Sex rebranded: how underwear jumped on the #MeToo bandwagon
A titillating new ad campaign proves that there is no movement – in this case female empowerment – that can’t be commodified
What a time for female empowerment. The day after International Women’s Day, shortly before Harvey Weinstein was handed his 23-year jail sentence, and days before Kate Beckinsale outlined a run-in with the rapist movie mogul in which he called her a “cunt” for wearing a suit to a premiere, the British lingerie company Agent Provocateur released an underwear campaign celebrating “the unparalleled potential of the female physique”.
It opens with a woman’s bottom and closes with another’s cleavage. But here’s the twist. The bottom and breasts belong to four high-profile athletes – British gymnast Georgia-Mae Fenton, Canadian pole vaulter Alysha Newman, American climber Sasha DiGiulian and American hurdler Queen Harrison Claye.