to undermine her point a bit.

Breaks my heart though when I see people using this body image issue to embrace unhealthy lifestyles, either eating disorders trying to live up to the image or being extremely overweight/obese and getting off on the "all shapes and sizes" arguments.

Wow, that was quick. Poor, heartbroken Dananddanica. The concern must be so painful for you.

I hate that women are in this "you're too fat" and then they end up anoxeric and people say to them "you're too skinny".
When are we going to start saying fuck you to people's expecations and start accepting ourselves as we are.

Does anyone remember her speaking out against unrealistic social images of beauty when she actually fit into those unrealistic images of beauty? Rolling through some old pics of J Love to see what these bikini pics in question actually looked like, I saw a lot of pictures where she was on magazine covers being the literal picture o f society's forcing tiny women with giant boobs as the way you are supposed to look. Seems kind of useless now to say, "those standards are wrong," when you were perfectly fine with those standards if you could use your body to sell them.

True, FemiDancer, but often people don't see issues until they wind up victimized by them.

As far as the difference between her then and now goes... I wish people would look at that as an object lesson in how teen-aged bodies and adult bodies are different, but one is not necessarily better or worse than the other.

On the one hand it's great that celebrities are saying that they are okay with their bodies. However, they do go out of their way to point out that they're not fat. It's just like "I'm not fat, but if I were, it would be okay...but I'm not." I can understand their points because neither Tyra nor Jennifer Love are close to being overweight and both have beautiful bodies, but they could say that in a better way. They could point out that there's something wrong with the way that the media views women, rather than just saying that they, personally,are not fat.

Amen, Regan!

I find her to have a much more attractive body now than she did before. (and fat-ha! She has hips! OH NOES!!!!)

We could argue for days if she's "allowed" to be offended because she smaller-but doesn't that just isolate her, and minimize her voice because she isn't unattractive enough? She has some power in the public eye, and if one girl hears her and takes her words to heart and embraces her body as she might not have, then good. She's doing more than many of us are.

And I don't care who you are or what you look like-if someone publicly calls you out as "fat" you are likely to respond "no, I'm not". How is that wrong, to intergrate that into an overall love your body message?

Damn...being a celeb would be too much work for me. All these expectations and second guessing. No thanks...

This is just some armchair psychology, but maybe the reason that women become defensive when they're called "fat" is that our society is very clear on the notion that Fat Is Bad. This crap is hammered into our heads from the time we're small children, so it's really difficult to avoid internalizing it and unconciously (subconciously?) believing it.
Now we've got to find a way of changing the message.

FemiDancer -- I would totally agree with your statement except for one thing: wasn't JLH a teenager when she was all over the magazine covers? Most teenagers don't necessarily have the presence or courage to say that there's something wrong with the body-obsession culture we live in. For me, at least, it took until long after I lost my 16-year-old body to realize that I was beautiful anyway, and longer than that to understand it as a cultural issue.

I'm definitely going to agree with Ruby and Regan. JLH says she thinks self-image is more important than societal expectations, but in the same breath makes sure she points out both that the photo was from a bad angle, and that she's a size two.

The whole idea of celebrity as a market is to appeal to societal expectations. That's the job she has chosen.

I don't know that I believe she's a 2, maybe a 6 or so, but either way she's not fat!! She looks like a normal human, and though I don't know much of her work, I think she's very pretty.

But women aren't supposed to look like humans. We're supposed to be stick figure automatons.

I did read a few comments on TMZ. I almost threw up. "looks like someone needs to jog the pacific highway"?? are you kidding me? She looks fine to me. Every body looks fine to me. Isn't that how it should be? Where do these people get off??!?!?! ugh. i feel sick.

On the one hand it's great that celebrities are saying that they are okay with their bodies. However, they do go out of their way to point out that they're not fat. It's just like "I'm not fat, but if I were, it would be okay...but I'm not." I can understand their points because neither Tyra nor Jennifer Love are close to being overweight and both have beautiful bodies, but they could say that in a better way. They could point out that there's something wrong with the way that the media views women, rather than just saying that they, personally,are not fat.

YES!!! regan youre totally right and that pissed me off with tyra too. i cant stand her... i mean despite the fact that her goals are almost always to draw attention to herself, i guess its good that shes TRYING to promote good body image for young women/girls....

but it bothered me that these women can be part of an industry that makes women feel inadequate for not being a size 0.... but as soon as someone criticizes THEM its like all hell breaks loose. I guess this is more so with tyra than JLH, but still.

