Marie Claire urges women to love their bodies

“What will it take for you to love your body? That’s the question we are asking readers this month,” says Aspasia Karras, editor of Marie Claire South Africa. “According to statistics, two out of every three women are unhappy with their bodies and weight. Most women wish they were skinnier. So often the media is accused of perpetuating the body-beautiful image, and this month we have decided to address this issue.

“Not only is the entire magazine packed with articles asking ‘The Body’ question, but we also asked six advertising agencies to conceptualize a poster campaign to communicate the concept of ‘Love Your Body’. The work speaks for itself and the message is clear: we don’t all have the same body type but, regardless of this, we are all perfect. So, what is it going to take for you to love your body?” concludes Karras.

Participating agencies include:
• Ogilvy Cape Town
• King James RSVP
• The Jupiter Drawing Room Cape Town
• M&C Saatchi Abel
• TBWA
• Canvas Lifestyle

Also featured in the Body issue:
• Do women spend too much on their looks?
• Body Politics: writer Zanele Mji contemplates how the digital age is shaping the perception of beauty and other body-conscious issues.
• Life after lipo: Tselane Tambo reveals what surgery is really like.
• 10 perfect bodies throughout the ages: from voluptuous and curvy to Twiggy-like – and all the way back again. Take a look at the body archetypes that have inspired both lust and fashion.
• Mokgadi Caster Semenya exclusive: following her triumph at the 2009 World Athletic Championship, a controversy over her gender forced Caster to miss a year of competition. Two years later, in her first interview since the trauma, she shares her thoughts with Marie Claire.

The special Body issue features home-grown international supermodel Candice Swanepoel on the cover. Russell James exclusively photographed Candice for Marie Claire South Africa in New York. The issue is on sale nationwide.
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