BBC News - Viewpoint: Modelling is a seemingly glamorous profession, and models are certainly not the people you picture when you think of bad working conditions. But wipe off the sheen and another reality emerges.
At 30, I've worked as a model for over half my life, since the age of 14 when a photographer scouted me on the street one day after school.
I've been very lucky in my career and have worked as the face of major brands. I enjoy modelling, a job that not only pays my bills, but also allowed me to put myself through school and made me financially independent.
1 comment:
I think it is so incredibly important that things like this exist. So many people either don't realize or don't see why there need to be regulations of the temperature of backstage spaces, why contracts need to include informed consent clauses, or why a policy needs to exist restricting those who are present in places where models may be changing. Many people would say this is just commons sense, so there's no reason why any of this needs to be put in writing, but those people are forgetting that things like this aren't indicative of just the fashion industry, in fact, history has a habit of exploiting those it sees that it can. This is the whole reason that unions were formed in the first place, you would think that a working environment with enough fire exits to accommodate the capacity of the building or safety measures to prevent the loss of limbs would exist, but that wasn't always the case. Unions are the reason that many of the industries in America do have decent wages and working conditions, and modeling should be one of them. Just as performers on the stage need to be protected, so do those on the runway. Just because models are sometimes seen as just pretty people who pose in front of a camera for awhile and do nothing else doesn't mean that they don't work as hard or go through as much as an actress or singer does in their preparation or performance. Lastly, I think the loopholes in the industry allowing minors to work in the same capacity as adult models need to be closed and more protections need to be put in place for them so that if they do decide to move up in the industry, they do not start with a tainted view of how they should be treated. Instead, they will understand that they should be treated fairly and with the same respect as any other working adult in America.
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