[Leica] photography, gender roles, power structures, my daughter, and the beauty standard

[kcassidy at asc.upenn.edu (Kyle Cassidy)]

>From: "Jayanand Govindaraj" <jayanand@gmail.com>
>
>Kyle,
>Very well said. Is this not also fueled by parents wanting to get their
>eight year olds into magazines or TV? I see so many shots of kids in
>mainstream magazines with the eyes of adults....

That's a whole different ball of wax. A good percentage of mainstream
fashion models are minors. But there's a big difference between being
young and topless in a patrick demarchelier spread in Vogue and being
young and topless in some guy's basement. The payoff -- getting to
actually be a fashion model -- comes with it's own pitfalls, and it's
own rewards -- but those are decisions made on a different scale. Does
the fashion intustry chew up models? Of course. But it's the fashion
industry, which is judged in the public eye. Is "heroin chic" a good
thing? Does mainstream fashion cause psychological problems, both major
and minor for thousands of girls? These are all legitimate questions.
But mainstream fashion is critiqued, lambasted, savaged, praised, and
the like in newspaper columns and academic papers. GWAC's are operating
under that radar. It's all the pitfalls with none (or very few) of the
rewards. You weigh the benefits (possible career, portfolio, fulfilling
dreams, etc) and the pitfalls (eating disorders, difficult schedules,
missed school) and make a decision based on that -- as a model, or as
the parent of a model.

Would I let my daughter be photographed for W by Steven Meisel or Mario
Testino? I probably would. Would I let her work with some guy with a
couple of strobes and a white seamless for his private bikini
collection? Not on your life. 

It all plays out in the portfolio review. I always tell models to look
at a photographer's portfolio and ask if it's a body of work they want
to be represented in. If the answer is yes, then go ahead, if you're not
sure, then move along.

lc