I came across this article as I was browsing reddit. Basically, it’s criticizing Victoria’s Secret for making real women feel bad about themselves by using models with unrealistic body types.
Sure, it’s true that most women don’t have the bodies that those models have and that it usually takes a LOT of dedication, control and MAYBE even low self-esteem for a woman to acquire such a body.
However, I don’t like the following assumptions that the writer is trying to convey here.
(I’m copy-pasting my response in reddit to this blog.)
I don’t like the assumption the article is making about all women hating models and being jealous. That makes it sound like any woman who doesn’t have a body like Alessandro Ambrosio hates herself and wants to keep a gun pointed at “prettier” women. Are all women that insecure and prone to self-loathing?
I enjoy seeing the fashion shows but not because I want to hate them. I just like pretty things to look at. I don’t even wish to look like them. I’m Asian, I have short legs and I like that I’m short enough to be face-to-face with my boyfriend’s chest. Oh, and just because I’m Asian, you shouldn’t assume I’m a skinny-minny either. God, I hate it when non-Asians see me and call me “skinny”. That’s a whole different subtopic, though.
Nor do I appreciate the assumption that real women are all obese. The article keeps interchanging real body types and plus sizes. That competing lingerie website is targeted at plus-sized women and not all real women. I have way more body-fat percentage than a lingerie model but I’m not shaped like any of the women in that site.
Don’t get me wrong; I’m fine with a lingerie retailer that is targeted towards plus-sized women. They most certainly need that. However, I see myself as a real woman and I don’t relate to that retailer’s demographic, so the writer shouldn’t assume that any real woman would find relief in the existence of such a retailer.
I get upset, too, if an advertisement sends the wrong messages to women about their body image. However, that includes the false assumption that it’s “real” to be obese, which I find to be just as destructive as the message that all women should look anorexic. Living a lifestyle at either end of the spectrum makes a woman more vulnerable to mental and physical health problems. To me, this article ranks right up there with fast food ads that claim there should be a 4th meal or that dessert is a necessity, not an indulgence.
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What kind of women are “not real”?! Being “real” or not doesn’t have anything to do with body type anyway. I agree completely with your response!! Great writing too. Go all women!!!
hey! I’ve been following your blog for a while without saying anything, but body issues sorta strike close to home for me. I read the article you linked to, but I think I got a slightly different message than you did.
I mean, I know you didn’t mean for anyone to nitpick at your post, but I had to say something!
“The article keeps interchanging real body types and plus sizes. That competing lingerie website is targeted at plus-sized women and not all real women.”
The lingerie website is targeted to plus-size women, but if the median American woman is close to size 16, I’d say that they’re catering more to real women than Victoria’s Secret.
Also, you say:
“God, I hate it when non-Asians see me and call me `skinny’.”
As a curvy Korean myself, I feel the same way! But I hate it because, in my mind at least, I think “I’M not skinny. You should see “. And I think that’s the end point of the article — seeing only skinny beautiful people in magazines and runways and lingerie ads makes me feel, at the end of the day, like I’m not skinny or pretty when, in fact, I’m just me and I should’t . Even though I know what I SHOULD think, I can’t help what I do think.
It might just be something I’m more sensitive to — sorry for butting in!
Joanne:
Please don’t apologize for “butting in”! If I am wrong, then I would like to be told so, or how would I learn better? I’m glad you took the time to write and I thank you for it! Please, don’t ever hesitate to speak your mind
It was not my intention to suggest that Victoria’s Secret correctly portrays the average woman, nor that it caters to real women any better. Images used by companies like Victoria’s Secret cater more towards the fantasies of men and a woman’s desire to please them. Of course, this doesn’t mean that all men hold the same fantasies and standards about women, nor does this mean that all women buy from VS to please their men.
However, I stand firm in my argument that the compared lingerie website does no better job of representing “real” women. Nor do I expect any retail brand to do so.
Average or median, there are many, many, many women who are not plus-sized and I don’t believe that these women are a minority. I don’t relate at all to the thin VS models, nor do I relate at all to those of AboutCurves.
I do agree that plus-sized women need more alternatives in their shopping choices and I do agree that they deserve as much representation as anyone because, as you and the article has pointed out, there is a large population of them. However, I cannot agree with the assumption that they are more real than those who are thin or in-between.
I do agree that there are lots of unrealistic and harmful standards being condoned by the media, but I feel like the article went a bit too far towards the other extreme in arguing this. It took a retail website, which only happens to target a specific demographic, and heralded it as a step forward in improving societal standards about the body image.
Whoa, I didn’t mean for this reply to get this long. Sorry ^^;;;
Joanne, please feel free to respond again. This is a matter that you take quite seriously and I would love to hear more from someone like you in regards to this matter. Please don’t feel discouraged from pointing out my errors!
Word Up SIS!!!!! I like to look at sexy ass half nekkid women.. that’s why I watch the VS fashion show!
Why are you in love with my eyebrows?! Hmmm… I’m in love with your everything!! You know iT!!!!