Personally, I say good for her for taking a stand. I agree with thordora and nic, I would feel defensive too. I've been called fat before, and I think my response was, "Jesus Christ, I'm a size 10! Get off it!" It's just a snap response to being harassed about something so arbitrary.

I agree with Nic. When you're said to be something you're not, "fat" in this case, over and over and over again, eventually you're going to scream "I'm not fucking fat!" Of course you're going to get defensive when people are constantly offending you.

I don't think it's really a bad thing that she's defensive either. And I also think that she states her dress size solely to make a point - that she's not fucking fat...and she's not. She's just trying to emphasize that society's "fat" standards are ridiculous. If she were to go ahead and name sizes that should be considered "fat," THEN I think that people would have better reason to be put off by her statement about size.

I really like that she decided to go on the cover of People with the exact same photos that got her called fat. When Tyra did People she was all modeled up (and probably dieted down). Jennifer made the choice to say these "photos are fine. looking like I do is fine" whereas Tyra's comeback was about how the photos were unflattering and she doesn't *actually* look like that.

Other celebs are "defending" her statement. Anne Hathaway, Rosario Dawson (which I find ironic, remember her when she was bigger?), and Petra Nemcova. http://www.people.com/people/article/0,,20164621,00.html

I do think her statement was a little defensive, but it is almost impossible not to sound defensive in situations such as these.

FemiDancer-

I'm inclined to agree with you. Live by the sword, die by the sword.

I think she sounds defensive, and she damn well should be!

She's not FAT! And she has the absolute right to resist against any allegations that she might even be considered fat.

RIDICULOUS.

An admission: I went over to TMZ and read some of the comments. Many were heartening, but there was a lot of abuse, concern, and horrible misogyny as well. And while I was reading I realized that the "I should lose weight" script had started up in my mind.

It's a script that has nothing to do with health, since I'm remarkably healthy. It has everything to do with an ingrained automatic response to criticism of women's bodies, that makes me want to change myself to please people I would also love to have killed.

It's easy to say (as I do) "Fuck you, pop culture, I don't need your fucking rewards" but it's another thing to really get that into every fiber of my being.

I don't wonder that JLH lacks the vocabulary to sum the entire issue up in a completely satisfactory way. It also wouldn't surprise me if we didn't see pictures of a thinner JLH in the press in a few months. It doesn't negate the value of what she has said. The fact that she spoke up at all is tremendous in my opinion, knowing, as I do so well, how much pressure there is on women to take on other people's opinions and remake them into a personal problem.

First, she's *not* fat. People's idea of what constitutes "fat" has become so, so warped. The line between "too skinny" and "fat" is very thin.

Second, Nic is right. Society tells us loud and clear that fat is not only ugly, but a moral failing. It's hard not to be hurt when someone calls you "fat," even if, as a feminist, you recognize that there's nothing wrong with being fat.

Sarah MC: The line between "too skinny" and "fat" is very thin.

Actually, I believe that there is no line at all between 'too skinny' and 'fat'... there is considerable overlap instead. I'll bet if we ran a poll asking how many people had been told they were both too skinny and fat while making no actual change in their size there would be a huge number of women who would say it had happened to them. It has happened to me.

I think we have the same idea, Sgax.
There is no line between "too skinny" and "fat" because under patriarchy it's not acceptable for women to believe their bodies are OK the way they are.
We must all believe, at all times, that *something* needs to change, whether we need to gain wait or lose it, have bigger breasts or smaller breasts, etc., etc.

Damn. Really messed up your name there. Sorry!

I don't understand why there's a problem with Rosario Dawson defending JLH, even if she lost weight (maybe SHE wanted to). Why isn't it okay for someone who is a size 2 to love and be proud of their size, but okay for someone who is larger? I think, regardless of size, we should all love our bodies. We can't have it both ways: "fat" people loving their bodies but not "skinny" people. Either we encourage everyone to love and be proud of their bodies or we don't. We don't need another double standard.

True, she's not fat, but I for one am sick of everyone jumping on the bandwagon to commend her. What she said and the way she said it rubbed me the wrong way.

To set the record straight, I'm not upset for me, but for all the girls out there that are struggling with their body image. A size 2 is not fat!

