Jennifer Love Hewitt Bikini Photo Controversy

Above are photos of Jennifer Love Hewitt that have been showing up everywhere since they were taken in December. They were used as evidence that she has gotten fat.

Here is a video from youtube called "Is Jennifer Love Hewitt Fat?" It starts out with pictures of her in formal dresses, then moves on to the bikini pictures and splices in shots of her eating, then shows the bikini pics again...and again...and again. Then toward the end it shows her bikini pictures next to the Hanes ads she's in, where she obviously looks a lot thinner. Then they show several ridiculing images people have made of Jennifer Love Hewitt since the bikini photos came out, showing her incredibly obese.



Here is a video of Jennifer Love Hewitt responding. I couldn't figure out how to embed it, sorry.

And here is a video from youtube of Janice Dickenson, a former model, defending Jennifer Love Hewitt...by calling Tyra Banks fat.



These could be used lots of different ways. Obviously you could discuss the pressure on female celebrities to be super thin, and the scrutiny every part of their bodies gets. But you could also look at the discourse going on here. Jennifer Love Hewitt responded by saying "A size 2 is not fat!" Janice Dickinson defends her by comparing her to a woman who supposedly is fat. So the ultimate message isn't necessarily that women shouldn't have to be thin, but that this particular woman isn't fat. That could lead to a useful discussion on empowerment--what's the difference between empowering an individual woman ("I'm not fat!") and empowering women as a group ("We need to fight against this idea that only one body shape is acceptable")? Is the discourse we find here really liberating to women in general, or just to those who are a size 2 or smaller?

Most female celebrities, when photographed in an unflattering manner, disappear for a month and then reappear in transformed bodies that have been starved and exercised until they are worthy of display; they are then welcomed back with open arms and their transformation is praised. It might also be interesting to use Hewitt's responses in a discussion of how difficult it is to try to resist hegemonic ideals of beauty--how do you defend yourself and respond to mainstream ideals when you're one of very few people even trying to do it?