If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
If you have something to say...
Say it on the Huffington Post
Sickness, even sickness conquered, cannot be sexy, or so the marketing logic likely goes. A woman living as a cancer survivor is not just a body transformed, hers is a life transformed. Victoria's Secret could have been a part of this process.
This month, I've been going back to my roots and listening to a lot of songs that a girly girl like me would listen to, as well as new singles which have been topping the music charts.
"Stacy's Mom" is the family-friendly national anthem of our broadly female-objectifying mainstream everything. Products like this both reflect and create culture.
It's not that thongs meant for young women emblazoned with phrases like "Call Me" and "Feeling Lucky?" are entirely shocking coming from Victoria's Secret, but more that they insisted on comparing our young daughters to objects and things in order to sell them this lingerie.
The first step toward seeing the objectification, other-ization and suppression of women is recognizing the problem still exists. With persistence and some time, this tide which has begun to turn will be irreversibly altered for the better.
I was sitting with a group of old girlfriends; old being the operative word. We meet at each other's home, with our husbands, four times a year. Weather permitting, the men play golf while the women stay behind, wolfing down chips, nuts, cheese and crackers and kvetching about how impossible it is to lose weight.
Missing in the debate is any broadening of the conversation beyond conservative scolding and liberal retort. Where are the challenges to marketers' inappropriate targeting of young girls that affirmed healthy female sexuality?
Feminist historical amnesia might be fine if things were great for us now, if the battles had been won and stayed won and egalitarianism were the order of the day. But let's face it: these fights were never won.
Whether my underwear is cute, colorful or funny, it's not going to make me more cute, colorful or funny. It's not my clothes, it's me. Victoria's Secret can try to tell to me that some new underwear will help make me more this or that, but I already have a pretty good idea of who I am.
Bras in my size are cheerfully doodled over with hearts, flowers and little cupcakes that would inspire Katy Perry to write a hit song right there in the dressing room. My breasts are offended. They know what they are and they are not part of a Fisher Price play set.
Some of the items include very minimal and sexy bikinis and towels with phrases like "Call me" or "Kiss Me" on them. Really, now?
Parents are outraged because they feel the campaign and its "clothing" are sexualizing their children at a young age, especially since Justin Bieber played at the televised Victoria's Secret fashion show. However, I must ask parents -- WHAT?!?
I have spent months trying to find Star Wars underpants featuring strong female characters for my tween. I'm still looking. If she were in the market for, oh, say, highly inappropriate sexy thongs, she would be awash in options, such as Victoria's Secret's "Bright Young Things."
What do Victoria's Secret sales associates have in common with the Ford factory workers? More than meets Christmas shoppers' eyes when they survey the scantily clad mannequins in the Michigan Ave. shop window.
I remember waiting every year for the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show because I loved watching models like Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks strut their oh-so-very-toned stuff on the runway. While watching these women, I wished I was like them.
By Julie Miller, Vanity Fair Adriana Lima walking at the 2012 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show. Last night, CBS aired its annual Victoria's Secret Fa...
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