Thursday 4 December 2014

The Victoria's Secret Show - Shameless Sex Appeal or Liberation?

Hello beauties!

Unless you've been living under a rock for the past few days, you'll probably have seen the pictures from the Victoria's Secret show plastered all over the internet, whether it's marvelling over their physiques, analysing the fashion, or drooling over Taylor Swift being the queen that she is (all bow down to the Swift). You've also probably seen the crazy amounts of backlash the show has received from some bloggers and journalists about the show's apparent sexist nature and objectification of the models. Personally, I think this is an even more outdated view than the sexism they're trying to squash.

Let's look at the obvious here, Victoria's Secret, in the vast majority, is a brand for women. They're products are for women, and this show, was for women. So why, all of a sudden, are these women suddenly 'only taking their clothes off for the appeal of men?' now that this brand is represented in a performance? (Note the word 'performance' I used here, I believe that fashion shows (VS included) are forms of art, not objectification. I can guarantee that those women wear those wings and pretty lace dressing gowns for the appeal of women, how many men want their girlfriends to strut into the bedroom sporting a giant pair of gold wings?

Another obvious statement is the idea that, VS is a lingerie brand. In order to show their product, it requires women to wear it without much else, they aren't very well going to wear it over their clothes and a chastity belt, are they?

Thirdly, the main argument is that the models are promoting an unhealthy body image on young girls. I don't doubt that part of this is true, however I don't think VS is to blame for this. Look up any official VS 'Angel figure regime' and the like, and it puts emphasis on long-term clean eating, rigorous training, and special concentration on healthy food three months before the event. Not exactly ground-breaking stuff, and nothing that's going to make anyone particularly unhealthy either. It's the tabloids that perpetuate these ridiculous rumours of fasts and dehydration diets, which are mostly all misquotes anyway.

Finally, I think a lot of this boils down to some general girl-on-girl crime here (mean girls, you get me ladies.) Why is it so hard for us to be happy for these models who have worked so hard for the entire year, for this one event? Imagine if you had an event you were incredibly excited for, a big highlight in your career, one that you'd worked like crazy for, and suddenly your fellow girl started tearing you down for your body shape? As a feminist, I think we should tip our hat to these girls, not because of being 'sexually liberated' and whatnot, but simply for working hard and being bloody good at what they do.


That's all for today my lovelies,

Abi xxx

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