Since I have begun my time in a sorority, there are two times this year I have seen my sisters congregate to watch a TV show together. Those two times being the election and the Victoria Secret Fashion Show. Just days before the Victoria Secret Fashion Show, a lot of clamor went around campus and inside my house. Groups of girls AND boys organized viewing parties to watch the “greatest fashion show on earth.” Yet, during this, it got me questioning why this one hour show is such a big deal to ALL of society. So, I went around asking just this. The most common responses I got were, “their outfits are pretty,” “gives motivation to workout” and jokingly saying “to feel bad about myself.” Maybe it is just me, but why would I ever want to spend an hour of my time watching something that made me feel worse about my self-image and self-worth?
Although I do not have anything against Victoria Secret products, I do have a problem with how they market them. We all know the amount of photoshop that goes into their photos and the amount of pressure Victoria Secret models have to look perfect is wrong, yet why do we still think that these ladies are the definition of beauty? I myself have even had moments where I see their blown-up selves on billboards or posters in the mall, questioning “why am I not them?” or “how can I become as pretty as them?” However, most of the time, I am quick to jump back into reality of recognizing that this is a false reflection of true beauty. Yet it is so surprising to me at times how many people believe that looking like Victoria Secret models is the only way to feeling beautiful. The Victoria Secret Fashion Show does nothing but a huge disfavor to the rest of society by convincing younger generations of females that in order to feel beautiful, they must become more like these women. The amount of pressure shows like this one put on younger generations is unbearable and wrong. The fact that 30 million people today in America are suffering from an eating disorder, proves that this show does a lot worse for society than good.
And the worse part about this all is as a society, we are allowing this statistic to continue to grow by a small act like watching this show. We are allowing ourselves to continue to lie to younger generations and ourselves that true beauty comes starvation, pushed-up boobs, Brazilian blowouts, and spray tans. For decades, we have been trying to prove to men that we women are just as capable of being smart, strong and brave as they are. However, when we sit down all together and support/applaud this show for advertising women as “sexy and hot,” we as women are showing men that we are okay with having those titles. We as women in society have been trying to re-condition society to see us in a different light and the Victoria Secret Fashion Show does the complete opposite. We are continuing to allow them to believe that the greatest accomplishment one could have is having a pair of “wings,” not the bravery, brilliance and strength they could encompass instead. Frankly, watching Ellen DeGeneres receive the Medal of Freedom from our president instead of watching Kendall Jenner receive her “wings,” seemed like a better use of my time. And instead of feeling the need to go workout, and eat less and become more pretty, I felt inspired and moved to be a better humanitarian.
Although I did not watch the show, I had a lot of friends that did. This article is not intended to bash on people who watched it but is rather to remind women that true beauty will never look like what you see on the Victoria Secret Fashion Show. I can think of so many other things I would rather be known as, like kind, selfless, smart and strong, than “hot and sexy.” If we are striving for a more gender equal society, it is about time we start acting like it. So, yes, I did not watch the Victoria Secret Fashion Show, and I am okay with it.
