Sara Ziff Details Fashion Model Exploitation

The Guardian has an interview with former model Sara Ziff regarding her new documentary, Picture Me, about the poor working conditions in the modeling industry.  It is perhaps not surprising that models - young, female, pretty, entirely under the control of whoever happens to be running the shoot, and isolated from their previous lives and support systems - are subject to what can only be called institutionalized sexual assault. 

"The scene: a casting with a photographer, one of the top names in his profession. Halfway through the meeting Cech is asked to strip. She does as instructed and takes off her clothes. Then the photographer starts undressing as well. "Baby - can you do something a little sexy," he tells her. The photographer's assistant, who is watching, eggs her on."

The combination of total authority and children is a dangerous one, as the Boy Scouts and the Catholic Church know all too well.  Add to that an insular industry where the entire point is to treat women like dolls - to dress them, and more to the point to undress them - and you have a recipe for Very Bad Things. 

Most modeling industry exposes have focused on the rampant drug use (encouraged by their handlers to keep the weight off and maintain those long working hours) and anorexia (ditto).  Ziff became a model as a young teenager, and her documentary began as a video diary of her life.  Gradually the project turned into something very different, a rare condemnation of the industry from the inside.