Victoria's Secret first made shopping easy by catalog and now made shopping even easier through their website. Their target market: women of all ages. I peruse the site so often for new dresses and swimsuits I can pick out their clothing on other girls. But going over the site and thinking to myself how good an outfit looks and then actually wearing it have become two different things.
Why does it appeal to women everywhere? Just as Frontline's documentary "Merchants of Cool" divulges how mass conglomerate companies break into youth culture, Victoria's Secret breaks into female culture. They choose a target market and show it what it wants to see to appear "sexy and cool", in the long run it is all about appealing to someone else's tastes.
Do all women have six pack abs and huge breasts? I know that I definitely do not and no amount of "Very Sexy" lingerie by Victoria's Secret will make that dramatic change happen. That "Very Sexy" bra you ordered will never magically turn into a $300/hour personal trainer and a $7000 check for breast implants. Why doesn't the website offer a disclaimer for that? Don't get me wrong, in a society where McDonald's takes over it is amazing to see women in such great shape. But like Levy points out in her Female Chauvinist Pigs essay, why is it that athletic women [Olympians] must show their bodies in minimal clothing to feel sexy? They regress from women who can work and play just as hard as men to women who work and play hard for men.
The images I see in Victoria's Secret are never meant to appeal to me. They are meant to appeal to what I think a guy wants to see.
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