Yeah, Jenn, let's all just pat you on the back for sticking up for girls with body issues by making it known that you're a size 2. That's hardly on the same wavelength as saying "A size 10 is not fat!" or "A size 12 is not fat!"

That's not to say that a size 2 person can't speak out against mainstream beauty standards, but the way JLH did it sounds wayyyy too much a la Tyra: knee-jerk reaction, with a well-publicized follow-up (posing in a bathing suit on national TV/declaring you're a size 2) to prove you're not fat. Ugh.

Cedar--
I totally feel you on the animosity toward JLH. I too had my boobs compared negatively with hers by friends when I was about 13. And I thought I was the only one! To this day I still harbor some latent hostility (the fact that she decided to try her hand at singing and released a really obnoxious single around that time didn't help matters either).

That being said, it makes me feel sick inside every time I see tabloid covers with skinny/fat celebs-in-bikinis rundowns, so I'm all for anyone who speaks out against that mentality, even if it comes off a little on the self-defensive side.

I think the fact that she mentions she's a size 2 is very critical. If she's a size 2 and she's being called fat, that's incredibly fucked up. How are the rest of us (the vast majority of which are bigger than a size 2) supposed to feel? Yeah, perhaps declaring her clothing size seems defensive, but I know that if someone called me fat I'd probably shout out that I wear a size 6 and I'm not fucking fat! It's a natural defense mechanism.

I think it's important for these celebrities who are being called fat to prove that they aren't fat. They aren't trying to say that there's something wrong with being fat, they're speaking out against our society's messed up notions of what fat is.

There is no line between "too skinny" and "fat" because under patriarchy it's not acceptable for women to believe their bodies are OK the way they are.

I'm going to disagree respectfully with that, Sarah. I think the overlap is because there are different people who like different things. Plus, the supposed cultural ideal changes over time. Marilyn Monroe would be considered "fat" on today's model ideal. The "big model" segment at least helps widen the concept of attractive.

It is ironic that someone who has participated in the industry setting the standards for beauty, even exemplified the ideal of skinny with big boobs, comes out in favor of accepting our bodies as they are. A healthy body is a beautiful body, whatever the size or shape.

I agree that it is important to point out that nobody wearing a size 2 should be considered to be fat. However, I don't think anybody should be called fat, regardless of their size. I know that she was pointing out that the industry has a warped sense of fat, but it just didn't come out right. It completely contradicts what she's saying about accepting your body no matter what you look like. The whole "there's nothing wrong with being fat, but I'm not fat" thing is a perfectly natural response, but her pointing out that she is super skinny and that she doesn't want to be called fat because of that, just doesn't seem to really follow through with the message. It makes it like it would be okay if she was a size 10.

Also, I'm not going to lie, I really don't think that she's a size 2. That just doesn't make sense to me. I know that camera adds 10 lbs, but boobs just don't fit into a size 2 and she has boobs.

I think it's pretty insulting, especially coming from people on a feminist blog, for people to make remarks that they don't believe that someone is the size that they claim to be. What right do you have to make that judgment and what does it have to do with the issue?

Size also has more to do with what brand or style of clothes you wear than your actual body size. I have a pair of jeans from Hot Topic that are a size 5 that I fit into, and I recently bought a new pair of jeans from Wet Seal (because they were on sale) and I had to buy a size 11! Let's just see how warped we can get young women's body image, by making them wear larger sizes than they're used to, and in turn giving them eating disorders so they can get back down to what size they're "supposed" to be.

21stCenturyMom, thanks for the clarification and that makes sense now. I misinterpreted the bikini reference as a suggestion that they are somehow *empowerful.*

dananddanica, a strange question to ask, about distinctions I draw between types of swimwear. And dare I say, a baiting question? Yes, I do draw a distinction between swimwear that is designed for men's titillation versus swimwear that is designed to function and actually fit women comfortably. Please refrain from initiating any disingenuous hair-splitting arguments that deny there is such a difference.

I have a hard time getting worked up over her pointing out her own size. The thing is, there is "fat" as a descriptor. I don't know if jean size determines who is and isn't fat, but I do think some people are fat- and if we get rid of the negitive associations with that word, then it is merely a description- like "tall" or "red-haired". While I am not sure what quanitative number equals fat (though I realize I am totally there, myself) I also know that JLH is not there. So pointing out how dumb is to make a size two "fat"- which would put a huge percentage of women there, more than could accurately be described as "fat"- doesn't mean she hates fat people or thinks she is better than them or whatever.