I can tell you honestly that my life more closely resembles that of Mary Mallwalker than it does Linda Lovelace. While I’m sure that there are lesbians who purchase garters on a regular basis and kiss their girlfriends for the pleasure of straight men, I admit I’m not one of them. 

So, in as much as I can poke fun at the reactions to the window display, I believe Victoria’s Secret went a bit too far. But not for the same reasons Lafferty does. I’m troubled by Victoria’s Secret’s strategy — the means to the end, not the end itself.

Victoria’s Secret’s execs have thrown real lesbians under the conservative bus for a buck, and it doesn’t look like they thought twice about it. The window display reinforces the notion that lesbians do nothing other than have sex 24-7.

Thanks, guys.

I suppose it’s possible that when discussing this window campaign no one in the Victoria’s Secret boardroom thought to ask, “How are real lesbians going to feel about this?” But I believe it’s highly unlikely that no one anticipated the reaction of Christian conservatives.

The current social war between conservatives and the gay community isn’t exactly a big secret. Someone at VS approved this strategy and did so without any regard for the gay women they’re using as pawns. I suspect they moved forward with the idea knowing exactly how the Christian right would react. And then they settled in and waited for the publicity to stream in.

And it did, quickly.

Good for them, but not so good for lesbians. Whomever said “there is no such thing as bad publicity” needs to explain those words to the lesbians who are more interested in their futures than in spicing up the lives of their straight neighbors.

The far right doesn’t need any more fuel to add to their fire, but VS gave it to them in the form of a tanker. Did they shirk a social responsibility in doing so? Perhaps. But whether or not Victoria’s Secret is weaving in, out and around its responsibilities, the very least it can do now is publicly admit that it blurred a very fine line.

But no one at Victoria’s Secret is making that effort, and I doubt anyone will.

As of this writing, Victoria’s Secret has toned down its displays, but it did so as a result of the squeaky wheels at the TVC and consumer complaints, not at the request of lesbians or the demands of our own media watchdog, GLAAD. So Victoria’s Secret is free to downplay its “lesbian”-inspired motives.

When questioned by USA Today about the original display, Anthony Hebron, a spokesman for Limited Brands, Victoria's Secret parent company, said, “All we're trying to do is market what we sell. You see bras and underwear. That's lingerie. That's what we sell."

Sure it is.

Hebron is on message and like a good spokesman believes that the people he’s talking to are idiots. Believe that’s all Victoria’s Secret sells and I’ll send you to Pete’s Porn Paradise for movies with great plots.

The truth is, Victoria’s Secret is selling what it has always sold: sexual excitement, stimulation and exhilaration, not tighty-whities. They’re selling Rocky Road to a bunch of people sick of their vanilla diet. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with that. I’m all for creative marketing and I’m all for sex. But let’s come clean here.

Although Victoria’s Secret’s target consumers aren’t prudes, I’d guess that many are no more interested in real lesbians than real lesbians are in feeding their sexual appetites. And I suspect that if lesbians could opt out of the starring role of Aphrodisiac, most would. But lesbians aren’t directing this show, everyone else is.

If lesbians are so valuable to the retail and entertainment industries and better than therapy for struggling straight couples, then everyone from board rooms to bedrooms should give back to the community they’re all so willing to take from.

It’s time to pay the piper, and stop screwing her.

Kim Ficera is the author of Sex, Lies and Stereotypes: An Unconventional Life Uncensored. Her bi-weekly column Don't Quote Me is dedicated to all the folks in and out of Hollywood who talk without thinking or who don't know when to stop talking. Email her at kim@kimficera.com.