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'We're just raising money for charity': Female rower who stripped for naked calendar defends herself from feminist blogger's attack
By Ruth Styles
A student who stripped for a charity calendar has hit back at critics who claim posing naked is tacky and damaging to the feminist cause.
Hettie Reed, a student at Warwick University, pictured second left in the picture below, said that singling out women is 'grossly unfair', adding that her rowing club's charity calendar was 'not about being part of some kind of watered down pornography.'
The rowing club calendar, which Hettie helped organise, is being sold to raise funds for Macmillan Cancer Support, which was chosen because one of the rowing team's mothers is suffering from the disease.
Kent University student, Layla Haidrani has described the calendar as 'tacky' and as a set back to feminism
Hettie's comments came in the wake of a blog on the Huffington Post website, which attacked Hettie and her friends, and said they had put the feminist cause back.
Layla Haidrani, a student at the University of Kent who describes herself as a commentator on feminist issues, wrote: 'Groups of women posing semi-naked on a field with sticks doesn't sound a fundraising initiative for charity, it just sounds tacky,'
Hettie (right) pictured with a friend
'Although many argue that it is purely for fundraising purposes, in my own university sports team, the majority of women who participated were not made aware and did not even seek to find out which charities were being helped.
'Rather, they just view it as an opportunity to strip and attempt to gain notoriety with friends and family both back home and on campus.'
She continued: 'I can't help but feel that women are just victims in the 'liberation game,
'As opposed to being liberated by posing semi-naked, they are in fact just helping women to be perpetually viewed as sex objects, something to be 'bought', 'sold' and then tossed away once the Christmas period is over.
But Heidrani, says Hettie, has got the wrong end of the stick.
'These naked calendars do make money for some fantastic charities and so what really is the harm in them?' she asked.
'We do have some good looking girls in there but our calendar isn't necessarily sexy and it certainly isn't demeaning.
Bottoms up: Frankie Salzano, right (pictured with fellow rower, Ella Peters) helped organise the calendar
Fundraising: The calendar was produced to raise money for cancer charity, Macmillan Cancer Support
'The charity we chose is one that's important to us because one girl's mother has breast cancer and and a couple of the girls have indirectly been affected by cancer, so we decided that Macmillan Cancer Support would be the best charity for us.
'Ours was done simply because we wanted to support the charity.'
Heidrani, in an echo of the campaign against the Sun's Page Three, also said that she thought women were 'hindering' progress rather than helping themselves.
'Why aren't women allowing themselves to be proud to show off their mental capacity such as academic ability?' she thundered. '[Instead they] have chosen the route of posing naked.'
The £7.99 calendar is available to buy through the rowing club's website
The £7.99 calendar is available to buy through the rowing club's website
'We're upset that some people describe the calendar as a setback for women,' added Hettie. 'I wouldn't describe myself as a feminist exactly but then I don't need to.
'Being a feminist is all about wanting the same treatment for women as men get. In that way every woman is a feminist. I wouldn't personally advocate myself as a feminist but ultimately I am, there is no doubt about that.
'We have equality now, so there's no need for people to be like this.'
To find out more about the girls' calendar or to buy one yourself, see www.warwickrowing.org or twitter.com/nakedgirlsrow
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The £7.99 calendar is available to buy through the rowing club's website. -
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Charity: The annual calendar was launched four years ago to raise money for Sport Relief
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