HOME / NEWS / HUMAN INTEREST

Megan Rapinoe is the new face of Victoria's Secret and straight-cis men don't like it

A lingerie brand that mainly makes and markets women's products and has so far used the male gaze to sell to the masses has decided to do better.

Lingerie company Victoria's Secret is getting a makeover and undergoing a major brand change. It is hoping to reinvent its "sexy" image and replace it with a more "women empowerment" image. Replacing the all too popular models, who are referred to as "Victoria’s Secret Angels" and walked a year-end fashion show with over-the-top wings to go with the lingerie they modeled. The appeal was evident in terms of projecting the Angels as the benchmark that every woman should aspire to be and whom every man wanted to be with. With a new line-up to be the face of the company, Victoria's Secret culture is setting new standards.

According to The New York Times, the new line-up includes soccer star and gender equity campaigner Megan Rapinoe, 35; Eileen Gu, 17-year-old Chinese American freestyle skier and soon-to-be Olympian; Paloma Elsesser, 29-year-old biracial model and inclusivity advocate; and Priyanka Chopra Jonas, a 38-year-old Indian actor, and tech investor. “When the world was changing, we were too slow to respond,” Martin Waters, the former head of Victoria’s Secret’s international business who was appointed chief executive of the brand in February said. “We needed to stop being about what men want and to be about what women want.”

Social media was abuzz following the announcements with many people welcoming the changes. Finance expert Lynnette Khalfani-Cox supported the move and Rapinoe by tweeting: What's w/ the Megan Rapinoe slander on my TL? If she can rock a swimsuit like this (photographed by Sports Illustrated) why in the world can't she be a Victoria's Secret model? She's hot. Just look at her! Or do y'all just have a problem with strong, outspoken, empowered women? While there was a lot of positive reception, it was the straight cis men who seemed to have the biggest problem with the changes.

A lingerie brand that mainly makes and markets women's products and has so far used the male gaze to sell to the masses has decided to do better. This came as a shock to Jesse Kelly, host of the I’m Right and Jesse Kelly Show. In response to Victoria's Secret announcement, he tweeted: Some of the dumbest people run the most powerful companies on earth and it’s hilarious watching them destroy themselves. Megan Rapinoe?? Nobody likes feminists. Nobody. Even other feminists hate feminists. They’re the least appealing people on the planet. After all, there is nothing more patriarchy hates more than lesbians.

Twitter users did not need long to school Kelly on why his opinion about women's lingerie does not matter. Taylor MacDonald responded by tweeting: Some would argue this is the first move that will do the opposite of destroying. But hey, apparently a white male can speak for all women again. Excuse me for forgetting my place…Another Twitter user wrote: I see nothing wrong with a brand that is overhauling to represent strong, intelligent women of ALL body types. The 90 lb anorexic chain-smoking "angels" represent nothing but men's fantasies. That's not how most women look. I'd much rather see a brand utilize admirable people.

Addressing her new role as the face of Victoria's Secret, Rapinoe said, “As a gay woman, I think a lot about what we think is sexy, and we are afforded the ability to do that because I don’t have to wear the traditional sexy thing to be sexy and I don’t think the traditional thing is sexy when it comes to my partner or people I’ve dated. I think functionality is probably the sexiest thing we could possibly achieve in life. Sometimes just cool is sexy, too.”