This is old news, but I've only just heard about it now. The man pictured above was found guilty of 16 counts of sexual assault, battery, and lewd acts. He was a fashion photographer who - you guessed it - routinely raped the young models who were to be his subjects.
What's shocking is that the media barely covered this. What's shocking is, when people found out, they were not surprised by the rape - but by the fact that the models came forward.
Fashion has been accused of many things - promoting unhealthy body image, racism, child labor. It's now being said that the industry did it's best to cover up this empowering story of young women standing up for what's right - career be damned - and winning a rape trial! Fifty-nine years is something to celebrate. This conviction could've been used as a platform to empower other models to come forward. Often the girls are afraid of the ramifications if they speak up - after all, fashion is a small world, and there's always a new 'face'.
When I was working in PR, I used to host model castings. Some of my friends asked if I would conduct the castings viciously (as is the stereotype) by calling out their flaws. I remarked that I was always positive with each young girl and that I often wanted to mother them a bit. While I was only 23 at the time, some of these girls were barely 14. When I think of what some young models have endured, especially in light of this article, it makes me so sad. I remember being 16 and being asked to model, which my mother (having been a model herself) expressely forbade. I was angry at the time - but now I am so thankful.
As discussed in
*scorpio*
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