2013 was, without a doubt, a year of progress. This progress included great steps for women, and there is perhaps no better symbol of liberation or respect for the female role in society than the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. On Tuesday night, millions of viewers across America flocked to their televisions sets to watch the Angels flaunt their talents. These models create a show that serves as a yearly reminder of the power and strength of the modern woman, supported by a duly appreciative audience of single men and celery-chewing women. The Angels provide girls everywhere with inspiration to become the most beautiful person they can be, setting them on the path to personal fulfilment and success.

Through their elegant costumes and highly skilled performances, the Angels are able to uphold the important societal values of America. They effectively convey their liberation in the show, a freedom from both clothing and the patriarchy. To truly understand the depth of the company’s commitment to women, one must look to its roots. Victoria’s Secret has a strong historical connection to the monarchs of Britain. The company is named for an anecdote about Queen Victoria, a stiff woman unable to effectively run her country due to the handicap of her gender. Constrained by her power and male relatives, she alleviated her boredom by wearing undergarments considered scandalous for her time that allowed her to find her true identity. The Angels of today serve as contemporary, vocal Queen Victorias, delivering a much-needed message of sexual liberation to the modern woman. According to the Angels, the thriving adult entertainment industry and risque advertisement culture helps garner respect for liberated females. However, these two fields simply do not do enough to demonstrate the deficiency of respect for female beauty and appeal in America. Their show clearly supports this cause, reinforcing the timeless merits of evaluating women based on their appearance. Furthermore, the Angels’ work encourages one of the most essential values in America: respect. Who could deny the regard owed to a woman talented enough to walk down a runway amid flashbulbs wearing nothing but stilettos and lingerie? The 5 billion dollars the show generates pales in comparison to the astounding amount of positive feedback the models receive every year after their show (Guthrie). Their work is so impressive that Victoria’s Secret and their models are some of the top Google searches on the internet, even by browsers who might not necessarily be interested in buying the advertised products (Coed). The models’ abilities and achievements have truly elicited admiration and respect in the hearts of Americans.

Although some critics of Victoria’s Secret do exist, the worth of the show and merits of the models are clearly supported by the size of their audience and the consumers of the company’s products. Extreme feminists, threatened by the beauty of the models and their lucrative professional lives, often desperately claim that the show degrades and objectifies women. Their assertions are backed only by rhetoric and demonstrate the boorish attitude of these women, critics blinded by jealousy and unable to see the pure liberation and respect the Angels promote. Their protests are muted by the overwhelming support the Angels receive from their huge audience and fan-base every year. In 2013, tens of millions of viewers turned out to view the show (Rodriguez). Incredibly, the audience was 40% male, showing the far-reaching nature of the Angel’s universal message of liberation and respect for women (Guthrie). There is perhaps no better symbol of our society’s total acceptance of the Angels than the identity of the star performer this year, the ever-wholesome Taylor Swift. Although Swift upheld her extreme views on body image by performing fully clothed next to the Angels, her presence at the show speaks volumes about American acceptance of the Angel’s revolutionary message. The societal response to the show clearly demonstrates the merits of the Angels and their positive impact on society.
This impact is best exemplified by the constructive influence the Angels have on womens’ body image and confidence. American women are constantly assaulted by a counterculture movement led by brands like Dove and extreme feminists like Virginia Woolf. These groups are shattering age-old sacred beliefs about the role of beauty in society, telling women to stop attempting to improve and to accept second-rate versions of their potential appearance. In reality, these women aren’t making revolutionary feminist progress -- they’re just not trying hard enough. Victoria’s Secret and the Angels reject this negative push for mediocrity and support success in every dimension of a woman’s life, including her own physical dimensions. The goddess-like build and appearance of the Angels gives every American woman a tangible and achievable beauty goal to strive for, promoting healthier habits. This support from the company pushes women to become the best they can be, while also serendipitously encourages huge spending on Victoria’s Secret products. Of course, one might see an Angel’s followers experience eating disorders or low self-esteem. However, these extremely isolated cases are far less damaging to the populace than the rash of obesity plaguing the country. This epidemic stems directly from the feminist movement’s push for personal mediocrity, proving the ultimate negativity of their message and the merits of the Angels’ ideology.

It is obvious that the influence of the Angels can only be a good thing for society. Even politician Hillary Clinton supports the their message -- from backstage at the 2012 show, she commented to press, “Every woman deserves the chance to realize her God-given potential” (Remarks). Furthermore, many influential feminists have rejected the extremism of the anti-Angel counterculture and are beginning to support Victoria’s Secret’s quest for positive body image through perfection. As women’s-rights proponent Gloria Steinem stated in 2011, “After seeing the inaugural show in 1995, I have regretted leaving my job at Playboy every day. Victoria’s Secret demonstrates the merits of body confidence and the true face of modern feminism”. A deep commitment to support this modern feminism drives all Victoria’s Secret models to achieve perfection. Recently, for example, world-famous model Miranda Kerr was even willing to severely crop photos of herself on Instagram to provide the American populace with the most inspirational image of the ideal woman possible (Adams). These models selflessly spend millions on personal trainers, special foods, and gyms to maximize their beauty and provide inspiration to the public.

Over the past years, Victoria’s Secret and the Angels have served as beacons of hope for women in a world dominated by the negativity of extreme feminism. Their message of liberation is exemplified physically by their freedom from restrictive clothing and ideologically by their continuing support of objectification in the face of adversity. Americans need to continue supporting the Angels and their message of success and liberation by adding to Victoria’s Secret’s multi-billion dollar profits every year. After all, in the modern world, Miranda Kerr and her colleagues aren’t simply objectified models walking around in lingerie -- they are revolutionaries bringing the promise of hope to America.