How a new line of lingerie plans to actually empower women
In the year 1968, September, Atlantic City witnessed one of the first kinds of protest movements in world history which shook the foundations of "feminine beauty" and the market that validated it.
Popularly known as the "Miss America Protest", it raised a voice against beauty pageants and wished to create a sisterhood of women that would defy these standard notions of the body ("No more boob-girlie symbol, No more Miss America"). Although presented as an event that isolated itself from other "serious" political issues of that time, the cause it espoused for had its sparks from earlier. A very serious and a prolonged objectification of female bodies lay behind this outrage, including the beauty contestants being sent to Vietnam for entertaining the armed troops.
During the year 1953, Playboy ("Entertainment for men") carried a nude cover of Marilyn Monroe which became outrageously popular. Playboy became a symbol of the quintessential philandering man who used the "pink bunny" to humour women's sexual passivity. Its publishers stated that they were not interested in the femme fatale, which is also another category they cautioned men to distance themselves from. Similarly, the Cosmopolitan found itself burnt along with heels, bras, corsets, petti-coats, lipsticks etc as it projected the domestic life as the only aspirable ambition for women. The media, along with these magazines were responsible for creating multiple myths of the "bra-burning woman".
All these events propelled me to ask Hayat Rachi, about her recent feminist lingerie initiative - "Neon Moon" and bring some of these issues to the table. "I'm not a bra-burner", she says, but the lingerie industry needs more diversity to highlight the needs of women in terms of underwear. I am an intersectional feminist. Every girl's voice matters to Neon Moon, and I definitely believe feminist lingerie is a right, not a privilege".
The reason we must think about the one-body size models and mannequins that display men/women underwear is because the "thin-visible" notion of the human body is fast becoming the beautiful. So just like fashion, from the conical bras to the padded/underwire bras to the artificial nipples, there is an attraction created by the market to lure women into the commodity culture. It was only last February when Moods condoms advertised a woman with green lingerie saying "Congratulations Team India. You nailed it!" Lingerie, as such, is often used as a synecdoche to boost market sales and very strategically so. It plays around the politics of class; a certain class of women may have no objections to hairless, tummy-less models displaying lingerie because they have all the means to become one of them whenever they please. Then, there are others who jokingly say, "You can't burn a bra anymore now! They are so expensive and chic!". For those delivering lengthy speeches about bra-lessness, you would still find them battling with the lingerie salesgirl to find the perfect "invisible-bra".
It is as though secretly there is a sub-conscious desire to be one of those "fair/thin-visible" women who display lingerie. So whether or not the bra was meant to liberate women, it was agreed by many that patriarchy was sold in the garb of female underwear. These experiences though very subjective and personal, come back to the question of the availability of choice and the factors that influence it. Needless to say, the market does play a significant role in one's lingerie selection.
Neon Moon plans to change some of these ideas in the lingerie market. Hayat, the founder, may not be a bra-burner, but believes that the lingerie industry has created a set of artificial, male-gaze oriented parameters that are just as arbitrary as bra-burning. Her kickstarter campaign contained non-retouched models, no objectification of girls, body positivity to hair, acne, cellulite, stretch marks, scars, skin tone, and so on. Neon Moon Bras also do not have any padding, push-up or wiring.
In a country like India where lingerie portals are dominated by fair skin, and skinny, hairless models, such an innovation can bring about a positive outcome. The bra in India is still, to a large extent, a privilege. But then, there are other kinds of stories about women who can't have any access to lingerie, yet re-use bras that rich women throw away. "My trials with the bra are richer than history itself", says my maid recounting joyously the number of times she managed to save money from being stolen in crowded Delhi markets. As a regular collector of disposable bras in the community dustbin, for her a bra is not about concealing or revealing or even remotely about "liberty", but a pragmatic need driven by the impulse to fill her tummy.
Hayat is from Morocco, and she told me about her country's economic and social constraints which were similar to ours. "I know how hard it can be to be a strong voice in a patriarchal society… Any girl who believes society needs change in order to be equal, should get involved with the women's movement, even if it's anonymously."
Along with the kudos for Neon Moon, I would also like to praise my anonymous maid, who doesn't allow bras to mould her body primarily because she doesn't quite well understand the language of such sexualising lingerie. And hence, she uses it the other way round, sharing the disposable bras with other women and asking them to keep their money safe underneath those bras. As a woman who believes in lingerie that is non-binary friendly and LGBTQ, efforts of those re-using disposable bras should make Hayat very happy. "If a girl is comfortable and chooses to go bra-less, then I love it! It's all about defining who you are, not because society says so, but because you do! I have gone many summer days without a bra, and I couldn't care less...Whatever empowers you and makes you feel happy, Neon Moon embraces!"