Second—to respond to those whose argument is that Lawrence doesn’t look authentically “hungry” enough for the role (rather than those, like Wells, whose argument is purely aesthetic)—not everyone who starves him- or herself looks like a supermodel. If that were the case, everyone on a calorie-restricted diet would be skinny; genetics prevent most humans from achieving that look. Just as living in a world with abundant calories does not automatically make everyone fat, living in a dystopian world like Panem with sporadic food access would not automatically make everyone skinny. Some bodies, I daresay, would be even bigger than Lawrence’s.

Finally, if critics are going to pick on a 21-year-old woman for not being skinny enough for a fantasy film, why haven’t they been more consistent in their critiques of actors’ bodies? I haven’t seen much concern about Liam Hemsworth’s muscular frame, even though his character in The Hunger Games occupies the same food-strapped world as Katniss. Nor—to take an example from another recent film—did I see many reviews of Friends With Kids that took issue with the disconnect between Jennifer Westfeldt’s slim physique and her character’s constantly commented upon postpartem unfuckability. If we held actors’ physical appearance to a standard of strict realism in all movies, most Hollywood actors would be uncastable in films set in present-day America. Movie critics suspend their disbelief all the time—and when they suddenly refuse to do so for a female actor whose body looks more like an average woman’s body rather than less, it’s hard to see that as anything but sexist.

‘Jennifer Lawrence’s body: not skinny enough to play Katniss?’ by L.V. Anderson at Slate