MP slams sexist lingerie window debate as ridiculous

Conservative MP Philip Davies has weighed into the debate about whether Brighton’s Boux Avenue shop was right to remove a display showing a woman in her underwear doing the laundry.

The Argus reported yesterday that the chain, owned by Dragons’ Den star Theo Paphitis, had apologised for the marketing ploy after a complaint from a Brighton student.

Mr Davies, MP for Shipley and Parliamentary spokesman for a campaign against political correctness, said he had shown it to female friends who were “unsurprisingly, not in the least bit offended”.

He said: “It is at home with some of the most ridiculous examples of political correctness I have heard.

“Where on earth does this interpretation come from? If it had been a man in underwear next to blue-rimmed washing machines would anyone have complained about that? I very much doubt it.

“People who complain about utterly ridiculous things like this actually are the cause of the problem – not shops with quirky window displays. “Those who go about being serially offended do not help at all. Polling shows that the vast majority of individuals across all ages, ethnicities and, pertinently – given this example, of both sexes are fed up with political correctness.”

He added: “I only wish that instead of apologising for any offence that has been caused (or, as I would say, bizarrely taken) they would respond by doubling the number of washing machines in the window and adding even more mannequins to the display.”

Sarah Derby, the 23-year-old student who made the initial complaint about the Churchill Square store, said she stood by her stance.

She said: “I completely understand that sex sells and I think that is something that is going to take a long, long time to change. But when you align sexuality with domesticity, that is pandering to an ideology that we don’t really hold any more.

“Brighton is a lot more progressive than that and to see big businesses playing to that ideology - I think it is sheer laziness.”

She rejected accusations of political correctness, adding: “It is demeaning, particularly to young women and young girls looking to buy more sophisticated underwear who see that message.”

Boux Avenue bosses said that they apologised for any offence caused.

The Argus asked to speak to the designer behind the display, but at the time of going to press they had not responded.

We also tried to contact Mr Paphitis but there was no response.

I DO LAUNDRY IN PANTS, SO AM I NOW A SEXIST?

Opinion by Ericka Waller

WHEN I saw the window display for Boux Avenue my first thought was “Oh good, their bras have been made to survive the washing machine”. 

I thought it was a positive thing and instantly went and bought one. 

Nothing worse than the wire in your new bra pinging out in the first wash. Not that I wash my bras that often, who does?

Perhaps the same people who get offended at window displays, in this instance Brighton student Sarah Derby, aged 23, who said: “I understand sex sells but this window displays a picture of women as sexualised domestic beings. They seem to be saying that to be sexy you also need to be able to do the laundry.”

Poor Sarah seems overwhelmed by the task of being sexy. 

I must say I don’t feel under the same level of pressure and can often be seen standing near the tumble drier naked waiting for my favourite pair of pants to dry (Marks and Spencer, seamless range. All the comfort of large knickers, but with no visible line showing through leggings). 

Actually I don’t even stand still. I hop from foot to foot because the tiles are cold.

I have never once considered what I look like whilst doing this. I couldn’t give a hoot. 

Is Sarah suggesting I am letting the side down because I do the washing in my birthday suit? 

What would she think if I told her sometimes I make breakfast in the buff, then load the dishwasher – I shut my stomach in the door, once. 

I’ve even been known to go and scoop up dog dirt in the garden wearing nothing but my dressing gown.

Derby questioned why the firm had not chosen to display attractive women in the House of Commons, laboratories or succeeding at sport. 

She added that the display “undermines the respectable and admirable academic, scientific and physical achievements of women”. 

Perhaps she would have been happier if Boux Avenue had recreated that classy 70s Athena tennis girl poster (leggy blonde walking towards tennis net, racket in right hand, left hand lifting her short tennis dress to show she is not wearing any underwear). 

Boux Avenue could have put pants on her and added the slogan “Her new Boux pants were so great she went on to win game, set and match!”

Or they could have had Caroline Lucas wearing a Boux Avenue bra over her No More Page 3 T-shirt with the slogan “Cover up ladies!”

What is Derby worried about?

Men buying up all the stock in Boux Avenue in the hope that their football kits might be washed a bit quicker? 

Can’t we get offended by things that actually matter? 

In other serious news today a man clad in only his boxer shorts stopped a thief from stealing his car in Norway by clinging onto the roof for a hair-raising ride in minus 17°C temperatures.

He’s been hailed as the hero of the hour. 

He didn’t stop to think about the sexualisation of preventing car crime by chasing a man in his pants. 

