Love Whose Body?

What time is it, Readers?

You guessed it...time for another Media Rant by Whitney.

On the menu this time, my own beloved Vicky S. Let me start off by saying I LOVE Victoria's Secret. I really, truly do. I love their bras. I love their lingerie. I love their body creams. What I can do without is their recent hypocrisy. VS has launched a mini-line, titled 'Love Your Body' within their best-selling Body line. At first I was sort of thrilled to hear this. I envisioned ads containing women of all shapes and sizes a la Dove's Real Beauty Campaign. Ya know: young, old, short, tall, curvy, boyish, etc. Come to find out...mmmm, not so much. In fact, the ads contain nothing more then a line up of, you guessed it, perfectly proportioned models.


So, whose body exactly am I supposed to be loving? I can tell ya right now I'm not loving looking at stick-thin models with legs up to here, yet still magically having D-size boobs. Yeah, not in love with that at all, actually.


To top it off, the campaign includes a video of the models discussing all the different parts of a man's body they love. Again, how is this supposed to help me love my body? Watching a panty-clad model lounge about discussing how much she loves a man's tummy (while pointing out her own amazingly toned abs for inspection), does not make me LOVE my very own post-baby body. So, next time you attempt to help women around the world love THEIR bodies, why don't you start by actually loving THEIR bodies yourself? Sorry VS, but you reeeeally missed the mark this time.


For those who are interested...

The 'What do you love about a man's body' Video:



The 'Love Your Body' Commercial:

What young girl doesn't need a bustier?

Normally I'm a pretty laid back, tolerant, live-and-let-live type of girl. I don't feel it's my job to hoist my opinions and beliefs on other people (I can hear my husband laughing now;), especially as I realize in today's world not everyone believes as I do...but I really have to rant about something I find highly inappropriate.

I was wandering about the mall the other day when my attention was caught by these huge advertisements in a store's windows. The posters showed larger-than-life pictures of girls scantily dressed in lingerie-ish underclothing. I was a little surprised because I knew I wasn't near Victoria's Secret...and then I realized I was standing in front of aerie, American Eagle's under- lounge-, and exercise-wear branch. I was bothered by a few of different things while standing there slack-jawed in the middle of a crowded mall on a Saturday night.

1~The girls in the posters were obviously very young.
2~Said young girls were dressed in nearly nothing and what they were wearing could hardly be called age-appropriate.
3~Nearly naked, underage girls were posed very provocatively.
4~Provocative, semi-nude young girls had sexually-charged captions on their photos ("sexy," "flirty," etc.).
and finally...
5~This was all on the outside windows of a store geared towards young, teenage girls.

Honestly, my first thought was, "that's darn near close to child pornography." While I realize the poster girls weren't actually fully nude or engaged in sexual acts, the photos were still of underage girls who were dressed and posed waaay too sexually for their ages.

Then my thoughts moved toward the fact that aerie is a store that is aimed at young, underage girls. I couldn't help but wonder what message the advertisers are trying to send: If you shop here you'll be fun and flirty? How about, boys will think you're sexy if you're wearing our underwear? Regardless of their intentions, the message they're selling is SEX. I mean, really, most aerie shoppers shouldn't even be showing any boys their underwear, let alone buying lingerie! Statistics show that "when compared to teens who are not sexually active, teenage boys and girls who are sexually active are significantly less likely to be happy and more likely to feel depressed...[and] are significantly more likely to attempt suicide." Everyday, 8,000 teenagers in the United States become infected by a sexually transmitted disease. Not to mention that teen pregnancy is rampant. If anything, we should be telling our girls (and our boys too, for that matter) to say No, NO, NO not Go, GO, GO!

Instead, what's aerie telling our girls? No need to wait until marriage, or heck, even until you're emotionally mature enough to handle sex. Unwanted pregnancy? STDs? forgetaboutit. It IS all about being sexy and titillating and catching those young boys by the balls...and have we got *the* cutest pair of garter panties and matching bustier to get you on your way.

Like Father, Like Son

I had an interesting conversation with my three year old the other day.

He walked into the room as I was getting dressed and noticed my bra as I was putting it on. The ensuing conversation went something like this...

"What's that?"
"It's just something Mommys wear."
"For your chest?"
"Yes, for my chest."
"Can I touch it?"
He then proceeded to stroke my bra.
"They feel soft, Mommy...soft and squishy. I like them." With a couple more pats, he went on his way.

He reminds me of my husband, twenty-something years ago. I guess some things never change.

Artfull Bras

We received this in an email and thought it was worth mentioning on our blog. A bunch of ladies in South Carolina got together and in an effort to combat Breast Cancer designed bras to auction. Not only do we love the bras with all their character and creativity, but we love the purpose. I'm sure all of us have stories of women in our lives who fought breast cancer. I have several such stories and from each woman I learned the same lesson: laughter really is the best medicine.

These bras serve two purposes, one to bring laughter to the soul and two, to raise money for Breast Cancer Awareness. Our favorites were:

Whitney's - Boobs in Bloom Aubrey's - Wonder WomanWe would like to hear your favorites, so take a look and let us know! Artfull Bras