Victoria’s Secret Underwear Parade on CBS

By: American Decency Staff

Written by:  Lisa Van Houten During this holiday season we hear of the traditional Thanksgiving Day parade, or local Santa Claus parades – but with this year’s tenth annual, we also have the customary “Underwear Paradeâ€Â on CBS – otherwise known as the Victoria’s Secret ‘Fashion’ Show. However, this yearly parade of barely-clad lingerie models has nothing to do with fashion, but is all about skin.  As nearly nude women paraded down runways, cameras gave viewers close up shots of their body parts – focusing on crotches and cleavage – what we teach our children are “privateâ€Â areas. The pixilated images of bare derrières did little to obscure what was on display and the bleeped out words from the profanity-laced lyrics of the musical performance by the rapper Kanye West did little to hide the obscenities heard by the audience. Amid these explicit displays, one of the concerning aspects of the night was the promotion of the Victoria’s Secret “Pinkâ€Â line of lingerie.  The “Pinkâ€Â brand is geared toward teenage girls – drawing them into Victoria’s Secret image, telling young girls that there worth is dependent upon being sexy and erotic. The show followed Victoria’s Secret’s yearly “angelâ€Â theme with backstage interviews of the models attempting to portray them as role models for young girls to emulate. One model talked of her childhood dreams of being a doctor, but implied how much better to be a lingerie model.  Really??  What parents would want their daughters to aspire to a career of prancing around nearly nude as opposed to a career of saving lives? One model stated:  “I think it’s every girl’s dream to walk in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show.â€Â Another commented: “Everybody knows what a big deal it is.â€Â And one claimed:  “The minute I stood on the runway I feel like I became a woman.â€Â This is the message to young women – promoting a view that equates femininity with eroticism.  Falsely claiming that it “empowersâ€Â women to dress/act provocatively, when in reality it only degrades and objectifies them. As we stated, this was not a show about “fashionâ€Â.  Its main focus wasn’t even geared so much toward women.  This was all about appealing to men –as was evident from the leering expressions of men in the audience. The camera angles, the erotic poses, all with the purpose of eliciting a sexual response – and a flood of Christmas sales of lingerie by men who want their wives to live up to the image on display by Victoria’s Secret. This was also blatantly obvious in the VS ads which ran during the commercial breaks – each ad in many ways even more pornographic than the show itself. One Victoria’s Secret commercial showed a highly sexualized montage of erotically-posed lingerie models playing to the male viewer as each woman seductively and repeatedly says:  “Tell me you want me.  Excite me.  Dazzle me.â€Â Ending with – “There’s no gift like a Christmas gift form Victoria’s Secret.â€Â Another Victoria’s Secret ad  -also geared toward men – is set to the lyrics of the Frank Sinatra song -  “In the wee small hours of the morning …you lie awake and think about the girl…â€Â A combination of the lyrics with the erotic imagery gives a creepy view of what Victoria’s Secret is for many boys and young men – a masturbatory tool. I said above that the Victoria’s Secret ‘Fashion’ Show wasn’t geared toward women, and yet the underlying message of everything about Victoria’s Secret is teaching women and young girls to degrade themselves for the pleasure of men – that their value is equated to their body parts and sex appeal. While, sadly, the ratings were up for this year’s Victoria’s Secret Underwear Parade, the good news is that mainline advertisers stayed away in droves – leaving for the most part more obscure products and Hollywood movie companies – as well as Victoria’s Secret itself – as the national advertisers.  However, there are advertisers that do need to hear from you! Click on the link below to contact the companies that empowered The Victoria’s Secret Show with their advertising dollars: https://americandecency.org/take_action_form.php?message=136 ========================================================== Your support is important to our ability to make a difference. Donate online at: https://secure4.afo.net/ada/donate.php American Decency Association is a member of the Evangelical Council for Financial Accountability. American Decency Association Bill Johnson, President P.O. Box 202 Fremont, MI 49412 ph: 231-924-4050 www.americandecency.org http://www.twitter.com/billwjohnson

---