Drowning in Double Standards: UK Bans FKA Twigs’ Calvin Klein Ad
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I was not yet ten years old when a man cat-called me for the first time. I was a kid riding her bike one minute and a pool of tears in my mother’s lap the next. It was the day I learned that my life would always be different from my brother’s, that my femininity would perpetually render me vulnerable to unsolicited commentary and shame.
I have since learned that every woman has some variation of that day. We quickly internalize that we need to conceal so as not to provoke, accepting that our curves are not things we should feel too free to show with sensual confidence. If we do, we can expect to hear about it. Just ask British singer-songwriter FKA twigs.
In an advert that was recently banned in the UK by the Advertising Standards Authority, or ASA, twigs is featured posing confidently with a jacket minimally draped over her naked body. Posed at an angle, the shot reveals nothing more than the side of both her buttocks and breast, completely concealing most of her torso. In justifying the ban, the ASA has argued that the advert is more focused on her body than on the clothing. They even went as far as to call her a “stereotypical sexual object”, a cutting statement that blatantly exposes the real issue.
The issue being, if a woman embodies confidence, if she wears a tight skirt or a low cut top, she can expect to be shamed for haphazardly flaunting her sexuality. Nevermind that she is wearing it purely for her own enjoyment, the world we live in perceives her appearance as an open advertisement to the world. A woman who is confident in her body is perpetually perceived as a woman seeking attention. Never mind that twigs felt empowered and beautiful during the shoot. Never mind that the advert could inspire other women to embrace their own sensuality. All that mattered was that her curves distracted certain eyes from the jacket, a problem that, as twigs has stated, points directly to the double standards that haunt women while leaving men unscathed.
For no one seemed too focused on the clothing in Jeremy White’s recent Calvin Klein advert either, the one that nearly broke the internet the moment it was released. White is seen in nothing but briefs, suggestively tugging the waistband down with his thumb in a manner that no one can deny drips with sex appeal. A sex appeal that you cannot honestly argue that twigs summons in the same way. Unlike White with his seductive squint, twigs looks at you with eyes that are natural and relaxed, almost as if the camera caught within her in her own moment. Which is exactly what it should have been—a personal moment of embracing the strength and beauty of her own body. Instead, it has become yet another reminder of the debilitating double standards that continuously bully women in the public eye.
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