Victoria's Secret becomes Inclusive

After years of excluding transgender and plus size models in their stores advertising, Victoria's Secret has finally become more inclusive.

Starting this month, Victoria’s Secret is collaborating with British designer Emily Bendell. See-through bras, lacy panties, bodysuits with sharp geometric lines and garter belts in shades of crimson, black and white can be found at victoriassecret.com and in seven select stores in the U.S. and U.K. as part of the Bluebella collection, Bendell’s brand. 

The collection has a twist — that’s because it fulfills parent company L Brands Inc.’s promise to update its marketing strategy. Transgender model and actress May Simón Lifschitz and plus-size model Ali Tate Cutler, along with Olivia Sang and Laura Rakhman-Kidd, can be seen in advertisements for the collection on the company’s web site and on images inside and outside of the stores carrying the line. These include New York’s flagship along Fifth Avenue and London’s Bond Street store. Another step forward!

Trans model May Simon Lifsschitz

Valentina Sampaio

Meet Victoria's Secret first transgender model! It's about time!!!

Transgender Support Meeting

Last night was one of the twice a month transgender - cross dresser support group meetings. It was sparsely attended due in no small part to a couple of regulars who are in the hospital. One had a heart attack and the other just went through a complex operation to remove a brain tumor. Both had the habit of adding quite a bit to the discussions. Fortunately (or not) I was able to step in with discussions of my own.

The first had to do with volunteering to work the front door at this years' Cincinnati Witches Ball Halloween party. As I wrote before, my request was met with shock by the lead organizer. On the spur of the moment, I decided I was not going to sit on the sidelines anymore and to hell with being trans...I was going to step up. The rest of the meeting became so dis-orientated due to internal squabbles and a very noisy young boys basketball team who disrupted everything else. At the least, I am satisfied I stepped up to help the ball and volunteer for a very important and complicated job.

For the last several years, we have also set up at Cincinnati Pride, which has become a huge event and I volunteered to get us registered for that. It too was lost in the dust of the mess of a meeting. Oh well.

My first topic last night involved my quest to present a workshop again at this years 2019 Trans Ohio Symposium. I have decided gender dysphoria will be my central topic. My proposal has to be in by Thursday.

Ironically, one of my assumptions about dysphoria was shattered by the moderator of the group last night. When I mentioned what I was going to try to do, she stuck her nose up in the air and said she had never experienced any Mtf gender dysphoria at all. We got into a brief give and take about what dysphoria really meant and how it was possible she never felt the pulling and tugging of the two main gender binaries. It was an eye opening experience for me.

Finally, towards the end of the meeting, we somehow ended up discussing how Victoria's Secret doesn't use transgender models and even how I don't support Chick Fil A with any of my money. Of course she said she does because she considers herself a role model of sorts for trans people everywhere by proving she could eat there. I simply said since she does have quite a bit of passing privilege, her attempts were wasted because no one knew anyhow. All she was doing was contributing to the profit margins of an anti LGBTQ company. After another person said if we stop going to all the companies who don't support us, we wouldn't have any place to go. I had to step back in and point out that wasn't true either. Cincinnati alone has several big companies who are pro LGBTQ including Kroger grocery stores, Fifth Third Bank, Procter and Gamble and Pure Romance.

So, all in all it was an exciting couple of days.   

NOT one of Victoria's Secrets

Carmen Carerra

It's no secret Carmen Carerra is a positively gorgeous woman- who happens to be transgender. Now a Change.org  petition is pushing for model Carmen Carrera to be the first transgender Victoria’s Secret Angel and had garnered over 34,000 signatures

A transwoman walking the runway alongside Karlie Kloss and Adriana Lima would be a truly revolutionary event for transgender women every where.. But is America ready? Countries outside of America have been more open-minded about transgender models on the runways and covers but America is still lagging behind. Overseas, gender-bending models like Andrej Pejic and Lea T have been pushing boundaries on runways for a while.

Andrej Pejic

It remains to be seen if Victoria's Secret is ready as a brand, to feel comfortable marketing towards ALL types of women. But,  if anyone has a chance to open the doors, certainly Carmen is a fantastic choice!

Unfortunately the way I read it the petition effort may be a little late.
The show films tomorrow but airs on CBS in December. However, if this effort opens the door at all for transgender models in the future it is a great deal.

More Pejic

From the Huffington Post Stylelist comes an interesting Q&A with super model Andrej Pejic.

Of particular interest to me was the question of SRS:
    You were once quoted as saying that you would have a sex change for Victoria's Secret, do you still stand by that? "(Laughs) Yes I do. Definitely. In all seriousness, though, is a sex change operation something you plan on doing in the future? I like to keep all options open, but I like to think that is a personal thing. I don't talk about that very much.

   Also the subject of being added to a list of the world's sexiest women:

    Another recent controversy was when FHM listed you as number 98 on its "100 Sexiest Women In The World" story. They subsequently removed you from the list and issued an apology.
" I found it as flattering as any woman would. It's great, but I never thought that I would become a sex symbol. To be seen like that is exploring another type of beauty, being accepting and breaking a boundary."

Follow the link above for more!