Tom Hodges tried to defend this Mary Jane statue saying "ANYONE who complains about this piece obvious does NOT read Superhero comics". If he's referring to the fact that all super hero comics portray a sexist view of women he's absolutely correct but that hardly sounds like a solid defense.
While this piece should not draw any more ire then the rest of the superhero world that should not make it immune from criticism. Every problem has to approached from some angle and if this model brings more attention to the problems in comics then all the better.
No matter how hard you try an "every one else is doing it" defense is not going to garner a lot of support.