Victoria’s Secret Revealed (Hint: It’s Not Very Hot)

I do not find models attractive. If you’re going to be honest, you probably don’t either. What with their protruding spines and gaunt faces, there isn’t even enough there to judge as being attractive or not. But there are models, and then there are Victoria’s Secret models, the Angels, if you will. These are the models that men drool over, set their DVRs for and hoard swimsuit catalogues for. Sure, they look healthier than the average model, but that isn’t saying much. They still starve themselves.

Source: becomegorgeous.com

The problem with our perception of female body weight as portrayed on television or in magazines is that we are looking at these women as they are standing next to other women like them. We don’t see any disparities with their proportions because we don’t have anything real to compare them to. This means that, in Hollywood, women who are a size 2 (SIZE TWO) can actually look thick. If we were to pluck a Victoria’s Secret model off the runway and out of her wings and put her next to a normal woman, who is say, a size 4 or 6 or 8, she would look emaciated. And for those of you who say, “She’s perfectly healthy. She actually has boobs and an ass!” Those boobs are actually chicken cutlets, push up bras and strategic shades of bronzer — that or silicon. A lot of these girls are flatter than pancakes in real life. That’s how it is when you have no body fat.

Well, folks, one model fessed up and ruined the illusion: Angels kill themselves to be skinny just like any other models. Instead of eating absolutely nothing, the Angels hop on a “training” diet and exercise plan to “get in shape” for shoots and runway shows. Let’s take a look at this plan.

Angel Adriana Lima confesses that, after a visit to a nutritionist (I have major doubts that this nutritionist actually has a degree — or exists in the first place), the VS girls take on a diet of protein shakes and vitamins, whose sole purpose is to give the Angles the energy for their two-a-day workouts, and a gallon of water a day (ok, that’s not a bad thing — except that that’s probably what’s giving them the illusion that they have something in their stomachs). But, hey, it’s ok! Their protein shakes contain powdered eggs, which are the same thing as real eggs. That’s food! Right? Yeah, no.

The Angels starve themselves, allowed to drink ONLY their shakes and water, for nine days before the televised VS fashion show and dispel any calories from their frames with two workouts a day for about a month before. For 12 hours before the show, the girls are not allowed to consume ANYTHING whatsoever, including water.

Now, some might say that a mere 9 days on a liquid diet is no biggie. Well, that combined with two-a-day workouts (reminds me of a football team….and they eat a lot) doesn’t seem so safe. I sincerely wonder how far into their workouts they make it before they pass out. Plus, if they consume so little during this period, I’m willing to be they don’t consume much more when they are allowed to actually eat solids. I’m also willing to bet a fair number of the Angels pass out once they step off the runway. But what do I know. I’m a size 4.

Now, I’m no man, but I have to think that knowing what these girls do to themselves (can we say lack of self-respect) has to detract at least a tiny bit from their sex appeal. Although, like I said, I’m no man. Which means I don’t think like a man. And men never cease to amaze me.

When I shared the Huffington Post article that relayed this Angel diet with coworkers, the majority of them being females (one of whom also blogged about this very topic), they were appalled by it. But one coworker, a male, did not share our disgust. Now, I don’t want to call him out as stupid or insensitive, but I do question his response. He claimed that our criticisms of such an extreme way to get thin were “mean,” that these women should essentially be praised for working so hard to achieve “hottness.” This confuses and scares me. Is this really what men want? They would rather us starve ourselves to look like smokin’ hot Angels (and probably have no energy for that little activity they like to partake in with hot women) than be healthy and happy?

I don’t know that they understand what these models are probably like mentally and emotionally. Sure, they’re “hot.” But would you want to date a woman who literally obsesses about everything she eats? You couldn’t buy her chocolate or make her dinner or expect her to eat any of your mother’s stuffing when you bring her home for Thanksgiving. Not to mention the baggage you would have to deal with. Women whose very careers and livelihoods depend on their bodies have emotional issues tied to their self-esteem (or lack thereof) and the harshly critical industry they thrive in. I can only imagine how critical someone who is under this kind of judgment would be of a boyfriend or how she would deal with a relationship. Sounds messy. And if you think your girlfriend is crazy, just think about what she would be like if she was starving. Yikes.

All I can say is, I’m proud that I ate pizza for dinner.