"There's something different about this Victoria's Secret photo shoot. But I'm not cheering."

Victoria's Secret angels are simply the Barbie dolls of adulthood. They continue to assert a narrowly-defined and completely outdated notion of what constitutes beauty.

Unfortunately, a few invisible stretch marks aren't going to undo four decades worth of damage.

I do not feel empowered or validated by looking at an image of a woman in $3 million underwear posing in front of a guy with a camera. Stretch marks or not.

If this is what a "real woman" looks like in 2016, then I must be a goddamn monster.

Welcome to my crib ???? @voguemagazine #VSFantasyBra #VSFashionShow

A video posted by Jasmine Tookes (@jastookes) on Oct 26, 2016 at 1:31pm PDT

In fairness, stretch marks are better than no stretch marks. Most women have them. I suppose it's a step forward (or maybe more of a reluctant shuffle) for America's largest lingerie manufacturer, who are renowned for heavily photo shopping all their models.

But the campaign is no less objectifying.

Perhaps in the Victoria's Secret utopia, stretch marks are permissible when you tick the other 400 boxes for physical perfection. And when they're discretely confined to a very small part of your body. And in the right lighting, of course. Positioned just beneath sexy underwear that cost more than what I'll earn in an entire lifetime. Yes. In those circumstances Victoria's Secret is prepared to let stretch marks slide.

If we're looking to Victoria's Secret for 'empowerment' or 'body positivity', then I'm afraid we're going to be left very disappointed.

Let's stop cheering for the pitiful baby steps. Because it detracts from the conversation we ought to be having:

The real power comes from knowing we are not our bodies.

We are far, far more than that.

You can listen to the whole episode of this week's Mamamia Out Loud, here.