MODELS VOICES
Sadly, there are too many quotes to put on this page, but below are a few actual comments made by models with who we have personally communicated.
FINANCIAL ABUSE
““My agent stopped using me when I complained that I wasn’t paid.””
“Financial abuses make it really, really difficult to build a career.”
““Overcharging is one of the biggest issues in the industry”
“Financial abuse is how agencies control you.”
“I never see cost breakdowns and when I just get excuses. I’m hiring my agency so why is there no transparency?”
“My agency sold the usage rights to my photos without telling me”
“I found out that my agency was charging me for every email they sent or received from me.”
EMOTIONAL ABUSE
“Models need to flirt or sleep with clients to do better.”
““As a woman of colour I am always the last to be styled and dressed.””
“A photographer got me to wear just a towel by promising he wouldn’t use any nude pictures. But he later did.”
“I was sent to a casting session that was set up like a date. I got no fee but was sure that my agency got one.”
“You can wait at a casting for two hours. They will look at one picture of you and send you off. There is no respect for you as a human being.”
“I saw many girls who were perfectly healthy, but all the insults and comments every day led to them leaving with severe self-image problems.”
“On a location shoot in France, I had to change in partial view of construction crew who were working on the site. And my wallet got stolen.”
PHYSICAL ABUSE
“I was pressured into shooting nude without notice.”
““I had to change in a car, in full view of everyone who walked by.””
“Models need to flirt or sleep with clients to do better.”
““My agency turned my groping complaint into a joke.””
“I got no medical help and was told to stop whining after being burnt.”
“So many girls leave with severe self-image problems from all the insults every day”
“A straight male model friend wanted to work for a photographer. He let him do sexual things to him. It also happens with women.”
“I was burned with a curling iron and ended up with burn on my forehead and a missing eyebrow. No-one offered medical help. I was just told to stop whining.”
“I got heatstroke when shooting outside in 38 degrees [Celsius] heat in Rome.”
“I saw a stylist being overly handsy with a girl including putting his hand down top her swimsuit top. She said ‘I feel violated but I don’t want my agent to get angry.”
“I walked in a show in very high heels which were three sizes too small for me. At a show, 7 models fell because of the heels they had to wear.”