My Date with Victoria's Secret

(**Disclaimer** A while back I shared with my church what Jesus had challenged me to do. I was heading to Victoria’s Secret in the Janesville Mall and ask them to take down the window poster. The following is my account of this event.)


Greetings! I have to say it was definitely an adventure this afternoon as I decided today was the day to visit the Janesville Mall, which I knew would end at Victoria’s Secret. Let me be real authentic here and say – I was scared out of my mind! As I sat in the van I prayed, “Lord, it’s you and me, and that’s it for the next 20 minutes.” I prayed that He would give me strength and courage to rise above my insecurities. I prayed that Jesus would be exalted, and I would be – well, whatever I would be. 10 minutes later I stepped out of the van and into the Mall. I crossed the first threshold, and I was on my way. I went passed Victoria’s Secret and right to the Mall’s administrative office. I asked the receptionist if the Mall had a policy on what businesses and stores advertised on their windows and merchandise. She passed me to a lady who I assumed was a public relations person. Let me say at this point my knees were shaking (below the counter fortunately), but I immediately sensed some discomfort from her as well. She said the Mall has policies against vulgar and obscene material. I referred to a sweatshirt and t-shirt stand in the middle of the mall with swear words. She said she would take a look, and then very quickly added that that stand had religious displays as well (interesting to note that I had not give any impression that I was from a church). I asked her if two good shirts and two bad shirts cancelled each other out, and made everything okay. She said, “Well, ur, no.” I asked her if the Mall had any right over what was displayed on the outside window of Victoria’s Secret. She said the “chain stores” did their own thing. I asked her if she thought women standing in their underwear for any-age-person to see would be
considered vulgar under Mall policy. No comment. I don’t blame her for that, I wouldn’t have said anything either. She later would say that the store makes the decision to display the pictures. I said I would ask them about it because that is where I was headed next. I said thank you, and that I was a concerned parent of two young girls and a teen leader, and that I just could not be silent any longer.

Well…let me be vulnerable here and say that I hated every minute of it. Even though I was very respectful and knew it was important for me to do this I felt a little sick. And I remember thinking, “So this is what the devil causes you to feel like when you stand on the front lines in a world that doesn’t want you there.” In my sickness, I started to smile, and felt a little relief as I rounded the bend at the middle of the Mall and headed toward my second threshold that I knew God had asked me to cross.

A thought stopped me in my tracks and I turned to go to the Corn Crib for a “delay.” I walked about 10 feet and remembered that it was no longer there. “God did you have the Corn Crib owner leave because you knew that months later I would be in this situation.” Well, I believe in the providence of God, but that might be stretching it a little. So, I turned back towards the store, stood at the doorway for a moment. I watched the customers inside browsing at the tables. Everything looked peaceful, so a thought went threw my mind – what are you doing? Just turn around, you can go and nothing will happen. I remembered Queen Esther standing in the doorway before she entered the throne room – Everything rested on her willingness to enter. I looked to my left and glanced at the poster on the window. At that moment eight girls faces went through my mind – Amanda, Katie, Francis, Taysia, Amanda, Shanda, Kendra, and Renee. My BattleCry teens lit the match for me in that split second. I closed my eyes and walked into the store.

I probably would have kept them closed, but I bumped into a lady exiting the store. “Sorry about that,” I said. I moved into the store, and immediately was approached by a sales associate. I asked if the store manager was available. She said no, but that the assistant manager was here. I asked if I could talk with her. She left to go get her, and at that moment courage entered my body (probably through my nostrils since I was breathing pretty heavy at that point). The lady approached me and I asked her what I needed to do to convince her to take down the front entrance window poster. Yeah, that was kind of a weird way to bring up the subject, but I can’t take credit for it. At this point I had given all conversation over to God. I’m not trying to over spiritualize this but it was the honest truth. She said that the store was not responsible for the advertisement and those decisions were handled at the corporate level. She asked if I would like the phone numbers. I said I would, but that I would like to share a couple of things first.

Okay, now this is when courage and the strength of God took over. I hated the fact that what I was about to say would make her uncomfortable. I don’t like to disappoint people, and I really don’t like to make people feel uncomfortable. I glanced back at the entranceway and thought I saw myself standing there waiting to walk in. This was God now. I, imperfect as I am, was still waiting to come in. I had officially gone further then was possible on my own strength.

I, or God, or the Holy Spirit – or maybe all three spoke up and said, “Did you know that there have been scientific studies that show teenagers who view sexualized images and videos are twice as likely to have sex than those who are not exposed to it?” She just stared at me. Again, I can’t blame her for that one. That was a lot to swallow. I followed that by saying, “And because of experimental sex 8,000 teenagers will contract an STD (sexually transmitted disease) today. And some of those diseases will prevent these teens from having children of their own someday.”

Well, she’d heard enough. And to be honest, I had said enough. The only other words that came out of my mouth were the words thank you as she handed me the slip of paper with the corporate numbers on it. I checked out the tables real quick to see if any underwear was on sale. Christmas is coming, you know. Let me pause here and say, I think selling underwear is extremely important. And I am absolutely comfortable with Secret selling the undergarments they sell. No problem. However, I do take issue with the selling of sex, and the blatant disregard for the viewers – especially those that they market their product to – teens. I know that may sound very narrow-minded and some of you may disagree with my thought, but just think about it for a minute. I don’t know ANY women who are attracted to the store because of the models spreading their legs in their underwear. And men, well, say what you want, but I hate it. I think it is very disrespectful and degrading to women to be displayed like that. So who’s left? Yeah, teens.

Okay, I left the mall, climbed in my van, and started up the motor. I put it in gear, stopped, took it out of gear, and prayed. My prayer went something like this, “God, you did it, and you did it through me. Thank you for that. Thank you for taking over, when I quit back at the entranceway. May our effort be fruitful, whatever that looks like? And God, thanks, I’m still alive, and I love you even more than I did twenty minutes ago.”

I have another date with Victoria’s Secret; one that will take me way over any comfort box my religion has put me in. I will continue to pray about it, but when the day comes I’m ready…I will not be silent.

Jeff the Spiritual Ant

Ps. I am very imperfect, not too special, but very willing. Please know this story is my story. No spiritual comparisons are intended or needed. Ask Jesus for your own story and go for it. And if you fall on your face, kiss the pavement, and get back up.

My churches website

www.janesvillechurch.com