In his mind, maybe he was Superman.

Maybe, much like me and my M&S favourites, they were his lucky pants, and he felt so invincible when wearing them that he truly believed he could do anything… and so he did.

Perhaps this was the message Boux Avenue was trying to put out there, that their underwear makes you feel so comfortable and sexy you never want to take it off, or put anything over it? 

I feel more sexy with each layer I put on.

I peak when under three heavy duvets with a foot poking out the bed in a ‘come hither’ fashion. 

I am not sure I feel the same since reading about the Norway knicker. I’m going to start wearing my pants over my tights like Superwoman.

I think it will give me a new edge when doing housework tasks. 

This ‘get offended at anything’ trend seems to have come off the back of the “Is your body beach ready”? campaign – that was the advert featuring a sexy woman in a bikini advertising a protein shake for weight loss, which sparked outrage.

Unlike Boux Avenue (but probably in light of it), Protein World received death threats about the campaign, but remained unrepentant, especially with chief executive Arjun Seth likening feminists to “terrorists”.

Katie Hopkins called the protesters “angry chubsters” on Twitter – a comment that prompted Protein World’s head of marketing to say it was “great” that the columnist had got involved.

It’s sad that campaigns and protests like the above get linked to the word feminism, making it synonymous with words such as angry, radical and lesbian instead of feminism’s actual meaning: equal rights and opportunities.

Anyway, I’m off to return my bra. It fell apart after the first wash.

WHY I OBJECTED TO THIS OFFENSIVE DISPLAY

Opinion by Sarah Derby, who originally complained

HERE is the letter from Brighton student Sarah Derby, 23, to Boux Avenue lingerie shop: 

I am writing to complain about the demeaning and offensive window display in Brighton Churchill Square shopping centre currently displayed in January 2016. 

I know this disappointment to be shared with many other women and men alike, of all ages, who also intend to complain as well.

The display shows mannequins posed around washing machines with lingerie hanging from a washing line. The implications of which is a severely damaging representation of women as nothing more than sexualised domestic beings, reinforcing anachronistic gender roles of 50 plus years ago. 

Such blatant parallels of domestic work and sexuality utterly undermines the respectable and admirable academic, scientific and physical achievements of women, reducing them to desires of men as promiscuous household workers. 

The fact that it is in such a prominent location at the front of the store suggests the minds behind the display had no thought to the implications and are indeed proud to display such ill-thought and outdated ideology. 

A company which suggests to empower women through appreciation of the female body has severely let itself down to ideology of the past, serving instead to remind customers that a women’s sexuality is tied into her ability to perform household chores. 

I wonder why a background display depicting a sporting achievement, the House of Commons or a laboratory was not used instead? 

Presumably it is not sexy or attractive to have respect and intelligence. 

I thoroughly believe those designing the window display should consider the weight of the message presented and should consider the morals attached to it. I am ashamed such a large and previously reputable company would wish to align themselves with such debasement.

I look forward to a prompt reply and intend to speak to management within the shop to let us know why they have allowed an obviously undermining display to be put up. 

Regardless to say, I hope the display will be removed as soon as possible from all branches it appears in and more careful consideration will be put into any future displays.

BUSINESSES CAN USE SOCIAL MEDIA TO GET INVOLVED

BOUX AVENUE and its mannequin display highlight the risks and rewards for businesses in the social media age.

Sarah Derby complained after she spotted a picture of the display on Facebook where it was being criticised.

Sophie Turton, digital content manager for Brighton digital agency Bozboz, said the situation reflects a new world in which social media “turns consumers’ individual power, the decision whether or not to buy, into communal power.”

She explained: “One person’s opinions and experiences can now traverse the globe in a matter of seconds, picking up other similar opinions and snowballing.

“If experiences are particularly bad, and there’s enough of them, this reach can be catastrophic for brands.”

But can companies be too quick to cave in to pressure from social media?

She said businesses should “never be blase about the potential devastation that can arise from negative comments on social media”, adding that the most successful businesses embrace its power and respond quickly.

Clive Andrews, a social media consultant based in Brighton, agrees, noting that social media is good for businesses because it means they can hear about and react to customers’ complaints.

He said: “The good thing is there is a conversation being had now.”

He cited Sussex Police’s decision last year to pull an anti-rape campaign following a backlash on social media. He said it was a great example of a new fluidity in institutions’ communication with the public.

On the other hand, he said, the attractive publicity from a social media storm could lead to companies acting controversially on purpose.