Why Doesn't Victoria's Secret Represent Me

You’ve probably noticed that I, Sophia E. Fredo, am generally average.  I am slightly taller than average, of a normal weight, and not too special in the looks department (except for my cheekbones; those things could cut glass).  But in all seriousness, the media do not value the qualities of the average woman. While I embrace girls with brains and character, who display honesty and are trusting and loyal, the media instead display a totally different ethos – one dominated by sexuality and completely superficial qualities.  Will you find someone similar to me in a clothes catalogue, or seductively posing on a highway billboard? No, you’d find a Megan Fox or Victoria’s Secret Angel type instead.  But why them and not me when I’m the type that these products are thrust at.  This misrepresentation of women in the media is highly unfair to girls all over the world and affects all girls.  I am a young woman, and I am a target of this.  This is happening to me and I am exposed to this constantly, as are millions of girls across the world.  This misrepresentation of women in the media sets unbelievably high standards for women to adhere to.  No one (normal) could possibly look like a Victoria’s Secret model, unless they are in fact a Victoria’s Secret model.

Tina Fey, in her autobiography Bossypants, said, “…I think the first real change in women’s body image came when J-Lo turned it butt-style. That was the first time that having a large-scale situation in the back was part of mainstream American beauty. Girls wanted butts now. Men were free to admit that they had always enjoyed them. And then, what felt like moments later, boom—Beyoncé brought the leg meat. A back porch and thick muscular legs were now widely admired. And from that day forward, women embraced their diversity and realized that all shapes and sizes are beautiful. Ah ha ha. No. I’m totally messing with you. All Beyonce and J-Lo have done is add to the laundry list of attributes women must have to qualify as beautiful.  Now every girl is expected to have Caucasian blue eyes, full Spanish lips, a classic button nose, hairless Asian skin with a California tan, a Jamaican dance hall ass, long Swedish legs, small Japanese feet, the abs of a lesbian gym owner, the hips of a nine-year-old boy, the arms of Michelle Obama, and doll tits. The person closest to actually achieving this look is Kim Kardashian, who, as we know, was made by Russian scientists to sabotage our athletes.” (Fey)
Though Fey’s writing is hilarious, it’s also quite accurate.  Fey also makes a good point: these women aren’t actually women.  They’re Photo shopped, airbrushed, enhanced, and slimmed down versions of real people.  So we have the .05% of what women look like setting the ideals of beauty and “perfection.”  This misrepresentation, or should I say, MISSrepresentation, doesn’t set a good model (no pun intended) for young girls and teenagers, who are the ones most affected by this.  This can lead to low self-esteem, anorexia, bulimia, depression, and even suicide.  In middle school, I was anorexic and depressed and this is exactly why I hated myself: because I didn’t think I was pretty enough, all because a stick slim model with great boobs made me look bad. This misrepresentation really does hit home for girls everywhere, especially for me, and if you’re a girl, I’m certain that you haven’t felt good enough or beautiful enough after flipping through Teen Vogue or watching celebrities on TV.           My real goal in this isn’t to rant and annoy the hell out of you, but to illuminate the fact that women are being shown in ways that don’t really show women.  I’d want models who are average people to set the standard for clothing sizes, strut on the runway, and work it at Victoria’s Secret.  After all, if a woman is airbrushed, Photo shopped, slimmed down, and enhanced, is she really a woman at all?