On “The Evolution of the Swimsuits”
By: May Soeoud
In a world where victims are always blamed for being in the wrong place at the wrong time, or for wearing a skirt that is a little too short or a top that is a little too revealing, or for hanging out with a stranger, or for taking a cab alone, telling a woman how to dress is definitely not the answer.
Where going out without a male relative, and where harassers and rapists always find a way out because “the woman was clearly asking for it,” or because “the woman seemed vulnerable enough;” telling a woman how to dress is still never a solution.
In a widespread YouTube video, Jessica Rey, who identifies herself on Twitter as ‘wife, mommy, actress, designer and writer,’ comes on stage to discuss the evolution of the swimsuit, or rather to promote her new swimsuit line, which is, if you ask me, not wrong. After all, that’s what designers do.
They promote their fashion and tell women what to wear and what not to wear. However, Rey takes it a little too far when she manipulates information to sell swimsuits and when she makes the most discouraging, slut-shaming and insulting (to both men and women) statements. She suggests that women in bikinis are women without dignity and that men cannot control themselves.
The YouTube video starts with a song that tells the story of a girl who is going for a swim, but is too afraid to come out of the locker room.
Rey uses this chance to raise a question: why was that girl afraid? (She later suggests that the girl was too afraid because she had a natural sense of modesty that has been stripped away by today’s culture). She then proceeds to show us the history of the swimsuit (or bikini) using words such as ‘scandalous’ (referring to the invention of a bikini) and adds some slut-shaming to the ingredients when she says, “no French model would wear it, so he (the inventor) had to hire a stripper.”
Seconds later, Rey starts raising questions about the power the bikini provides to the woman wearing it. She uses two examples of studies done at Princeton University, which she obviously believes to be the bible of the modern day, because she takes these two examples very seriously.
These studies, which we know absolutely nothing about because Rey doesn’t give us enough information about them, suggest that women can be perceived as objects, which is in itself a huge flaw and a major problem.
Apparently, these studies prove that a certain part of the brain, that is associated with tools, tends to light up when males see a picture of a woman in a bikini, and apparently also the male brain shows zero activity when men look at women in bikinis.
Apart from the fact that Rey is obviously not familiar with the concept that brain activity is sort of connected to the things you hear (keyword), read or the things you are subjected to every day, she suggests – or quotes, or both – that the male responds to these pictures of women in bikinis as if the women in them were objects and not humans. So yes, according to her, a woman in a bikini inspires men to see her as an object.
In other words, if you are a girl wearing a bikini and you get harassed, it is definitely your fault. Next thing you know, “Erm, sorry, she was wearing a bikini so I raped her because my brain screamed ‘object!’” is going to be a trend, because harassers, perverts and rapists needed another excuse to abuse and rape women.
To add insult to injury, Rey does not stop there. She proceeds to talk about modesty. Rey fails to see that modesty is relative. While someone like her perceives bikinis as something that is not modest, someone somewhere is looking at her knee-length skirt and sleeveless blouse, and speaking about how her knees, arms and hair need to be covered because a woman needs to cover up, which is kind of what she is saying on that stage – oh the irony.
Rey tries to be a role model for women and young girls out there by pretending to be the only example of modesty and the only way to not be perceived as an object. She defines modesty by saying that it is not about hiding ourselves or covering our bodies because they are bad. To her, modesty is revealing our dignity, which if translated, means that any girl who wears a bikini is a girl without dignity.
Rey is not any different than any designer who uses the media to discourage women and make them feel horrible about themselves to sell their products. It is just that she is telling women to cover up to have dignity, while the rest of the designers are telling women to strip off to be sexy.
Both are using the female body, assuming that a woman cannot decide for herself and hence needs to be guided and told what to do. Modesty differs from culture to culture and from woman to woman. But manipulating women, misleading them, and putting the blame on them to make some sales can under no circumstances be tolerated.
And after all, you do not need to be a rapist, a woman hater or a misogynist to promote rape culture and indirectly blame women for being subjected to rape, abuse or harassment. You can be a young woman trying to sell swimsuits, who uses misleading and exaggerated interpretations of studies that are not even cited.
