Last week, RuPaul’s Drag Race season 7 winner Violet Chachki announced on Instagram that she would be the face of the Bettie Page line of lingerie from Playful Promises.
This apparently led to some criticism for having a “man” model lingerie, which Playful Promises responded to beautifully on Twitter.
First, they noted that Violet does not identify as a man. Indeed, she told The Advocate in 2015 that she’s genderqueer.
Things you need to know about why we chose Violet Chachki to model our new range of Bettie Page Lingerie:
1. Violet is gender fluid. We did not choose “a man”. We chose a gender fluid person that is not represented in the media, and certainly not in the lingerie industry.
— Playful Promises (@PlayfulPromises) November 20, 2017
2. Deliberately misgendering someone, once informed of their gender identity, is cruel. It also implies that trans women are not accepted. We stand with our trans, gender fluid and non-binary friends, you are all welcome.
— Playful Promises (@PlayfulPromises) November 20, 2017
3. We also chose to use a non-binary model because the vintage/pinup community has certain issues with gender (also racism, but that’s another thread). We’ve seen comments comparing “modern” women to their “classier” counterparts of the past.
— Playful Promises (@PlayfulPromises) November 20, 2017
Playful Promises named the line of lingerie for Bettie Page, a model in the 1940’s and 1950’s who was called the “Queen of Bondage” for a series of photos she did in both the role of dominatrix and bound victim.
Never Miss a Beat
Subscribe to our newsletter to stay ahead of the latest LGBTQ+ political news and insights.
Often, there’s an implication that women who had less agency and freedom are “better” than women now. A non-binary model raises questions about how we view pin-ups of the past, and how we talk about images of women today.
— Playful Promises (@PlayfulPromises) November 20, 2017
Also, you can’t claim to be a fan of Bettie Page without acknowledging that what she was doing at the time was severely frowned upon. If you expect a brand named after her to do things by the book, you’re missing the point of what she stood for.
— Playful Promises (@PlayfulPromises) November 20, 2017
If anything, they argued, the entire campaign is about subverting gender roles.
4. Drag is about looking at hyper-femininity (or the opposite for Drag Kings). Lingerie is one of the most traditionally “feminine” products one can buy (or at least how this is presented in advertising). Which leads me on to…
— Playful Promises (@PlayfulPromises) November 20, 2017
5. So many lingerie campaigns are created with the male gaze in mind. Less so than 20-30 years ago, but it’s still there. What does using a non-binary model who is not a cis woman, shot by a woman, wearing lingerie created by women, say to you about the male gaze?
— Playful Promises (@PlayfulPromises) November 20, 2017
Finally, we’re extremely proud of this campaign, we’re extremely happy with the feedback, thank you ❤️
— Playful Promises (@PlayfulPromises) November 20, 2017
Last, they pointed out that Violet is just awesome.
I realize I didn’t mention the points (because they seem obvious to me) that 1) Violet looks stunning, always and 2) her style is so closely aligned with everything Bettie that it’s a match made in heaven.
— Playful Promises (@PlayfulPromises) November 20, 2017