Muscles and Curves: Diversity in Lingerie #DiversityInLingerie

(Many of the links in this post are NSFW-- no nudity, but women in lingerie)
Lingerie comes in a larger size range now than it ever has before, which is a step in the right direction.

Lingerie advertising, however, still uses a small range of women with a very narrow range of body types (and often skin color). Especially in the United States, where photo-editing software is used heavily to "perfect" skin, remove scars or stretch marks, cellulite, remove blemishes, make the waist smaller, remove "bulky" musculature from the arms and legs, etc. The women in the advertisements sometimes only bear a resemblance to the actual woman who modeled-- it doesn't entirely look the same, because pictures are edited so heavily.

My point being that even women with bodies like lingerie models, aren't accurately represented by lingerie models in advertising. That's part of why bra blogs are so welcome (and I'd argue, important!) in this time-period-- I've never seen a women who looked anything like me in a lingerie ad, so I know whatever I buy is probably not going to look the same on mest. I ill need underwear, so I look on bratabase, and I look for blog reviews, or I buy bras from Poland-- because Ewa Michalak, despite their communication issues on occasion, still is remarkable for their diverse (and non-altered pictures of ) their group of models. In my personal case, the model with the lovely dreads is the closest to me in bra size so I have a better idea of how the construction and pattern of the bra will look in my size. And that was a revelation to me-- we may not look that much alike otherwise, but being able to see a model with my bust size in an advertisement, made me want to buy their items so much more.

Though I am dissatisfied with lingerie advertising, I can still see my skin color represented by the vast majority of lingerie models. I've been fortunate enough that I haven't had to learn to live with a physical disability due to car accidents or other issues, so I don't even realize the lack of disabled models unless it's brought to my attention. I've never been pregnant.

Why can't advertisements reflect reality? I know firsthand that seeing a lingerie model that is similar to me, makes me MORE, not less likely to purchase underwear from that company. I'd love to see more people of color, more disabled people, more short people, more people with the same human skin that I have represented in advertisements. Furthermore, I know I'm not alone.

Lingerie companies: I have stretch marks. I have cellulite. I'm short. My thighs touch. My stomach isn't flat. I have visible musculature in both my arms and legs.
Just like every other person on this planet, I'm still beautiful in my own way, and there's nothing wrong with me.
I want to see more diversity in lingerie advertisements: people that look like me, and people that don’t look like me—but I want to see people that don’t look like me in different ways then the ways I’ve seen my entire life. This is not to say that women who fit the "lingerie model" mold don't belong in advertising-- they are real people just like the rest of us-- however, they shouldn't be the only people seen in lingerie advertising.

The #DiversityInLingerie project was started by June of Braless in Brazil:

From now on, if you want to join me take a picture of yourself (can be with or without your face, in lingerie or clothes- whatever you feel comfortable with!) and somehow fit in the hashtag #DiversityInLingerie. You're welcome to either post it on twitter with the hashtag or email me and I'll put it up in a post on my blog. Starting today (August 21st) other bloggers will becoming out with their own posts and pictures so check back to this post for the links! I'll post them as they come out.

I'd encourage women of ALL walks of life and appearance to join in. By participating you can show the lingerie industry that, yes, you'd buy lingerie from a diverse group of models, not just the ones currently shown. I want to be clear that this is nothing against the body types currently shown and I don't want to get into a "real women" debate. We're all real women. I just want a bigger pool of models so that ALL women can see someone like them and say "hey, she looks like me and that bra looks awesome on her, it could look awesome on me too!". - See more at: http://www.bralessinbrasil.com/#sthash.Y5cwZakk.dpuf

I'd encourage women of ALL walks of life and appearance to join in. By participating you can show the lingerie industry that, yes, you'd buy lingerie from a diverse group of models, not just the ones currently shown. I want to be clear that this is nothing against the body types currently shown and I don't want to get into a "real women" debate. We're all real women. I just want a bigger pool of models so that ALL women can see someone like them and say "hey, she looks like me and that bra looks awesome on her, it could look awesome on me too!" - See more at: http://www.bralessinbrasil.com/#sthash.Y5cwZakk.dpuf

From now on, if you want to join me take a picture of yourself (can be with or without your face, in lingerie or clothes- whatever you feel comfortable with!) and somehow fit in the hashtag #DiversityInLingerie. You're welcome to either post it on twitter with the hashtag or email me and I'll put it up in a post on my blog. Starting today (August 21st) other bloggers will becoming out with their own posts and pictures so check back to this post for the links! I'll post them as they come out.

I'd encourage women of ALL walks of life and appearance to join in. By participating you can show the lingerie industry that, yes, you'd buy lingerie from a diverse group of models, not just the ones currently shown. I want to be clear that this is nothing against the body types currently shown and I don't want to get into a "real women" debate. We're all real women. I just want a bigger pool of models so that ALL women can see someone like them and say "hey, she looks like me and that bra looks awesome on her, it could look awesome on me too!".

Muscles and Curves

Tuesday, August 20, 2013

Diversity in Lingerie #DiversityInLingerie

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