Petition Against Victoria's Secret 'Perfect Body' Campaign Gathers Momentum

[B00Mer]

Petition Against Victoria's Secret 'Perfect Body' Campaign Gathers Momentum

A new bra campaign from Victoria’s Secret has suffered pushback for its use of the phrase ‘The Perfect Body’ alongside pictures of slim models.

British students Frances Black, Gabriella Kountourides and Laura Ferris launched a Change.org petition protesting the ads and have already garnered over 13,000 supporters at time of writing.

While 'Body' is the name of the range and the slogan is a resulting play on words, the use of almost identically-sized models appearing alongside it has made for an uncomfortable and controversial juxtaposition.

"We would like Victoria’s Secret to apologise and take responsibility for the unhealthy and damaging message that their ‘Perfect Body’ campaign is sending out about women’s bodies and how they should be judged,” the petitioners explain.

"We would like Victoria’s Secret to change the wording on their advertisements for their bra range Body, to something that does not promote unhealthy and unrealistic standards of beauty, as well as pledge to not use such harmful marketing in the future.

"Victoria’s Secret’s new advertisements play on women's insecurities, and send out a damaging message by positioning the words 'The Perfect Body' across models who have exactly the same, very slim body type.

"This marketing campaign is harmful. It fails to celebrate the amazing diversity of women’s bodies by choosing to call only one body type 'perfect’.”

The hashtag IAmPerfect also became a popular trend as a result of the petition, though Victoria’s Secret themselves have yet to comment.

source: Petition Against Victoria's Secret 'Perfect Body' Campaign Gathers Momentum

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Time for these feminist to create a company and advertise different sizes of women, and see how they compete against Victoria Secret.

But I gotta ask, you think the dude on the end to the right is gett'in lucky?

 

[gerryh]

The petition means nothing. Stop buying from them, that will mean something to them.

 

[grainfedpraiboy]

I have mixed opinions.

On the one hand, I like curvy full breasted, long legged, long haired but relatively slim women that are the mainstay of Playboy and the hundreds of other magazines and websites. Western society over centuries has conditioned me to find this particular look beautiful and anthropologically speaking, like the male chimps in experiments who will forgo the opportunity of food in order to gaze upon the hind quarters of females, my brain is conditioned to release a dopamine reward each time I look at an attractive or naked girl.

So evolutionarily, physically, psychologically, and socially I am predispositioned to like girls.....a lot........and to want them to always be sexed up to my tastes.

On the other hand we as a society have abused and twisted the ingrained female longing to be the object of desire to the point where for most of these women who try to sex themselves up to my taste levels......it becomes an all consuming affair of make up, workouts, clothes, hair styles, shoes, cosmetic surgery etc etc but it is almost an impossibility to ever meet the expectations that TV, porn, magazines, internet have set.

I can completely understand why some women give up. I can't fathom what it would be like to have to have my sexuality on some level play into everything from trying to go fishing and look cute to going to work and need to appear sexy.

I think what we have done to women is similar to what we have done with sugar. Our bodies need and crave sugar and for the past 200000 years we weren't able to get much until about 200 years ago then our consumption rates started doubling every generation thereafter. Now that we can get all we want and more and consume more sugar in a day than our ancestors did in a year we still crave it the exact same even while it destroys our bodies.

Probably a similar scenario with women is going on. We have the ability the past 4000 odd years or so to really start sexing them up and like the sugar consumption that ability keeps amplifying with new technologies and has completely gone berserk in the last century because the male desire for women and the female longing to be desired by males doesn't change.

We need to find a way to dial it back.

 

[SLM]

Time for these feminist to create a company and advertise different sizes of women, and see how they compete against Victoria Secret.

You do realize that this has nothing to do with feminism right? No, of course you don't.

I have mixed opinions.

On the one hand, I like curvy full breasted, long legged, long haired but relatively slim women that are the mainstay of Playboy and the hundreds of other magazines and websites. Western society over centuries has conditioned me to find this particular look beautiful and anthropologically speaking, like the male chimps in experiments who will forgo the opportunity of food in order to gaze upon the hind quarters of females, my brain is conditioned to release a dopamine reward each time I look at an attractive or naked girl.

So evolutionarily, physically, psychologically, and socially I am predispositioned to like girls.....a lot........and to want them to always be sexed up to my tastes.

On the other hand we as a society have abused and twisted the ingrained female longing to be the object of desire to the point where for most of these women who try to sex themselves up to my taste levels......it becomes an all consuming affair of make up, workouts, clothes, hair styles, shoes, cosmetic surgery etc etc but it is almost an impossibility to ever meet the expectations that TV, porn, magazines, internet have set.

I can completely understand why some women give up. I can't fathom what it would be like to have to have my sexuality on some level play into everything from trying to go fishing and look cute to going to work and need to appear sexy.

