The News Minute | July 11, 2014 | 12.13 pm ISTPrince Fielder does not fit the image of your typical male athlete: tall, chiselled and abs to die for. And obviously, when he posed nude for ESPN’s Body Issue, he got a lot of flak – the usual, memes, nasty comments, photoshopped images.Last week, ESPN released its annual Body Issue this year featuring baseball player of the Texas Rangers Prince Fielder, tennis player Venus Williams, swimmer Michael Phelps, NFL Marshawn Lynch, snowboarder Jamie Anderson and others.All of them except for Fielder have bodies that fit the image of the ideal sportsperson, athletic and toned. Fielder, has a visibly wide girth. Unsurprisingly, nastiness and wisecracks abounded.But there is also a fair amount of support for what the image stands for. News anchor Tamron Hall said she loved the photo: “I love this photo. I've been thinking about it all night," Tamron said. "It's spectacular confidence. He's got what some would traditionally refer to as a gut ... but the pose, the confidence, everything about it. He's like a Greek god.”Huffpost carried a report on Twitterati who rallied behind Fielder. The Washington Post too, had a similar story. One Twitter user said: “Prince Fielder got me feeling like I can accomplish it all today. #HuskyTwitter”. Others said that it was good that ESPN was featuring athletes who did not have bodies that fit the stereotype.Writing for The Daily Beast, Tim Teeman compared Fielder’s photo with Demi Moore posing nude when pregnant for Vanity Fair in 1991; a side profile that showed just how big her baby was. He discusses how sports personalities were increasingly becoming and also being treated like models, and all the pressure that comes along with it.But he also had an interesting perspective to it, something that feminists everywhere have been feeling increasingly: that men having body stereotypes of their own is not exactly gender equality.He said: “If equality between the sexes still proves elusive, at least we can be said to be gaining parity in becoming ever more anxious about the “right” shape of our bodies. Swimsuit season is now as much of a nightmare minefield for men as it is for women. So thank you, Mr. Fielder, for the bracing reminder that great bodies, handsome bodies, striking bodies, don’t come just in gym-bunny size.”