BBC, should girls under 16 be allowed to model?

newrmdmike

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/6290284.stm

i thought this was interesting. . . and agree that there is something wrong with the sexualization of these young girls. i remember victoria secret hired a girl with dark hair, don't know her name . . . there was an article about her, they brought her on at age 16. . . she was their cover girl

a blanket statement of 'modeling' seems a bit broad to me, when really its usually the hardcore chic fashion industry that seems responsible for having young girls model in these provocative manners. clothing STORES and such don't seem to be taking part in this. If regulations are passed will it affect those stores ability to hire young women?

at any rate, there is nothing wrong with having someone monitor what is going on when they are working with minors. WHY DON'T THESE KIDS PARENTS STEP IN?!!?!?!?!? i don't understand some people.
 
The parents won't step in because they see the paychecks coming in. It as simple as that.
 
on the TV show House M.D, there was this 15 year old model who got her father drunk and had sexual relations with him, just so that he could not stop her from doing what she was doing. It is just a t.v show but i am sure it still happens in real life, and all of the cases on House is true also.
 
on the TV show House M.D, there was this 15 year old model who got her father drunk and had sexual relations with him, just so that he could not stop her from doing what she was doing. It is just a t.v show but i am sure it still happens in real life, and all of the cases on House is true also.

They're all true?
Damn, I didn't know that.
 
well, the problem here is not so much any sexualisation, but it is the really tough working conditions. If you start too young, the damage to your body (underweight, eating disorders,...) is much more irreversible..
 
i think they are both issues, working conditions are bad, and so is the idea of making 16 year olds fill the role of a 20 somthing woman.
 
Depending on the location, (in the US, for example) there are strict laws about working conditions for minors. I'm not sure if that is to the age of 18 or not.

For example, just the other day I was watching an actor being interviewed and he was playing a father in a movie. All his scenes were with the young girl playing his daughter. He said it was much less work that normal because there are strict rules/laws about how much the girl was allowed to work.

I would assume that the same goes for models...although, the hours worked would probably be the least of their worries.

I agree, there seems to be something wrong with having rather young girls looking the part of older women...in a sexual manor. It's a fine line though...there are plenty of perfectly legitimate modeling jobs for kids of all ages.
 
Its very interesting that you brought that up. It's no secret I do modeling work, for their portfolio mostly, and recently I came across a 16 year old girl doing... implied nudity.

Now, nothing was really showing, but still it bothered me. She contacted me about possibly working with her, so instead of just spouting prices, I asked her a few questions, this is a basic recap of my conversation with her:

Her: I love your work, what are your rates?
Me: They vary depending on time and what you are looking to do. Let me ask you, what kind of modeling are you trying to break into?
Her: Well, since I am only almost 17, I can't do anything nude or anything, so just regular fashion stuff, I dunno.
Me: Well, what about when your older, is this something you want to make a career out of?
Her: Maybe. I will probably be stripping when I am 18 so I dont think Id have a problem with doing nude work then, if that's what you mean.

...

I was floored. She had no idea what modeling types were other than "nude" and "non-nude"... she hadn't researched anything other than starting a profile and people asking her to model....I mean, if this isn't a road to x-rated work, I don't know what is. This girl is very pretty too, probably could make it as a model somewhere, but I kept thinking.. "Where are her parents"? She is ASPIRING to strip? I mean, no offense to the lovely ladies of poledancing, but I doubt many of them wanted to do that at age 16.

So I decided I won't shoot with her. I don't know why though, I mean as long I am not doing anything overly sexy with her, and she is clothed, I don't see why I couldn't, but I just felt uncomfortable.

Maybe I am wrong... maybe I feel like that since I have an 11 year daughter whose into Barbies and I can't even IMAGINE her wanting to do this at age 16... I dunno.
 
If you look at it from a Capitalistic point of view then you would see that if there were no demand for young girls modeling then there would be no need to supply that need.

In other words it is we as a society which is to blame for this along with the human propensity to overdo anything that we think of as good or enjoyable.

So, instead of walking off shaking your head, voice your opinion on the spot when you see something that bothers you. And if it really bothers you (we're talking about "The Media" and the advertisers and companies that pay them here), write an old fashion paper and pen letter. For every 10,000 people who feel strongly about something only 1 or 2 will take the time to write. If you do in fact write a letter then your opinion is worth that of 5,00-10,000 people in someone's eyes ;).

mike

RM, you jumped in there ahead of me and this was not directed at you personally. (I wouldn't have done it either though I would have told her why and asked her to explore her options and to get back with me after to see if she had thought it through and come to a better conclusion)
 
thank god you didn't choose to photograph her.

thats asking for trouble. and would say alot about you that none of us would want to hear!
 
Maybe I am wrong... maybe I feel like that since I have an 11 year daughter whose into Barbies and I can't even IMAGINE her wanting to do this at age 16... I dunno.

Hmm, I do not want to scare you, and of course it depends on where you live, but some of today's girls have even more extreme ideas at even younger ages than 16.
 
I dont want this to spawn into a morality debate, but I'm afraid the further down the road we get, the more we will see families showing more liberal behavior in this area, especially when you have lazy parents who don't think or care about what their kids are doing, and also when so much of this stuff is on the internet. If its out there, and its common, some people just automatically assume its okay or acceptable.

I for one am very big on setting an example for my kids (all of them under 10 years of age), and letting them know that its okay to be moral and to ask questions about certain controversial issues. I also try to teach them to know what is decent and what is not decent at certain ages, but also at any age.
 
Yes, but we (us good-hearted, right-thinking photo guys) should not be enabling those ideas.

No, I wasn't saying that we should support this. I was just trying to say that there is alot happening out there, which some of us cannot imagine since we live in our small and harmonic (at least in some respects) world.

Especially parents should be aware of this, without getting paranoid of course.
 
Its very interesting that you brought that up. It's no secret I do modeling work, for their portfolio mostly, and recently I came across a 16 year old girl doing... implied nudity.

Now, nothing was really showing, but still it bothered me. She contacted me about possibly working with her, so instead of just spouting prices, I asked her a few questions, this is a basic recap of my conversation with her:

Her: I love your work, what are your rates?
Me: They vary depending on time and what you are looking to do. Let me ask you, what kind of modeling are you trying to break into?
Her: Well, since I am only almost 17, I can't do anything nude or anything, so just regular fashion stuff, I dunno.
Me: Well, what about when your older, is this something you want to make a career out of?
Her: Maybe. I will probably be stripping when I am 18 so I dont think Id have a problem with doing nude work then, if that's what you mean.

...

I was floored. She had no idea what modeling types were other than "nude" and "non-nude"... she hadn't researched anything other than starting a profile and people asking her to model....I mean, if this isn't a road to x-rated work, I don't know what is. This girl is very pretty too, probably could make it as a model somewhere, but I kept thinking.. "Where are her parents"? She is ASPIRING to strip? I mean, no offense to the lovely ladies of poledancing, but I doubt many of them wanted to do that at age 16.

So I decided I won't shoot with her. I don't know why though, I mean as long I am not doing anything overly sexy with her, and she is clothed, I don't see why I couldn't, but I just felt uncomfortable.

Maybe I am wrong... maybe I feel like that since I have an 11 year daughter whose into Barbies and I can't even IMAGINE her wanting to do this at age 16... I dunno.

Also, this might have been a good opportunity to let her know that there are many types of "clothes-on" modeling for girls her age. It could have made her start thinking about how many other options may be available to her. 16 year olds can be quite naive (as you have indicated), and I think some proper enlightenment would have been refreshing for her.
 

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