Fredericks of Hollywood

Everything I ever needed to know about sex I learned from Fredericks of Hollywood.

When I was a kid our weekly shopping trips often included a trip to Woolworths’ in downtown Fresno, California. There was only one minor problem with that. Fredericks of Hollywood was in the same block.

No matter how many times mom admonished us or how sternly she frowned there was just no way to be that close to the store without sneaking a look at the display window! And if we had to actually walk past the store in order to get to the next block…well, mom walked very quickly and yanked my brother’s hand, but you can bet our brains registered every scrap of black lace and pink feathers. In fact, I can still recall one of the Valentine’s Day displays!

And I won’t name names, but once when I was at someone else’s house I actually saw a Fredericks catalog. It was scandalous! It was all drawings, mostly black and white, but still…I only glanced at a few pages before I felt the heat of my mother’s scorn on the back of my neck!!

So, I wasn’t real sure what people did in the privacy of their bedrooms, but I knew some of them looked pretty outrageous doing it.

No, I have not lost my mind.

I recall all of this because this morning on national television, at a time when young children are wandering around the living room and our school children are home because of the weather, there was a report on Valentine’s Day lingerie gifts. It included a fashion show with live models and an outfit from Fredericks of Hollywood! My how times have changed.

Between Fredericks, Victoria’s Secret, medication ads, and the new PSA for testicular cancer, the dinner conversation in some households must be fascinating. Or perhaps not. Perhaps today’s children and today’s parents are so used to public sex and nudity that it no longer registers as inappropriate. I have to admit that I wasn’t shocked or even dismayed by this morning’s fashion show. It was much more tasteful than Victoria’s Secret Style Show which is shown during prime time. It was much more modest than most music videos. I was simply amused that we have, in my own lifetime, “progressed” so far.

My mother would not be amused.  

Comments

[Melissa Hammel]

I think it's horrid how much our world has changed and make every effort to "edit" out all of our tv watching. Thank goodness for DVR so you can pause the show 15 minutes earlier and then fast forward through all the commercials. I don't think there is one company that thinks it can sell anything without having half naked people on their commercials. Once during prime time, there was a network show snippet advertising the next episode that said the "b" word 3 times before we could get to the remote. How have so many gotten so lost? And how do we go back to modesty and respect? Well, I don't have the answer, but I sure try to teach my children these things.

[Megan]

So grateful we don't have television that isn't on demand. I don't see us going back to it either. Keep posting and preaching. It motivates me to keep the curtains of insanity closed at my house.

All I can say is wow.