This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Temple chapter.
Victoria’s Secret must be accustomed to criticism by now, especially with the latest outrage over its “The Perfect Body” campaign, which planted this slogan over half-naked models who, in addition to being already hopelessly thin, were clearly photoshopped. But this past week unveiled the 2014 Victoria’s Secret Fashion show, giving girls’ and women’s self-esteems even more of a reason to shudder.
As someone still in the process of recovering from an eating disorder, I have an absolute problem with the Victoria’s Fashion show. I have a problem with a popular clothing and lingerie brand insinuating that there is an ideal body to bare its merchandise. I have a problem with the show’s devoted audience idolizing women for nothing more than their appearances.
According to an article by Jane Mulkerrins for the Daily Mail, the average height of a Victoria’s Secret model is 5’7”. When I first started receiving treatment for anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa, I was 5’7 and 130lbs. Though I wasn’t dangerously underweight, I had been losing weight rapidly. At my lowest weight, 120lbs and able to fit into my seventh grade jeans, I still could not have compared to the angels on the runway, and I was obsessively aware of this. Despite weekly therapy appointments and anxiety medication commonly used to treat symptoms of eating disorders, I was getting worse. I faced the possibility of having to go inpatient at Hershey Medical Center Eating Disorder Clinic.
I couldn’t avoid the media affecting my distorted body image because it was everywhere. Every ad for clothing glorified someone taller and thinner than I was. I felt inadequate in the same clothes, and I didn’t mind sacrificing my health to close the gap.
It has been nearly three years since I was diagnosed. In those three years, I’ve driven hours to and from Hershey Medical Center and met regularly with a therapist, a nurse, a psychologist, and a nutritionist. I’ve lost weight, gained weight, lost weight, and gained it again. But at any given time, my actual weight did not affect the way I felt about myself. I may have even felt fattest when I was at my skinniest because I was also at my sickest. Reaching my “goal weight” did not allow me to decide to stop having an eating disorder. Only letting go of the obsessive notions of what my body should look like has allowed me to do that. And I’m still working on it. So I feel particularly affected by body ideals I see on TV or social media, and the Victoria’s Secret Fashion show is a big part of that.
Yes, I will always have to face ads of skinny women when I go shopping. But at no other time of the year am I so consistently slammed with uninvited images of naked women. Each year, I choose to not watch the show. Why willingly watch something that could trigger symptoms of my finally receding eating disorder? But Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram are still overrun by the show. If I truly dedicated myself to total obliviousness of it, I would have to lock myself in my room and throw my phone and computer out the window.
This week every other post on my twitter feed said something about the show:
“Victoria’s Secret fashion show has me in awe…. these women are the epitome of PERFECTION.”
“R.I.P to all girls’ self-esteem tonight #VSFashionShow”
One account tweeted a picture of a Victoria’s Secret Angel next to a picture of a potato with the caption “me.”
Clearly I am not the only girl who feels inadequate looking at this stampede of physical perfection. The National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD) states that between 0.5 and 3.7 percent of women suffer from anorexia at some point in their life, and up to 4.2 percent of women will suffer from bulimia. However, the statistics are likely skewed, as only about 1 in 10 people with an eating disorder receive treatment. These widely publicized fashion shows like the Victoria’s Secret show are increasing girls’ already existent body issues. I hope more girls and women, and Victoria’s Secret, will realize that fashion does not have to depend on a certain body type.