They strut down the runway, long and lean, smiling and blowing kisses while somehow balancing 20-pound wings on their backs with absolute grace-wearing nothing but lingerie, by the way. They’re Victoria’s Secret Angels.
Iconic models like Heidi Klum, Tyra Banks, Gisele Bundchen, and Miranda Kerr are the faces of the Angels. They have set the bar high, making it next to impossible to join the team.
But there’s one model who just might redefine what it means to be an Angel.
And her name is Carmen Carrera.
Thanks to a Change.org petition, Carrera, a transgender model and burlesque performer, could possibly become the first ever transgender Victoria’s Secret Angel. The petition currently has over 41,000 signatures supporting the model in her fearless journey.
The possibilities for Victoria’s Secret are endless if they let Carrera join the team. Not only will the lingerie company be making a progressive political statement by hiring a transgender model, but they will also be opening their infamously exclusive market to a more diverse group.
“Currently, the field is largely dominated by a specific ‘look,’ namely thin, tanned women,” said Jennifer LeRose, 22, a student at Illinois Wesleyan. “This image does not resonate with the majority of the U.S. population. By expanding the type of model employed by the company, more women could relate, which may consequently attract a more diverse clientele.”
“I know a few transgender women who want so badly to shop [at Victoria’s Secret] but feel stared at, ashamed, and out of place,” Lizz Keller, 21, a recent Valparaiso graduate and self-proclaimed “gay expert” said. “If there were an Angel like them who joined the ranks of the ‘most beautiful’ women in America, then they would feel much more comfortable shopping there.”
But the ball is in their court, as Carrera has not heard from the company just yet.
Members of the LGBTQA community are happy and hopeful for the opportunity to make groundbreaking progress.
“Carmen and I have actually known each other since before RuPaul’s Drag Race even existed,” Jade Sotomayor, a drag queen from the original cast of RuPaul’s Drag Race, said. “The one thing I know about my sister Carmen is that she is a hard-working passionate person. I would be super ecstatic if she was given the opportunity to walk for Victoria’s Secret…She’s perfect and there is no denying she is just as beautiful, if not more, than most of the Victoria’s Secret models, and shouldn’t be denied the job simply because she was born a different gender.”
“This wouldn’t be just a huge leap for the transgender community, but for the LGBTQA community as well,” Keller said. “Normally with these types of things we have kind of a trickle-down effect. You’d expect the first Victoria’s Secret model to come out as bisexual, then we’d have a lesbian, and then years down the road a transgender woman would become a model. We’re skipping the baby steps and smashing right through that glass ceiling, and I feel that no matter what your stance on the TQA part of our community, you have to be happy that we would make such massive progress so quickly.”
While hiring Carrera as the first transgender Victoria’s Secret Angel would be a step forward for the LGBTQA community to say the least, Carrera would certainly struggle to win the acceptance from other communities.
“I think Carmen can expect a ton of hate, condemnation, ridicule and ignorance,” Keller said. “While I do believe the overwhelming reaction will be negative and she needs to be prepared to defend her life, literally, I think that for her and people within the community, all of that becomes unimportant when stood next to the positive. She will literally be changing lives…so yeah, it’s going to be hell for her but hopefully VS will back her up, her fellow Angels will defend her, and other little boys struggling with their identity will have someone beautiful and successful to ease that pain.”