The lingerie line Triumph has launched a campaign to change the way women see their body shapes. Responding to studies that show women feel self-conscious and unflattered by being called "pear-shaped" or "hourglass", they've renamed body types after famous painters and the body shapes of the women they depicted. The "pear" is now a "Botticelli", and an "inverted triangle" is now Raphael. They've also used famous celebrities such as Jennifer Aniston, Beyonce, and Kate Winslet to help women identify positively with their new body shapes and see themselves as works of art.

I feel rather conflicted about this new campaign for several reasons. While I applaud their stated mission, I can't help but question some of the implications. First of all, each of artists they've used is a famous male artist: Raphael, Rubens, da Vinci, Botticelli, Rembrandt, and Matisse. Each of these men were chosen for the distinctive female figures in their paintings, creating through their art a certain representation of what they felt women should (or did) look like.

I also wonder at the need for classifications at all. Triumph is aiming to free women of the negative associations of body labels such as "pear" or "apple", but these new labels still align with the old categories, so what prevents those associations from crossing over? Wouldn't it be truly freeing if women didn't have to be labeled at all? And what about the way they went about advertising the campaign, with women in lingerie walking through a mall?

Let us know what you think in the comments. Is this campaign helpful or hurtful? Click here if you'd like to keep reading about this.