Lingerie and Body Image
Why do we put clothes on when we get up in the morning? To look
good? To feel good? Because we have to? Why do women feel the
need to wear attractive
lingerie and intimate apparel, even when no one is going to
see it? How do societal norms affect our perceived self image
and what we wear, both inside and out?
In our society, looking good has traditionally been more of a
priority for women than men. In terms of lingerie, the
implication has been that men derive a sort of voyeuristic
pleasure from watching their partner model this apparel. Despite
the advances made in women's positions over the years, the main
motivation for making ourselves beautiful and wearing sexy
lingerie has been for the pleasure of the opposite sex. However,
women are beginning to challenge notions of beauty, self image
and attractiveness and why we wear lingerie at all.
It is interesting to look at the marketing approach of today's
lingerie designers. The new message is that you can look sexy
for your partner, but you can also look and feel good for
yourself. Lingerie is meant to be exotic and titillating, but
women can now derive as much pleasure in wearing lingerie as
being viewed in it. For this reason, comfort, movement and
practicality have become a much bigger factor in lingerie design.
In an indirect way, changing trends in lingerie design have also
reflected women's changing position in society. Think back to
the whalebone corset. Laced up in this contraption, a woman
could barely breathe, much less move. The implication was that
proper women didn't move about and didn't need to. Furthermore,
a woman shouldn't even have the desire to be out and about in
the world because her realm was prescribed by husband, hearth
and home. Of course, working class women were unable to afford
such frippery, so binding yourself in lingerie was considered to
be somewhat of a status symbol. However, as women began to
participate more and more in political, economic and social
realms, lingerie became more functional and less restricting.
Today, intimate apparel and lingerie offers a variety of choices
for every taste, predilection and body type. Lingerie designers
have made great strides in recognizing that there is no longer
one standard of beauty to aspire to. Consumers are now demanding
that retailers meet their needs for realistically designed
lingerie, as opposed to spending their energy trying to mold
themselves into an impossible ideal. As a result of this new
found confidence, there has been a virtual explosion of plus
size clothing in the lingerie business. Lingerie for fuller
figures has become the norm rather than the exception in the
retail world. In meeting this new demand, retailers now
recognize that lingerie needs to be functional, fun and designed
for real women with real bodies. Women with fuller figures need
to know that they can look and feel attractive, no matter what
their size.
Wearing lingerie can be a sensual as well as sexual experience
for women. Designers and retailers are capitalizing on this
revelation by linking advertising with self image. The line of
thought goes something like this. Today's women are strong,
independent and free to explore their own sexuality. Wearing
sensual lingerie can be a pleasurable sensation, even if no one
else knows that you have it on. Wearing attractive lingerie
allows for a woman to look and feel good about herself. However,
it's not the lingerie that bestows confidence, beauty and
sensuality. Rather, the intent is to enhance an already positive
body image.
Looking attractive for your partner is a natural by product of
your own natural self esteem, but no longer the main purpose of
wearing lingerie.