This week, after 17 years of walking the most famously naked catwalk in the world, Adriana Lima decided she didn’t want to take her clothes off anymore.
Posting on Instagram, the 36-year-old supermodel said the revelation came after a friend approached her and told her she wasn’t happy in her own body.
“I had received a call for the possibility of filming a sexy video of me to be posted and shared in social media,” Lima wrote on Instagram. “Even though I have done many of this type, something had changed in me, when a friend approached me to share that she was unhappy with her body, then it made me think that everyday in my life, I wake up thinking, how do I look? Was I going to be accepted in my job?
“And in that moment I realised that (the) majority of women probably wake up every morning trying to fit in a stereotype that society/social media/fashion etc imposed I thought that’s not a way of living and beyond that… that’s not physically and mentally healthy, so I decided to make that change. I will not take of my clothes anymore for a empty cause (sic).”
Before we unpack exactly what Lima is touching on, it’s helpful to firstly look at the facts.
Adriana Lima is 36 years old. She has worked and walked for Victoria’s Secret since 1999, making her the brand’s longest serving Angel. She was recently named the most valuable Victoria’s Secret Angel. In 2016, Forbes reported the model walked away with her largest pay check yet: US$10.6 million (AU$13.8 million).
Victoria's Secret is the world's most sought-after modelling contract, setting beauty standards universally. Victoria's Secret favours a certain kind of woman: The one with white teeth, long legs, tiny arms, a grin that reaches either side of her cheeks and a stomach punctuated by sharp lines and protruding muscles. And so, because Victoria's Secret favours her, the world follows suit. The message is loud, clear and wholly exclusive: This is what beautiful looks like.
When Lima wrote on Instagram, much of what she said was correct. Every morning of every day, women far and wide wake, look in the mirror and despair. They fiddle and they poke: Perhaps if this was a little higher, this was a little flatter and this was a little tighter, then I would be okay. Then I would fit; not just into smaller clothes but into the world. Then I would see women more like myself on the billboards, on the big screens. On that Victoria's Secret catwalk.
So when Adriana Lima wakes up and decides, after 17 long years, that Victoria's Secret isn't quite her schtick anymore, that statement is certainly going to lodge itself into the throats of millions of women like a pill hard to swallow.
To be totally clear: People are allowed to change their mind. They are allowed to change their perspective, to re-direct the lens in which they see the world. Adriana Lima is allowed to look back, swear under her breath and realise the system she bought into for 17 years is one that inflicts grave amounts of damage on women across the world.
But she must consider two things.
Firstly, that people's first reaction will be to question why after earning up to US$10 million a year, for nearly 20 years, she has decided to just... stop, only as her career begins to glimpse the finish line.
And secondly? That as a multi-millionaire who has benefitted from a system that she now wants to critique, a single Instagram about body positivity isn't going to cut it. To be the warrior for women she purports to be, we want to see Adriana Lima do more. To see her actively work to help undo the damage she was a part of, even if unintentionally, would mean so much more than a social media post.
That could mean donating to organisation that work tirelessly on re-directing the narrative we have about our bodies. It could be taking an active and consistent stance on Photoshop or being an ambassador for body image. It could be anything that has true significance. Anything that enforces change.
Of course, Adriana Lima is allowed to make herself a role model. To criticise is the easier public reaction. It's not even been a week since announcing her new stance on Instagram. Lima has a profile and can absolutely be the influence she wants to be. In fact, we should be encouraging that with open arms but the smallest disclaimer: be this person, but do it with meaning.
Somewhere across the strange land that is social media sits Emily Ratajkowski.
Model, actress, feminist. One minute a then 22-year-old Ratajkowski was largely anonymous; the next, dancing nearly naked on the most-viewed music video of 2013.
Ratajkowski is, according to the standards set by the powers-at-be, objectively beautiful. Every part of her body plays into every generalisation we're ever taught about conventional beauty.
And, just as capitalism allows, Emily Ratajkowski has leveraged off that. She's a savvy woman, and she has mastered the art of making a living by taking her clothes off - whether that be in Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines clip or in a recent video of the the 26-year-old in a bra pouring spaghetti over her chest.
We live in a free world and so, as a stand-alone fact, Ratajkowski is entitled to do whatever the hell she pleases.
What some people find a little harder to stomach is her resentment about how the world doesn't see her for anything other than being overtly sexualised. That she struggles to be taken seriously.
“It’s an interesting paradox. If you’re a sexy actress it’s hard to get serious roles. You get offered the same thing that they’ve seen you in,” she told Fairfax earlier this year.
“People are like sheep and they’re like, ‘Oh, that’s what she does well.’ What’s so dumb is that women are 50 per cent of the population and they want to spend money to see movies where they’re portrayed as three-dimensional characters.”
Ratajkowski is an outspoken feminist who wants to be known more for her mind than her face. She has penned essays on the intersection between sexism and being sexy. She is particularly public about her desire for us to listen, not just look. So why won't people listen?
LISTEN: The Mamamia Out Loud team discuss Adriana Lima deciding to never take her clothes off again...
Because here's the thing: When you make money off playing into every pre-conceived stereotype we have about what it means to be sexy, you can't denigrate the system that's lifted you up.
You can choose to make your body your currency, but you can't be surprised when the world follows suit. Ratajkowski has total control over her own narrative. This is the one she picked.
These women can be our role models, if that's what they want to be. They can be the people we learn from and the women who fight for us. They deserve the chance and they are so welcome to take any stance they please.
But as women who are not supermodels, right now, it can be hard to listen to what these women have to say. It can be hard to not consider their words and their actions working in direct opposition with one another. It can be hard to watch these beautiful women benefit from the very system they now choose to slander.
Perhaps it's also about us: about our inherent habit of feeling jealous of the beautiful, of the ones who can benefit from the system when the rest of us find ways to exist despite it. But perhaps it's also about them: If they want to be political, they have every right to be political.
It's just that actions speak louder than words.
LISTEN: Catch up on the latest episode of Mamamia Out Loud.
Top Comments
Tall, slim, well proportioned women with pretty faces have been the standard for beauty well before Victoria's Secret ever came along. Even if VS did decide to bow to pressure and send models down the runway who better physically resemble us "mere mortals", it won't change that fact. Tall, skinny women with curves in the right places are attractive.
I feel that VS (and any other fashion house) have a right to employ whatever models they choose to. They obviously have a brand and business model that is successful for them. But personally I choose not to watch the VS show on TV. As I age, I see little logic in entertaining anything that will make me feel insecure/inadequate about aspects of myself I cannot change. While I realise that feelings of dissatisfaction about my appearance will never totally disappear, I can choose to actively stay away from anything that can trigger them (such as spending time on instagram.) This, if nothing else, makes me feel a little more empowered.
I do agree that Adriana's announcement of her retirement from VS (if that's what it was meant to be) does seem insincere and like a cop out. Disappointed for her that after such an illustrious career, this is how she chooses to make her exit.
Agree with the content, but not the headline.
It's not that they are beautiful, but more that their behaviour goes against what they say. For Adriana to make this realisation at 36 when, let's face it, she doesn't have too many Angel years left and has made millions from the exercise, does sound a bit empty and rich. Yes, everyone is entitled to change their mind, but it is hard to believe she is only just now making this realisation. What she does next will show how genuine this change is.
As for Emily, the majority of her career is based on playing to the very stereotype and gender roles she claims to reject. She is not just being 'sexy' but actively playing to many well-known male fantasies. It just comes across as hypocritical.