I think what we have done to women is similar to what we have done with sugar. Our bodies need and crave sugar and for the past 200000 years we weren't able to get much until about 200 years ago then our consumption rates started doubling every generation thereafter. Now that we can get all we want and more and consume more sugar in a day than our ancestors did in a year we still crave it the exact same even while it destroys our bodies.

Probably a similar scenario with women is going on. We have the ability the past 4000 odd years or so to really start sexing them up and like the sugar consumption that ability keeps amplifying with new technologies and has completely gone berserk in the last century because the male desire for women and the female longing to be desired by males doesn't change.

We need to find a way to dial it back.

Interesting analysis. I completely get what you're saying and appreciate the pov, I really do. But here's the funny thing that occurred to me as I was reading your post, where you say "I think what we have done to women" is right around the point where I start thinking "well, what have we done to men?". I mean, sure I completely get the whole 'focus on the "ideal" female body type' that is bombarded to women and girls every day in so many ways, and the myriad of ways that it plays into self-esteem and this never ending need to be youthful and sexy and appealing, but what you're really saying is that it is men that have been conditioned. Consumers in a massive marketing campaign, and a very successful one at that. So really, to my way of thinking, it is then the male that should be the target of any reconditioning effort.

Also, and this is not directed at anyone in particular, but I do laugh wondering just how many men who hold up these ideals of the perfect woman are themselves an example of the perfect male specimen.

In all honesty, I've never truly understood any of it that much. Maybe I'm weird but, while I certainly will admit to noticing attributes of men and finding those attractive, to me as soon as I find myself attracted to a man's personality, all that melts away and then they become the definition of perfect male specimen in my eyes.

 

[relic]

Has there ever been a study, that found out what men instinctively want a woman to look like ? What about before mass media told you what to like, what did you like ? I'm going to bet on Grainfeds " full breasted, long legged ....etc"

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

Has there ever been a study, that found out what men instinctively want a woman to look like ? What about before mass media told you what to like, what did you like ? I'm going to bet on Grainfeds " full breasted, long legged ....etc"

Look at Renaissance art. The women are mostly small-breasted with substantial bellies, round thighs, and pretty ample butts. Tastes change.

I'm not sure instinct has much to do with it, because choosing to modify our instincts is pretty much what being human is all about.

 

[grainfedpraiboy]

Has there ever been a study, that found out what men instinctively want a woman to look like ? What about before mass media told you what to like, what did you like ? I'm going to bet on Grainfeds " full breasted, long legged ....etc"

In many parts of Africa large well fed women are considered the epitome of attractiveness and when these fellows immigrate her they disproportionately marry our discarded "fat chicks". Other places and times less influenced by western ideals of feminine beauty exaggerate feminine characteristics and elongate the neck with constant additions of brass rings, bind the feet to prevent their growth and so on.

What we consider to be "beauty" is cultural. That men need to desire and women need to be desired is an ingrained human characteristic.

 

[taxslave]

Also, and this is not directed at anyone in particular, but I do laugh wondering just how many men who hold up these ideals of the perfect woman are themselves an example of the perfect male specimen.


Interesting question.
I have never liked fat on anyone. A little padding is one thing but rolls over the belt is just disgusting. So I have always been pretty careful with my own body. Now pushing 60 and not working as hard as I once did I managed to gain a bit but am still within 15 lbs of when I was 25

 

[Sal]

Has there ever been a study, that found out what men instinctively want a woman to look like ? What about before mass media told you what to like, what did you like ? I'm going to bet on Grainfeds " full breasted, long legged ....etc"

yes and the interesting thing is, it jumps cultural lines and is basically the same...full breasted, big hipped, large eyes, high cheek bones

healthy looking is what it came down to which makes sense from a mating perspective

In many parts of Africa large well fed women are considered the epitome of attractiveness and when these fellows immigrate her they disproportionately marry our discarded "fat chicks". Other places and times less influenced by western ideals of feminine beauty exaggerate feminine characteristics and elongate the neck with constant additions of brass rings, bind the feet to prevent their growth and so on.

What we consider to be "beauty" is cultural. That men need to desire and women need to be desired is an ingrained human characteristic.

actually it jumped cultural lines according to the study I read on beauty...

 

[grainfedpraiboy]

actually it jumped cultural lines according to the study I read on beauty...

'It is indeed true that many metrics of beauty are socially constructed. However, it is unequivocally clear that many others are universally defined, as these constitute cues of phenotypic quality that hold true irrespective of cultural setting or time period."

Beauty: Culture-Specific or Universally Defined? | Psychology Today

This is probably the line of thought you are referring to and I agree wholeheartedly with the concept of the universality of the metrics of beauty but that barely scratches the surface of the broader issue which is that culturally our preferences dictate the extremes women will go to appear desirable.

As for the comments on men, physical appearance is a distant consideration to females who are attracted to power and an ability to acquire resources.

