Victoria’s Secret inherently body-shames women

Nathan Smith/ Contributing Writer

Victoria’s Secret is the most successful lingerie store in the world, and it’s not hard to see why.

In a society where women are expected to uphold an ideal standard of beauty to be considered desirable, a store which flaunts unrealistic body standards is obviously going to be any girl’s go-to.

Here’s why that’s a problem.

Mental illness comes in many forms, and eating disorders are no exception. Those with eating disorders have the highest chance of death out of all people with mental illness, according to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders.

How do women develop eating disorders? Well, with one word: coercion.

No one is born with the need to eat less because they feel as if they’re not good enough for societal standards of beauty. This behavior is learned.

And while the general culture is to blame, the largest influence is the pressure beauty companies put on them in order to make a profit.

These companies go out of their way to hire the skinniest models with the most conventionally desirable faces without any regard for other standards of beauty.

Girls who grow up around these pressures are forced to accept it as fact, and they’re taught that in order to be beautiful, they have to look like the beauty companies’ idea of attractiveness.

The models these companies hire oftentimes are unnaturally skinny. The problem here isn’t just that corporations solely hire models under a certain weight, but also that their  “cutoff weight” is far too low to be safe for the human body.

Girls who desire to be conventionally beautiful don’t only have to lose weight, they have to do it in such a way that they put their own bodies at risk. This kind of major weight loss simply isn’t possible without a little help from every Victoria’s Secret model’s best friend: malnourishment.

Instead of inspiring girls to be proud of who they are, Victoria’s Secret and other feminine product stores push one ideal of beauty, when in reality there are billions.

Every person alive on this Earth has a different idea of what beauty is. Corralling girls into this one state of mind is unhealthy both physically and mentally, and actually does little to please anybody.

Girls, be proud of who you are.

Don’t let corporations decide who you are. You were born a certain way; embrace that. You aren’t an object to be used, and you aren’t a prize to be won. You are a human being, and you’re worth more than what these companies will have you believe.

DISCLAIMER:

The opinions presented within this page do not represent the views of PantherNOW Editorial Board. These views are separate from editorials and reflect individual perspectives of contributing writers and/or members of the University community.

Photo by Thomas Hawk on Flickr.

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