“I’m so tired of inclusive culture”, a commenter wrote under a viral Tik Tok. In this video, a seemingly thin, blond white woman laments about the burden of having to watch a handful of size 8-14 women walk a runway. The creator replies back, “I agree.” Every single year, there are an array of content creators that highlight their disdain for the “forced inclusion” at Victoria Secret’s annual fashion show. The words “fantasy” and “unobtainable” are tossed around a million times to mask that they find these women undesirable. Women who are brave enough to showcase their bodies at a whopping 130-140 pounds in 2026 are subjected to the same scrutiny we witnessed in the early 2000s. However, there is one body type that receives a disproportionate amount of vitriol and repulsion above anyone else: thick, curvy Black women. We aren’t shocked, but we are tired.
The words “forced inclusion” is loaded already, but there’s a certain sinister (racist) nature when you use this term to describe Black women in the media. We live in Trump’s America, so there is nothing shocking about a thin, white woman casually throwing around microaggressions in the internet wasteland. This is probably an every 10 minute occurrence across the country. Ads are now pushing eugenics and conservative propaganda, so there’s really no surprise anymore.
What baffles me, however, is the insecurity of white supremacy. Throwing around white nationalist dogwhistles in defense of a retail store on its last leg seems a bit wasteful. All this fuss for a mall brand that usually stands parallel to Pacsun really shows white supremacy’s desperation to erase Black and Brown women. A brand that was once solely filled with tall, slim white women, who now courageously include 3 black women, is somehow revolutionary enough for white women to stir themselves into a tizzy. I’m sure this selfless act of allyship from Victoria’s Secret will really get us to the promised land now.
Another word that has captured my attention is “fantasy.” The arrogant assumption that thin white women are the only ones who are straight men’s fantasy is laughable. If you’ve ever gone out with beautiful, curvaceous Black women on a Friday night, you know that this couldn’t be further from the truth. Every year, I’m shown that a lot of white people truly see themselves and their standards of beauty as the end-all be-all. They could not be privy to a world outside of themselves and what they consider aspirational. They set the tone on everything good and beautiful.
I’m aware that a Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show isn’t a topic to put too much stock in. All this discourse will be forgotten in a week. Nonetheless, I won’t forget about the Fatphobic complaints that were poorly disguised as genuine critique and care for high fashion and art. I won’t forget that just a decade ago, white women were transforming their bodies to look similar to the ones they are repulsed by now. I won’t forget about all the white women (and some black women, too) that took to social media to complain about “forced inclusion”, mirroring much of the DEI fiasco a year ago. I have not forgotten how many of you vowed to never repeat the sins of 2000s media vs women’s bodies, only to willingly fall into the trap again. I thought we all moved on to Fenty anyway? How quickly you discard us when white supremacy is back in fashion.
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