( CNN ) -- Actress Kate Winslet appears on the cover of the November issue of Vogue , now on newsstands . She is radiant ; glowing and fairly ageless in that way that , one has come to suspect , only professional photo editing can achieve , although Winslet has objected to digital manipulation of her image in the past . Still , much ado has been made of the fact that Winslet is pregnant with her third child during the shoot -- but it 's impossible to tell . On the cover , only her face is visible ; inside , her body is shrouded in layers of thick fabrics . She looks gorgeous . But pregnant ? Aside from the maternal wrapping of her hands around her nonexistent belly , not particularly . The publishing industry has a history of putting pregnant celebrities on magazine covers and featuring them in fashion shoots . Naturally , these women are made to look flawlessly chic and as comfortable as ever in their skin , two characteristics not typically associated with the very physical nine months of carrying a child . Demi Moore photographed by Annie Leibovitz was , of course , the pioneer of this particular genre of cover modeling when she posed naked -- aside from some giant jewels and an aloof expression -- for the cover of Vanity Fair back in 1991 . It 's an image that 's inspired countless others , with magazines recreating the look since then with celebrities such as Cindy Crawford , Jessica Simpson and Claudia Schiffer . And the bodies keep getting better : At least Leibovitz , or Vanity Fair , let Moore retain a bit of realistic cellulite . But by the time we got to supermodel Miranda Kerr , naked and pregnant in W in 2010 , it was official : Pregnancy is just regular life , albeit with a slightly rounded tummy . And so it goes this month , both with Winslet and with Ivanka Trump , who is seen posing for the cover of FitPregnancy magazine in a dress with a hip-high slit looking both very pregnant and very trim . The cover elicited such raves as `` Ivanka Trump is flawless ! '' And indeed she is , enviably , almost impossibly , so . Putting aside the now-standard practice of electronically `` perfecting '' already gorgeous women for the purpose of selling magazines , there is something particularly dangerous about depicting pregnant women in such a way . One might argue that these magazines are celebrating a woman 's natural shape during a beautiful time in her life . But is it a celebration ? Or an exploitation ? The fact is that it 's the rare instance in which a female celebrity larger than a size 4 is put on the cover of a magazine , especially a fashion magazine . When she is , it 's often because the magazine is running a `` special issue '' -- or because she 's expecting . Or both . In 2003 , for example , Vogue put a pregnant Brooke Shields on the cover for its Shape issue . But pregnancy is n't a shape ; not exactly . It is , however , to hear these magazines tell it -- or , rather , to see them depict it -- pretty damn glamorous . The message : Big is OK when you 're expecting and Photoshopped to glowing perfection : After all , it 's only temporary . Otherwise , forget about it . Consider Elle 's current issue , which features six different cover celebrities as part of its annual `` Women in Hollywood '' theme . One is actress Melissa McCarthy , who looks gorgeous in an enormous Marina Rinaldi coat , as the other cover actresses are shown in form-fitting dresses or various states of undress . How come we do n't get to see McCarthy 's bumps the way we do Trump 's ? Of course , women respond differently to pregnancy . Perhaps these female celebrities , who are indisputably genetically blessed , look no different posing pregnant than they do when they 're not expecting . Perhaps , but not likely . What 's likely , though , is the message society is getting : that ease and beauty in pregnancy are the norm . By unequivocally depicting expectant women as beautiful and glowing and ready for a night out in a tight dress , these magazines set up unrealistic expectations for both pregnancy and motherhood , neither of which is easy , beautiful , or picture-perfect , at least not all the time . Proof of shifting expectations has already emerged , and society has indeed come to expect a certain level of beauty from its pregnant stars . Though Kim Kardashian is generally admired for having a body that does not succumb to the Hollywood ideal , she received constant negative press throughout her pregnancy for her weight gain ; for not being , at all times , `` cover-worthy . '' People , with the help of the media , seem to forget that pregnant women change shape , and that 's a wonderful , natural thing that need n't be covered up or defended or cloaked in haute couture . It need n't always look perfect , because when is it , really ? The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Peggy Drexler .
Peggy Drexler : Kate Winslet on Vogue is pregnant but it 's impossible to tell . Comment: Pregnant celebs on magazine covers look flawless , skinny with a bump . Drexler : It says big is OK only when you 're expecting and Photoshopped to perfection . In reality , she says , women change shape and do n't look perfect , and that 's fine .