Victoria’s Secret is said to have removed a newly launched lingerie collection titled ‘Go East’ from its website after one of it’s outfits – ‘Sexy Little Geisha’ – was labeled racist by offended critics. The ‘Eastern-inspired’ cut-out sheer mesh teddy, which comes with a matching removable obi belt, fan and chopsticks, was described as “your ticket to an exotic adventure”, by the lingerie giant. Victoria’s Secret, who are yet to release a statement, have tacitly responded to the backlash by redirecting users looking for the product’s page, along with the rest of the Go East collection, to the site’s main homepage. After Racialicious, a website that dissects the intersection of race and popular culture, accused Victoria’s Secret of reducing Eastern culture to a stereotype of exotic sexuality, other critics quickly followed suit. Racialicious called the outfit “a troubling attempt to sidestep authentic representation of a culture and opt instead for racialized fetishizing against Asian women.” “Considering the complicated history of geishas, repurposing the (geisha) ‘look’ for a major corporation to sell as role-playing lingerie seems a bit tasteless,” it wrote.
How idiotic. Lingerie is sexy. So what is wrong with an eastern flair? If anything, it is a recognition and acceptance of diversity. No one's preferences are going to be significantly affected by Victoria Secrets offerings and those who think otherwise are self-absorbed within their own disillusion vortex of racial paranoia. If selling a little lingerie can reduce an entire culture to a "stereotype of exotic sexuality" then the culture wasn’t much of anything to begin with. In reality, eastern culture is rich and diverse will remain entirely unaffected by such nonsense. Are you foolish enough to think there is no lingerie in east already?
I doubt if Europeans would react negatively to being accused of have westerly style, or feel stereotyped by western sexuality (whatever that might be). Get serious folks — have you nothing better to do with your time than stir up racial intolerance where there is none. If Victoria Secret did anything wrong it was to kowtow this sort of absurdity.
Its about time people — and companies — took a stand against the purveyors of intolerance who disguise themselves its defenders.
i cant believe they cut out a word that is in the original article — the one that starts with an s, has an e before the x and ends in a y. Sheesh! .
How much you wanna bet there are more whites offended for us than there are offended Asians? Because I personally don't give a damn.
Comments are closed.