In Which We Discuss Victoria’s Secret’s Feminist Credentials

We take a moment to highlight the amazing, woman-loving things the Victoria's Secret models have done...

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by Laura Silver |
Published on

The Victoria's Secret show is a thorny issue when it comes to feminism. On the one hand, it's a singing, dancing celebration of femininity, performed by some pretty powerful and badass women, including Cara Delevingne, Jourdan Dunn and Karlie Kloss, who look like they're having the times of their lives. It's like the noisiest, glitteriest so-much-fun sleepover you never went to.

That's because you probably squeezed spots, talked about periods, and never got your tits out in the most heteronormative display of female sexuality ever at any IRL sleepover. Oh. This million dollar spectacle of mostly white, large-breasted, lithe-legged and long haired women, with the glaring omission of any of the other body shapes who've spent plenty of time wearing Dream Angels bras in the real world, is problematic to say the least.

Read More: The Victoria's Secrets Show Only Reminded Me How Shit I Am At Buying A Bra

We're leaving it to rest of the internet to take the task of unravelling this tangled web that is Victoria's Secret this week, but we will say this: throwing shade on the women walking in this contentious pageant will get us nowhere, particularly when they're some of the most powerful women in the modelling business and will be commanding a fuck of a lot of money to do so.

The worst thing we can do for feminism, even in the context of Victoria's Secret, is neg on other women, so instead, we're going to take this opportunity to highlight amazing, woman-loving things some of the models taking part in tomorrow's lingerie shebang have done, in the hope that amidst all of the hair extensions and cleavage, there'll be some empowered take-homes for the millions of girls who will undoubtedly tune in...

Karlie Kloss

Since we're on a Shine Theory tip, it makes sense to point out that fully anointed angel Karlie Kloss is a walking example of the idea that if you celebrate and promote the good things about other women rather than treat them as rivals, their amazingness will only reflect onto you. Whether she's giving social media shout-outs to model-buds Cara Delevingne and Jourdan Dunn, or living out every woman's fantasy of being besties with Taylor Swift and shouting about how great she is, she couldn't be working harder to dispel 'bitchy' girl stereotypes.

Josephine Skriver

The 'rainbow kid' Danish model was born to a lesbian mother and gay father and when she's not modelling, she campaigns to raise awareness of LGBT families. 'I want to be the voice for the kids because it’s really not that bad. You’re sure your parents love you, because they really, really wanted you in the first place. Gay people having a baby — it’s never just, “Whoops!”', she told BuzzFeed.

**Alessandra Ambrosio
**

The Brazilian model is another woman who acts as an excellent role-model for making the most of an excellent career and family. 'I come from a family where women are very strong. They rule the house and I’m the same', she told Porter magazine recently.

** Jourdan Dunn**

Speaking of family ties, Jourdan Dunn has not only conquered the fashion world to become the first ever black model on the Forbes top-earning models list, having banked over £2.5 million that year, but she's also a mega-devoted mother to her son Riley. And she's not even 25 yet. If that doesn't show the power of a woman, what does?

Read More: We Met The Girl Taking On Victoria's Secret's Perfect Body

**Douzten Kroes
**

The face (or hair) of L'Oreal, as well as veteran Angel, Kroes, is well aware of the negative impact the slew of perfect-seeming pictures of women in magazines can have, and is keen to set the record straight about them being Photoshopped. 'I feel I'm such a big part of that insecurity that some girls might have because of my job, that girls think they have to be that picture. It's so frustrating because I don't look like that picture - I wake up not looking like that picture', she told The Telegraph. When not offering more realistic pictures of herself on Instagram, she uses her Victoria's Secret Angel power for good, too, raising awareness about safe sex among young people worldwide. 'These kids who were looking really bored and falling asleep suddenly became fully engaged. It's amazing what Victoria's Secret can do', she says.

Elsa Hosk
Hosk

She did plenty to fight the corner of women in sport before changing tack and becoming a model, by being a fully-fledged, professional member of Sweden's national women's basketball team. 'It was very tough. We worked out probably like eight times a week, and then it was games on the weekend. It took up a lot of time, it got really serious', she told Fashionista.

Now to forget who better to add music to the festivities than Taylor Swift, the woman who's currently bankrolling millions from saying sorry-not-sorry for dating whoever she damn well pleases and putting her mates first before anaything on new album 1989?

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Follow Laura on Twitter @LauraFleur

This article originally appeared on The Debrief.

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