Power vs. the Bikini

Have you ever seen this video? Jessica Rey talks about the evolution of the Bikini and goes into research that has gone into how women are viewed when wearing a bikini. Not only does she talk about the bikini, but also about modesty. Take a look.

There are so many different parts of this video that I just love/want to discuss. While there are definitely some interesting points in the beginning about historical bathing suits and policies on the beaches, I am going to skip that part. The part that first stood out to me, both the first time I watched this months ago, and watching it again now is when she mentions how the Bikini was labeled as the millennial power suit, and then talking about the research done at Princeton University.

I found it fascinating/horrifying/not terribly surprising what the study showed about men's brains. I am not at all saying this in a negative way about men, just simply that it wasn't all that surprising that men's brains are wired this way. When a man sees a scantly clad woman, they are going to associate that with TOOLS. Think about that for a second. When you are wearing little clothing, a man's brain is not associating you with a person who has thoughts and feelings, but his brain is connecting with things that he uses. Tools, hammers, screwdrivers, you. Now, this does not mean that that man is going to act that way towards you, but that is what his brain is doing inside of his head. In the video Jessica Rey quotes a Princeton professor clearly stating that the brain activity shows that these men are responding to scantly clad individuals as if they were objects, and not people. Just think about that for a moment.

Let's move on to the next Princeton study she discusses. This study shows that when men saw pictures of women in bikinis they came up with first person action phrases. Phrases where THEY were doing something to the WOMAN. Compare this to when they saw pictures of woman in suits, where they associated with third person action phrases, phrases where the WOMAN was doing something. I don't know about you, but when someone sees me I don't want them to think that they have power and control over me, but rather that I have power and control over myself and my own life.

As Jessica Rey discusses in this video, a woman wearing a bikini does have "power", she obtains the ability to make a man see her as an object, rather than as an individual human being. I do no think that this is the kind of power most of us are truly looking for, and it is DEFINITELY NOT the kind of power that I believe all woman have within them and that I search for on this blog. That being said, I do think that Jessica Rey has the power I look for, she, in my mind, has made a difference, she is sharing a message and is doing something about it.

*If you are interested in seeing/purchasing Jessica's line of swimsuits you can find her website here.