Models are Vulnerable to Predators [Pre-F]

The Dark Side of Modeling

With its estimated annual revenue of $1.5 billion in the US and the global fashion industry valued at over $2.5 trillion, the industry offers significant financial potential.

***************Trigger Warning***************

CAS; SA

Sexual harassment/assault- 

Most models earn less than $20,000 per year, often having to fight to get their paycheck at all. The problem is the misplacement of power. No aspiring model goes into the industry thinking that her future contains forced sex work to further her career. But it happens anyway, because power is in the hands of predators who know that it’s a competitive industry with a thin margin of error, and the victims often have no recourse. During the photoshoots, models are often told to perform sexual acts. If there is resistance, they won’t get paid and will be reported to their agency for not meeting expectations. This culture of favors and retaliation allows men like the notorious producer, Harvey Weinstein to flourish. 

Brenner also became concerned about the presence of grown men milling about during fashion shows. “Harvey became a fixture,” he adds. “Donald Trump certainly was. I would see Donald Trump backstage at [Fashion Week home] Bryant Park, and I’m like, ‘Why is he standing there when there’s a 13-year-old changing? This is weird.’ 

After a horrific incident with a photographer, one model tried reporting it to her agency, but was told, “That’s just Terry.” Another model told Harpers Bazaar, “He told me to do other things that I didn’t want to do. I started to do what he wanted, then I was mortified and started to cry. He kept taking photos even when I was crying.”

Model Kenny Sale says the commonplace use of suffocating contracts creates an unhealthy power dynamic that leaves models open to other abuses, which he experienced firsthand. In 2015, he says he was sexually assaulted by photographer Mario Testino. (The high-profile photographer has denied any wrongdoing despite being accused by at least 18 men of sexual misconduct.) Sale told his agent at Click about Testino being aggressive and was met with derision. “[The agent] said, ‘Maybe if you’d gotten on your knees you could have gotten some better photos in your portfolio.’” (An attorney for Click denied the claim.) Sale says he was dropped by Click when he told his story to the New York Times in 2018. (Click denied that Sale was ever dropped by the agency.

Ironically, the modeling world’s feeder status to Hollywood creates a climate ripe for abuse. Many of Hollywood’s power players brought down by sexual misconduct accusations — including Weinstein, Bill Cosby and Brett Ratner — allegedly preyed on models hoping to make the transition. Weinstein lured models by dangling opportunities to appear on his long-running reality hit series “Project Runway” or access to his fashion designer wife at the time, Georgina Chapman. 

“It’s clear as day to me that financial exploitation in the industry leads to sexual exploitation,” says Ziff. “The fact that we are not treated as professionals creates a breeding ground for abuse. When you have teenage girls who are working off debt to their agents are being sent to meet with businessmen under the guise of ‘a professional opportunity.’ The power imbalance is obvious. Ziff continues,

“The abuse that goes on that I experienced, that my peers experienced was because modeling agencies have been allowed to act without any accountability.” 

The agencies, photographers, and rich men have all the power. You do what you are told, or your career is over. NEXT, along with a lot of agencies, would get invitations for fashion parties that they would invite certain girls to, with the hope that you’re going to catch the eye of a client that would want to know more about you and call the agency the following day. One model reported that “Sometimes it’s alluded to during the arrangement; sometimes it’s agreed to beforehand. But in most cases, sex is just expected. Comply, or you don’t get a plane ticket home…” The industry still operates like that.” The lack of consistent pay and jobs makes way for predators to approach models and offer them money to sleep with wealthy clients who will supposedly further their careers.

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