Megan Garber: When Jeffrey Epstein joked about sex abuse

One might conclude, based on this record, that company leadership at Victoria’s Secret did not take the sexual abuse of young women particularly seriously—an attitude that is perhaps unsurprising, given the company’s merchandise. Nor is there anything terribly shocking about the unofficial connection between Epstein and Victoria’s Secret; the man and the company seem to have been animated by a similar spirit of sexuality, albeit directed toward different ends, one criminal, the other commercial.

Victoria’s Secret, with its catalogs and billboards depicting concave bellies, bony hips, and ballooning breasts restrained by bows and lace of cheap, scratchy polyester, depicts sexiness as a trait of underfed teenagers. Its ads are often black-and-white affairs, with women writhing slowly to fast music on TV or twisting into unnatural poses in print. Though they often feature close-ups of women’s open mouths, many of the ads do not show them speaking. Why bother? In the fantasy that Victoria’s Secret is peddling, the only thing a woman ever has to say is yes.

More offensive than the main brand is the one for teenagers, Pink. Introduced in 2002 for girls ages 15 to 22, Pink features bright colors, like candy, and includes pajamas, swimwear, skin care, and accessories, as well as underwear. In 2013, Pink launched a marketing campaign called “Bright Young Things,” which drew attention to lacy underwear emblazoned with I DARE YOU across the rear, beach towels and tote bags that read KISS ME, and a T-shirt with a low neckline that read ENJOY THE VIEW. Most disturbing: a pink-and-orange thong with CALL ME printed on the crotch.

Read: Victoria’s Secret has a mean-girl problem

Referring to Victoria’s Secret’s marketing to children, L Brands CFO Stuart Burgdoerfer said, “When somebody’s 15 or 16 years old, what do they want to be? They want to be older, and they want to be cool like the girl in college.” The implications were as follows: There is no clear moral line between the sexualization of adult women and the sexualization of minors; what cool college girls most want is sexual attention from men; and young girls also welcome this sort of attention. How exactly Burgdoerfer became privy to women’s desires, and how Victoria’s Secret determined that thongs were the way to satisfy them, the CFO did not explain.

But the fact of the matter is that Victoria’s Secret has never been very interested in what women, or girls, want. The store was never meant for them. It was meant for men.

Founded in 1977 by a California man named Roy Raymond, Victoria’s Secret was initially imagined as a haven for straight men, something more titillating than the mainstream department-store offerings but less salacious and fringe than sex shops. Raymond told Newsweek in 1981 that he started Victoria’s Secret after having a bad experience in the lingerie section of a department store. The offerings weren’t sexy enough, and the saleswomen seemed uncomfortable with his presence. He wanted to make a place where men could buy provocative, elaborate sexual garments for their wives or girlfriends, and he opened the first store with the help of a $40,000 loan from his relatives.