Victoria’s Secret’s ‘Go East’ collection slammed for being ‘racist’

Victoria’s Secret is said to have removed a newly launched lingerie collection titled ‘Go East’ from its website after one of it’s outfits – ‘Sexy Little Geisha’ – was labeled racist by offended critics. The ‘Eastern-inspired’ cut-out sheer mesh teddy, which comes with a matching removable obi belt, fan and chopsticks, was described as “your ticket to an exotic adventure”, by the lingerie giant. Victoria’s Secret, who are yet to release a statement, have tacitly responded to the backlash by redirecting users looking for the product’s page, along with the rest of the Go East collection, to the site’s main homepage. After Racialicious, a website that dissects the intersection of race and popular culture, accused Victoria’s Secret of reducing Eastern culture to a stereotype of exotic sexuality, other critics quickly followed suit. Racialicious called the outfit “a troubling attempt to sidestep authentic representation of a culture and opt instead for racialized fetishizing against Asian women.” “Considering the complicated history of geishas, repurposing the (geisha) ‘look’ for a major corporation to sell as role-playing lingerie seems a bit tasteless,” it wrote.