 

[EagleSmack]

Also, and this is not directed at anyone in particular, but I do laugh wondering just how many men who hold up these ideals of the perfect woman are themselves an example of the perfect male specimen.

The first time I did P90X I was in my mid-40s. I was ripped! I had a six pack, I was in fantastic shape.


Finally a female colleague (and friend) came up to me and said... "You need to eat!"


I protested thinking I looked so awesome! (lmao)


She said "Your azz is gone, your cheeks are drawn, eyes sunken, people think you're sick."


So that was that. I went and got a cheeseburger.

 

[Twila]

Has there ever been a study, that found out what men instinctively want a woman to look like ? What about before mass media told you what to like, what did you like ? I'm going to bet on Grainfeds " full breasted, long legged ....etc"

It sure would be nice to find out just how much of what us women do to make ourselves attractive is actually us competing with each other and not what men find attractive. I wonder how much (if any) of this competition women make between themselves is what's turning men on without them knowing it.

 

[Sal]

'It is indeed true that many metrics of beauty are socially constructed. However, it is unequivocally clear that many others are universally defined, as these constitute cues of phenotypic quality that hold true irrespective of cultural setting or time period."

Beauty: Culture-Specific or Universally Defined? | Psychology Today

This is probably the line of thought you are referring to and I agree wholeheartedly with the concept of the universality of the metrics of beauty but that barely scratches the surface of the broader issue which is that culturally our preferences dictate the extremes women will go to appear desirable.

As for the comments on men, physical appearance is a distant consideration to females who are attracted to power and an ability to acquire resources.

yes that is the article I was referring to: Symmetric faces are construed as more beautiful than asymmetric faces in all cultures (irrespective of the race of the person being evaluated and the race of the evaluator). You can visit Bedouins in the Middle East, the Yanomamo in the Amazon, and Inuits in the Canadian north, and they will all agree as to who is or is not beautiful (based on facial features). Clear skin is a universal preference.


women apparently liked the square chin, healthy build but as you state and I agree, females are attracted to power and an ability to acquire resources... back to cave days...women need to look healthy for child bearing, men need to look healthy for hunting

one of the things I found fascinating was pupil size...those with large pupils where considered more beautiful than those with small pupils when shown the same picture with a different distillation. That may also have to do with health via eye sight.

 

[CDNBear]

Fat chicks rock.

That's all I have to say.

 

[grainfedpraiboy]

women apparently liked the square chin.

As a point of order, new anthropological research demonstrates that men have rougher features in their faces because their faces and where the bones fuse are thicker and designed by evolution to withstand repeated trauma. In a nutshell, evolutionarily men are built to punch each other in the face over and over with far less skull damage as what might occur with a female in just a single strike. It is a trait that evolves directly with our ability to make a fist.

As for pupils, surprisingly upwards of 80% of human communication is nonverbal and dilated pupils are considered a subtle signal of sexual interest along with uncontrolled gestures, pheromones etc. One of the reasons women put on lipstick and nail polish is to mimic, albeit significantly exaggerate, the normal flow of blood to the lips and fingertips which conveys a message of their sexual readiness and interest at the moment.

We all unconsciously want people to have a sexually interest in us and our bodies continually relay our suitability to other potential sex partners regardless of whether we are single or happily coupled.

 

[CDNBear]

Ya, we all be horn dogs, lol. Some of us are just a little more in tune with our ancestral selves, lol.

 

[Sal]

As a point of order, new anthropological research demonstrates that men have rougher features in their faces because their faces and where the bones fuse are thicker and designed by evolution to withstand repeated trauma. In a nutshell, evolutionarily men are built to punch each other in the face over and over with far less skull damage as what might occur with a female in just a single strike. It is a trait that evolves directly with our ability to make a fist.

As for pupils, surprisingly upwards of 80% of human communication is nonverbal and dilated pupils are considered a subtle signal of sexual interest along with uncontrolled gestures, pheromones etc. One of the reasons women put on lipstick and nail polish is to mimic, albeit significantly exaggerate, the normal flow of blood to the lips and fingertips which conveys a message of their sexual readiness and interest at the moment.

We all unconsciously want people to have a sexually interest in us and our bodies continually relay our suitability to other potential sex partners regardless of whether we are single or happily coupled.

interesting

I've also heard that survival may be the reason women are multi-orgasmic. When travelling the women had to haul the babies and could not keep up with the pace the men might set. It was easy to squat with the baby and rest while having sex with the man and then move on. She could avail multiple men if need be to allow her to rest and keep the baby safe.

 

[CDNBear]

If sex was restful, someone was doing it wrong, lol.

 

[Sal]

If sex was restful, someone was doing it wrong, lol.

lol no missionary position back then and no one got the rocks on their backs

 

[CDNBear]

Rocks? 8O

Am I doing it wrong?