This is a good idea. I think women's beauty should be celebrated. It's quite exciting that they actually included someone of NORMAL size. I think that Allure is definitely on the right track, as long as they don't backpedal.

Not just for the obvious reasons, but this i think does help women. Not to pose naked, but to show that their is nothing wrong with a womans body, and including Jill Scott was the best idea they could have had :D. She is sexy! Although if you really examine the pictures her picture is the least revealing off all, of course Miss Scott herself could have had something to do with that.

Oh and how funny was Angie Harmon at the end! "Lets all celebrate nakedness.....okay!?" Yes ladies...lets!

I've always been quite the Jill Scott fan, but I am absolutely amazed and inspired by this. Magazines like Allure have always seemed a little sketchy to me concerning positive body image representation, but this seems to be a really great step in the right direction.

"The quick to think are never sure"

--Tiresias, Oedipus Rex

Beautiful in every sense of the word... mind.body.soul. it starts here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=h4Xu0LW7ilo

Just when I think Jill Scott can't get any awesomer.....

And, wow. Gabrielle Union. ZOMG. My jaw dropped to the floor, and now I can't find it.

While I have no objections whatsoever to such photo issues (just like I am a fan of the Dove ads featuring real women), I am a bit annoyed by something I recall reading about these Allure photos (I don't know if anyone knows if my information is in fact true or not) being airbrushed. This was in relation to Angie Harmon in particular, who was concerned about her Cesarean scar being seen but that they airbrushed it out.

I just don't understand (okay... I mean I understand from the "Hollywood" perspective) why we can't see women in their natural beauty without always having everything retouched?

I do commend Jill Scott for posing for the photos... it is indeed nice to see someone above the size 10 range, after all the average woman is supposedly a size 14 and yet the fashion industry would have us believe that the world is overflowing with people from size 00-04/06 and anyone above that doesn't exist.

Okay... I'll now get off my soapbox and go back to my original (albeit somewhat hypocritical statement) of enjoying the photos. 

(Self Appointed) "#1 Bridget McManus Fan"

Omg  Gabriel union that pic is so stunning. wow Im amazed lol 

Angie has always had my attn. ever since David H. picked her out of the crowd on the airplane.  I've been right there with him.  She's elegant and stunning.  Clue #412 I am gay, I loved LOVED Baywatch Nights.  She even got me watching L & O, back when there was the one and only.

That picture of Gabrielle Union.  My jaw dropped.  I blinked my eyes.  She was still there when I opened them.  Holy f*ck.  I think I'm in the mood for a little double feature.  Bring It On and Bad Boys II.  That woman takes my breath away and melts my mind. 

Jill Scott...  we need to see more of her.  And not just in that photo, I need her on my radio, tv, and computer more often.

McManus in '08!  Vote now.  Vote often.  www.curvemag.com

note that still...4 out of the 5...are skinny-ass women albeit sexy skinny-ass women and the 1 full-size is definitely a sexy vixen....yet, if the objective is to show women of all body types, why is the ratio still high on the slimmer side??  they could have shown celeb bods of varying sizes and shapes but that's not what they did....personally, i think ALLURE failed in their attempt.....

www.myspace/epona_sister

I do love the pictures of Angie and Gabrielle but...

I had a hard time finding the beautiful Jill Scott behind the huge hedge of flowers and the blazing sun obscuring the body that the article claims to love.  I also noticed that intrusive wildlife and blinding lights weren't an issue with the other two  women.  Sigh....

I am not a large woman but these types of double standards for women above a size two make the feminist in me just want to scream.  Concealing her body with so many props that you can barely make her out while preaching the beauty of all female forms is just gross.  That Ms. Scott's lack of exposure wasn't commented on by this blog writer shows to me that even gay ladies are now buying into the mainstream media hype about full figured women.  Namely that fat girls should NOT be treated equally AND should be damn grateful for any scrap of attention they get because they obviously don't deserve it.  Cause.. they're fat, remember?  It's hideous.  

Yes, I am glad that she was included, as she should have been.  Now treat her like the beautiful woman she is and stop hiding her behind a hedge! 

Even if the other two photo's ( Angie and Gabrielle) were scanned, they still wouldn't have as much shrubbery and sunlight obscuring the view!  I am very happy that Jill was included but why include her only to cloud the photo?  It's still sending the message that if you don't have the perfect body you should hide.

Just the fact that Jill was included is a step in the right direction.  It also proves there are still many miles to go as far as accepting the fact that women come in all shapes and sizes.  We are not defined by those shapes and sizes as the media would have us believe, its too bad it doesn't seem likely they'll figure that out anytime soon.

Jill Scott is beautiful. However, there isn't really diversity in body sizes here. We have one woman in size 16, but all the others are quite skinny. There's nobody in the middle range. While the slim women are beautiful and do not look unhealthy, their size is on the far end of the spectrum. (And it looks like Angie Harmon's photo may have been photoshopped to make her look longer, and therefore skinnier, than she really is.) I'm surprised they didn't include some mid-range women. Maybe this isn't entirely Allure's fault. In an industry where Kiera Knightly gets pressured by directors to be slim, there probably aren't many curvy actress around. It becomes a chicken and egg problem.

I'm sure I'm not alone when I say that, while I find Gabrielle stunningly beautiful (not so much Angie - it's the politics), I would have been choked with tears of joy had the entire photo spread featured women who looked like Jill.

While we all love to ogle (come on, girls, that's what it is!) the slim hotties, the fact of the matter is that the bodies we are most likely to love in real life are not theirs.  The female form that WE know and love every day is rarely what we get to see in print.

i heart angie harmon!

the first thing my eyes focus on in the jill scott photo, is of that bright sun behind her. it's like the 5 o'clock sun that is directly in your eyes as you're trying to drive home, you attempt to look every where but directly at it, but your eyes seem to be drawn to it any way. and i'm not sure why but that face, doesn't look like jill at all. maybe it's just the angle of her head.

america ferrera (did i spell that right) would also have been a great choice to the line up. but had she been included, i fear she would have gone the same fate as miss scott, strangely airbrushed and standing behind a large (though lovely) flower bush.....no pun intended.

~i am bisexual. you are confused.~