Exploitation of Models

Oh, the fashion industry. The glamorous life of a fashion model. Who wouldn’t enjoy traveling worldwide, getting paid for posing and looking fabulous, meeting and receiving gifts from world famous fashion designers? While this all sounds amazing at first, people seldom know what is beyond the pictures, shows and glamour. The real danger is what occurs behind the scenes of the modeling business. There is a dark side to the fashion modeling industry which involves the exploitation of young models. There are cases of overworking models beyond the point of exhaustion. There have also been reports of drug abuse and malnutrition due to the stress and pressures models are put through. Another unfortunate case here is the sexual exploitation, by photographers, of young models with little guidance from their agents. All of these forms of abuse and exploitation of models in the fashion industry are physically and mentally damaging fashion models. Laws must be made in for the protection, health, and wellbeing of all fashion models in America. 13 photo shoots in two days, flying from one country to another in a little less than a day, and getting very little time in between to eat or sleep. This is the typical work schedule of a young fashion model. Their days are filled with several photo-shoots, castings, and shows that they are left with almost no time to be human. These models are expected to work ridiculous hours with no breaks. They are also expected to work without complaining about being tired or hungry – they are overworked beyond the point of exhaustion. There have been guidelines released by The Council of Fashion Designers of America, which state that models under the age of 18 shouldn’t work after midnight. However, since these are only guidelines, they are seldom followed. Several fashion designers have kept their models working way beyond midnight. An example is Marc Jacobs, who has kept one of his 17 year old models working until 4:30 in the morning

Cited: Freeman, Hadley. "Sexual abuse of models." 8 September 2010. The Guardian. 1 March 2013 <http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2009/sep/09/hadley-freeman-sexual-abuse-models>. Krupnick, Ellie. "Model Alliance Working To Pass The Freelancer Payment Protection Act." 25 March 2012. Huffington Post: Style. 1 March 2013 <http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/25/model-alliance-freelancer-payment-protection-act_n_1378111.html>. Lepore, Meredith. "Kate Moss Could Have Used A Better Union When She Started Her Modeling Career." 1 November 2012. The Grindstone. 1 March 2013 <http://www.thegrindstone.com/2012/11/01/career-management/kate-moss-exploited-as-young-model-180/>. Minsberg, Talya. "What the U.S. Can—and Can 't—Learn From Israel 's Ban on Ultra-Thin Models." 9 May 2012. The Atlantic. 5 March 2013 <http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2012/05/what-the-us-can-and-cant-learn-from-israels-ban-on-ultra-thin-models/256891/>. Picture Me. Dirs. Ole Schell and Sara Ziff. Perf. Sara Ziff. 2009. The Model Alliance. 2013. 1 March 2013 <http://modelalliance.org/>. Writer’s Compendium #11 My Topic is on the abuse and exploitation of young aspiring models in the fashion industry. I came across this topic by accident. I had read an article on a website about how women and some men in the model business are overworked and abused everywhere. I liked how my topic addresses issues of a certain group of people in society which are supposed to be role models of fashion. One of the main challenges I faced when revising the essay was figuring out where to expand the content. Another challenge I faced was writing the introduction paragraph. The most helpful feedback I received was to narrow down my topic to a certain area in the world or a certain country. I narrowed it down to the United States. I believe that my current draft is actually very strong and I find that I did better in this essay than my previous one. I could still improve how I organize the essay – I could also expand more on the psychological issues in the fashion industry.