In the early 1990s, the Victoria’s Secret catalog was a paean to mature sexuality. Comprised of page after page of silky nightgowns, satin V-strings, sexy push-up teddies and sheer stockings, the Victoria’s Secret merchandise seemed to be the height of sophisticated seduction. But just over a decade later, Victoria’s Secret doesn’t seem to be designed for adults at all. Most of the catalog’s pages are now devoted to cotton print underwear, baggy cotton PJs, and sweats from the “Pink” collection. The grownup sex appeal vanished with the satin and lace, and the once-naughty catalog has turned into the chronicle of a middle school slumber party.

There are certainly those who find that images conjured up by the last sentence to be enticing, and they’re not in the minority. This new conception of sexy presented by Victoria’s Secret – wide-eyed, underage romps through the bedroom – hardly exists in a vacuum. Images of little-girl sexuality are commonplace nowadays. The icky-wrong feelings about little girls which Nabokov immortalized so elegantly in Lolita were a scandal when the novel was published, but only a few decades later our society that pushes sexuality to extremes - both conservatively and liberally - doesn’t give this youthful-sexual paradigm a second thought. From the Lolita-schoolgirl fashion movements scattered throughout Japan during the past decade, to the online countdown for the eighteenth birthday of the infamous Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen twins, to the Pink pages of Victoria’s Secret, there’s no denying that the world is fantasizing about young girls. And Victoria’s Secret has always been about selling the fantasy; it’s not their fault that the current fantasy is also a felony.

What’s with all these teenage sex symbols, anyway? Maybe the very prevalence of sex in our society is leading us to seek out more forbidden fruit for our titillation. Or maybe the cynicism of the “sex sells” culture in advertising is making us crave something a little more innocent. Whatever the reason, the fascination with its various nymphets can’t be denied.

But we have to wonder where is this road leading us. Grown women are buying cotton boyshort panties covered with cheerful prints of rainbows and cartoons. And as adult women give credence to these pieces as sexy underwear, millions of young girls, seeking to claim their own sexuality and enter prematurely into adulthood, are buying the same cute-sy cotton boyshort panties their mums are wearing. This phenomena is by no means limited to undergarments and pyjamas - it’s spread like a wildfire to other fashion trends. Women well past their prime with silvered hair are wearing said locks long and flowing, styled youthfully, rather than cutting it into the cliche ‘married-with-kids-and-grandkids’ crop cut. A woman approaching her thirtieth-fifth birthday is consistently mistaken to be nineteen because of her favourite pink business suit, teenage music tastes, and panache for pouting when she doesn’t get her way. Wait a minute - can it really be claimed that every teenage girl in a pink sweat-suit with bunnies on it is trying to be seductive? Well, therein lies the problem:

It’s becoming more and more difficult to distinguish teenagers entering into their sexual maturity from the nine-year-olds who just like the pretty colors and soft fabrics. A February 2007 report from the American Psychological Association (APA) found that the sexualization of young girls in media, including advertising, is linked to low self-esteem, eating disorders and depression. According to the APA press release, “sexualization was defined by the task force as occurring when a person’s value comes only from her/his sexual appeal or behavior, to the exclusion of other characteristics, and when a person is sexually objectified, e.g., made into a thing for another’s sexual use.”

The report also found that early sexualization can have a negative impact on the healthy development of a girl’s sexuality. This will come as no surprise to the thousands of women who were encouraged to see themselves as sexual objects in their youth, and who find that their maturity is spent in trying to recreate that feeling of objectification.

This fashion statement is also a testament of our times, where relationships between men and women are no longer limited to having the male in a relationship being older than the female: with the onset of mature women casually called ‘cougars’, who are aged thirty, forty and beyond, seeking romantic connections with men much younger than them - twentysomething-aged university freshman who are still trying to claim their right to facial hair. These so-called ‘cougars’ are vamping it up by playing the part of a girl in the age demographic normally held attractive by the younger men they are seeking out.

What if this modern concept of Lolita-ism reverted overnight to the empowered mature women that were the cultural icons of the 1960s, 1970s and 1980s? Imagine this for a moment: the newest issue of the Victoria’s Secret catalog, or some other similar lingerie catalog, arrives in the mail, and when its pages are searched through, it is noticed that all the pink cotton boyshorts have been replaced with red silk teddies. All the coy downward glances have been replaced by bold, confident stares. There are shadows and peeks of parts of the women’s bodies that are nothing less than soft porn. These women are confident adults, in full control of the situation. How does this image strike a majority of people? Is it sexy to think of these models as adult women taking control in the bedroom, expressing desires of their own, asking their partners to do what they want? Or are men (and perhaps even women) already missing the My-Little-Pony crowd of sweet, submissive girls? The sex appeal of an empowered woman may be there, true, but it may lack the sparkle of the a little girl’s shy poise.

Another thing to think on is that Victoria’s Secret was originally designed as a store where men could buy lingerie for their wives without embarrassment. The first stores were wood-paneled and low-key, featuring bras and panties in frames on the walls. Men could easily identify styles, then ask sales staff for help in finding sizes, rather than rifling through endless racks of underwear. Though the stores have dramatically changed in design since the early days, the current catalog may be an extension of that first idea: helping men shop for ladies’ unmentionables without embarrassment. Filled with non-threatening, giggly models wearing soft, traditionally feminine colors, perhaps the catalog serves as a respite for men overwhelmed by their day-to-day experience of strong women in the workplace and at home.

But while such restful fantasies may not be harmful in themselves, the full impact of all this little-girl sexuality is still to be seen. As the Victoria’s Secret Pink generation matures, will their tastes mature with them? Or will the only change to their underwear drawers be the size on their pink cotton briefs?

Written by d/visible contributor Kris Larson.

This entry was posted on Thursday, November 22nd, 2007 at 8:49 pm and is filed under Fashion, Culture, Art & Design. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.