body image

Australian beauty queen and model Jennifer Hawkins appears nude and un-Photoshopped on the February cover of Marie Claire magazine. According to Hawkins, the photo shoot is meant to inspire confidence in women and raise money for an eating disorder support organization. Though her heart may be in the right place, Hawkins' cover shoot is doing the opposite of what she intended.

If there is a better metaphor for the corrosive spiritual effects of internalizing the dehumanizing commercial definition of "beauty" than the soul-sickened doctors of "Nip/Tuck," I haven't seen it on TV.

In 2008, 58 teenage girls published their take on body image, family, politics, and pop culture in the anthology Red: Teenage Girls in America Write on What Fires Up Their Lives Today. Page Turner caught up with five of them to talk about feminism, teen-girl falsehoods, and what's happened in their lives since their essays left off.

In 1998, editor-in-chief Anna Wintour made the "gentle suggestion" to Oprah Winfrey that she lose 20 pounds in order to be on the cover of Vogue. According to Wintour, Oprah agreed and went on a "stringent diet", resulting in one of Vogue's "most successful covers ever". Oprah was the first black celebrity to be featured on the cover. Read more gentleness from Anna Wintour after the jump.