Watch A Victoria’s Secret Angel Give A Sexist TMZ Reporter A Lesson

It’s true that the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show is a triumph of the male gaze. That doesn’t mean it can’t also be a lot of beautiful, pink fun for both sexes. It also doesn’t mean that the backstage area should be a place for dumb, regressive questions that both annoy and offend. Alas, TMZ was there last night, so something along those lines was bound to happen.

And indeed it did. As you can see in the video above—helpfully titled “‘VS Fashion Show’…Backstage With Hot Models Who Crave Fatty Foods”—one of TMZ’s camera-wielding reporters was making his way through the backstage press-and-makeup area asking questions about what the models would be eating after the show. It was a not-so-subtle nod to the very real problems of under-eating and ridiculous standards that haunt the industry. 

While those are important issues that deserve regular, rigorous discussion and thoughtful solutions, asking someone what they would be eating after the show is not the way to approach them. The question directly implies that the model has been starving herself, which itself is unfair and problematic (particularly when the subject is wearing little more than a robe). It transforms someone who may or may not be the victim of the industry's various problems into the target of criticism and reduces them to a body and a mouth rather than, you know, an actual person who might have a brain and something actually interesting to say. 

Fortunately, VS Angel Magdalena Frackowiak wasn’t having it.

When asked what she would be eating after the show, the Polish model answered: “No guys, not with these kinds of questions. This is stupid.” She continued, "Ask more smart questions, not eating after the show. You make me feel like, you make me look like an idiot. Yeah, but it seems like I’m starving myself and I can’t wait for the show to end to eat.” She then waved the reporter off like the tiny, little bug he is. 

Lest you think that Frackowiak had the final, fair word on this, Dazed Digital reports that TMZ fired back at her in the article accompanying the video above, writing, “Chick was NOT down with food questions...we're guessing she was just hangry.” Sigh. There’s truly no winning with some people.

(via Dazed Digital)