Victoria's Secret's Bridget Malcolm: "Claims" Told to Have Lots of Sex Before 18

There appears to be some backlash against the tropes slash themes of grooming and victimhood. For example, we previously did a post about HBO Max's Mare of Easttown where Mare advised: "Trust me. Teenage girls are fucking sneaky."

And our post on Freeform\Hulu's Cruel Summer was an example of why Mare's advice may be heeded. 

Most recently Nicole Douglas posted this boldly titled piece for the Daily Mail (7 July 2021):

"Victoria's Secret model Bridget Malcolm claims she was 'groomed by a much older man' - before suffering a 'nervous breakdown' eight years later" [Emphasis added]

Douglas wrote:

A former Victoria's Secret model has sensationally claimed she was told to 'do cocaine' and 'have lots of sex' to lose weight when she was under 18, during the early stages of her modelling career. [Emphasis added]

Bridget, who is fighting for change in the modelling industry, said: 'By the age of 18, I'd travelled to all continents except for Antarctica. I'd been groomed by a much older man. I'd been sexually assaulted multiple times.

But why did Nicole, a female at that, write that Bridget "sensationally claimed" that she was advised to 'do cocaine' and 'have lots of sex' when she was a nymphet? Does the Daily Mail and Nicole Douglas know something about Bridget's "claims" that's not being reported? #rhetoricalquestions

However, there may be some clues as to why Nicole used "sensationally". Some would argue that Bridget is making a common mistake by stressing the fact that she was "underage". For one, underage is 16 here in New York, but it's 14 in Paris. Secondly, Bridget may be implying that if models are over 18, then it's appropriate to adjure them to 'do cocaine' and 'have lots of sex' to lose weight. And Bridget may be implying that, magically, models over 18 are immune to grooming. 

Our point is that no one, no matter the age, should be pressured to use cocaine and become a nymphomaniac to lose weight. And unfortunately, many women are "groomed" and sexually assaulted by men of similar ages. 

Lastly, to Bridget's point, we've blogged about the fashion industry's use of the allure of nymphets to sell magazines, clothes and perfume.