When I saw Marie-Claude Barrette posing in a bra, her stomach exposed and a smile on her lips, for a lingerie (and self-esteem) advertising campaign, several things struck me.
1) Here is a woman who was not afraid to show herself naked (in every sense of the word).
2) Here is a woman who moves things and mentalities forward.
3) Here is a woman who gives the middle finger to the judgment of others, and…
4) Here’s a woman doing something I would never do!
courtesy Andréanne Gauthier
Freed, delivered
Of course, Andréanne Gauthier’s photo entitled “Let’s free ourselves from our invisible labels” was taken as part of an advertising campaign for a lingerie brand (Lingerie Emma, by Emma Dunn). Of course it’s a hell of a marketing move! But instead of only doing a campaign with celery-fed supermodels, Emma chose to also show real women who take charge.
In addition to Marie-Claude Barrette, we see Lulu Hughes, Kim Richardson and Saskia Thuot (in a bra and suspender belt!).
What is striking is how happy and fulfilled these women seem. Dare I say “freedmen”? As if they were freed from the weight of judgment (or judgment about weight), liberated and delivered from criticism.
That smile on their face! This almost childish joy! It exudes newfound self-confidence. It’s crazy how good it feels to replace what will people say with I-don’t-care.
In an interview on QUB (radio and TV) last week, Marie-Claude told me how modest she is in life. It therefore took a damn good cause for it to be revealed like this! And it’s true that this photo, which has circulated a lot, is for a good cause. Denounce the many labels that we attach to women and which we have no use for. “You’re too emotional”, “You’re too ambitious”, “You’re not feminine enough”, “You’re too authoritarian”, “You’re hysterical”, “You’re too old”.
- Listen to the Durocher-Dutrizac meeting with Sophie Durocher via QUB radio :
It is not for nothing that Ingrid Falaise wrote on the Lingerie Emma Instagram account: “Bravo bravo bravo! This is important and necessary. I salute Emma’s initiative and the power of your message.
This self-affirmation campaign also invites us to ask ourselves the question: “What is stopping me from showing myself as I am?”
Why do we spend hundreds of dollars to camouflage, blur, hide our little flaws, our white hair, our wrinkles, our rolls, our spots, our scars, lark?
We don’t all have the opportunity to be photographed in a bra or suspender belt so that the whole planet sees us for who we are. But maybe we can take it with a grain of salt the next time someone says “You’re too…”. We are always “too much” for those who are “not enough”.