Although I do own my fair share of merchandise, I am slowly starting to hate Victoria’s Secret.
If you are anything like me, you look through the Victoria’s Secret swimsuit magazine that comes in the mail every spring. It is just what I need after being bundled up all winter, not going to the gym nearly enough, and having way more than a “serving size” of ice cream after dinner.
Needless to say just one look at the “Angels” sprawled out on the beach in itsy-bitsy bikinis gets me to the gym and definitely gets me to skip ice cream after dinner for a few nights.
If you have read this far and have no idea what I am talking about or who these “Angels” are, I will do my best to give you a visual: Most of these women are 5 feet 10 inches tall and wear a size 2, some even a size 0. They are anywhere from 112-119 pounds. Their hipbones protrude from their sides and their abdomens are flat and hard. In pictures, they sport a bronze tan and have no bumps or bruises, anywhere.
They post images and blogs online about their detox spinach smoothies and low carb diets. Their personal trainers give interviews about their intense workouts. They release their workout plans and millions of girls attempt to copy the routine. Ask almost any girl and they would say these Angels have “the perfect body.”
Body image issues are becoming far more of a problem in today’s world. It is estimated that 91 percent of women are unhappy with their bodies. How is flipping through a magazine filled with women who have unattainable bodies going to help this? Well, it is not.
In my opinion, franchises such as Victoria’s Secret are doing far more harm than good for young women and girls. Odds are the girls who are actually buying the swimsuits do not look too similar to the models plastered all over the pages. When these girls try on the bathing suits and notice they do not look like the models, they may feel inferior or less in someway.
By plastering girls with unattainable bodies all over their stores and magazines, Victoria’s Secret is only giving young girls something to compare themselves to. They look at those women and then look at themselves and think, “What is wrong with me? Why do I not look like that?”
My decision this season was to throw the magazine away rather than have it sit in my room haunting me during the summer months. Looking at women who do not look anything like me was not going to make me feel any better about myself.
Sorry, Victoria’s Secret, but this season the “Angels” are better off in the trash.
