I found this ad in a weekly Las Vegas newspaper.
"Outie Belly Button Models
In search of women ages 18-28 with outie or inbetweeny
belly buttons for paid modeling shoot. Amateur and
first-timers encouraged. No nudity involved"
I asked my girlfriend if she would ever consider answering this ad. Her reply was that she could never sell her body. Is this an overly broad definition of “selling your body?” Does anybody find this objectionable?"
Dunno. I guess the question is why they’re looking for outies – as in, “is this photo going into a belly-button fetish mag or are they modeling navel rings for a catalog”
My sister (who is as conservative as they come) worked as a foot model for awhile. Kinky? No, she was modeling shoes, and happened to have feet that were ideally sized and shaped for shoe modeling. They never photographed her above the calf. She didn’t consider that to be “selling her body,” although I’m sure she would have hit the roof if a photographer had suggested slipping into a pair of red, 6-inch high stilletto heels.
I sell my time on an almost daily basis. I’d rather spend time at home or with friends and family, but I allow my employer to buy big slots of my time so I can be used as seen fit. I choose to allow this—I have skills to be utilized from training provided by my employer. If I had no skills, but only a natural talent my employer wished to make use of, then I am valuable still. I can see why it would seem like selling one’s body when there is no skill or talent involved, but my body comes along with my time. I don’t feel modeling or having my photo taken is selling my body anymore than I already do. Not everyone’s body, even if beautiful, is suitable for specific ad campaigns. But I like my job and do not feel exploited or uncomfortable and if I did, I would choose to find another way to sell my time. I don’t think I’d go to a cattlecall printed in a weekly, though. There are modeling agencies…
If I found out that it was for modeling belly-button rings and they just needed to portray such an item on someone with an outie, I might be okay with that.
However, if I got the sense that it was for a fetish magazine or website I wouldn’t be a part of it. I’d feel pretty wigged out thinking someone was jerking off to my belly button somewhere. Even though no one would EVER know it was my belly button, it’s just the feeling I would have KNOWING it was mine.
How do you know someone isn’t taking the belly ring ad and jerking off to that?
I absolutely don’t - I mean, people jerk off to anything: newspaper ads, Sears catalogs, Victoria’s secret catalogs, magazines. No one is safe from being jerked off to - however I wouldn’t do something that is for the expressed purpose of being jerked off to. Whether or not you agree with that is entirely your prerogative, however that’s how I feel for myself.
I’d do it if I was a little bit more confident in the way that my stomach looks. I wouldn’t see it as selling my body.
…
Query: If the ad was soliciting people for, say, a clothing ad, no mention of whether they wanted innies ot outies, and it turned out that the outfit she was expected to model left her belly bare, would she consider THAT ‘selling her body’?
Or is she reading something into the ad that might or might not be there?
No, I would not.
Because they are specifying adult models (18 -28), I’m sure it IS for some sort of fetish magazine. Models come in all ages, but you need to be an adult to be in an adult magazine.
Too friggin’ weird.
I’m sorry, but that statement made me laugh so hard!
What does it matter what people are doing with the picture you have had taken.
If it was porn I wouldn’t do it. Otherwise, why not make some extra cash?
At the moment, I’m in desperate need of cash - so I think I’d go for it. I’d probably ring up first, just to check exactly what sort of job it was - and if I felt comfortable, I’d go. (And take along a big, scary-looking male friend just to be safe).
Can’t really see it as selling the body. But for research sake, I did take a pic of mine just now to see if my self-esteem drops. So far it hasn’t 
http://home.earthlink.net/~comesky/index.html
FTR I doubt that I will be offended if anyone needs to jerk off while looking at it. Far as I’m concerned, it’s safe sex… just make sure you clean your monitor should you feel the need to do it.
UGH! Teek, what kind of sick perv jerks off to an inny! 
I don’t think that I would consider it selling my body. The extra money would be nice, and who cares what other people do with it. It isn’t like I will know about it. Ignorance is bliss, or whatever. I mean, no matter what you model for, some sicko will find a way to …umm…soil the experiance. I would consider it a compliment if they thought that I was attractive enough to be paid to have pictres taken. It did say that nudity wasn’t involved.
If there is no nudity, how can they bare their button?
Tequila, nice picture.
I may or may not do it. Probably not. But I do have to say that I don’t consider it “selling your body.” It’s just a BELLY BUTTON, and it’s not like I’m cutting it off to sell to someone. Is a hand model “selling her body” when she models nail polish? If that’s how I defined selling one’s body, I’d have a lot of stuff to be offended by in the world.
Of course, I confess to having a pretty liberal view on the whole “selling oneself” thing. I always agreed with a friend of mine who thought Hooters exploited men more than women. I mean, you don’t go there for the great prices, do you? You go and drink the beer and eat the wings and tip the waitresses outrageously all because you’re getting your buttons pushed by tight shorts and cleavage. Heh. THAT’s what I call exploitation.
Tequila Mockingbird:
Just wanted to say that you’re a hottie.
Aw shucks, Satan.
/flees, blushing like an idiot/
For the record I had said this a while back…
Mmmmmmm…booze and songbirds…mmmmmmmm
I’ve seen this type of ad once or twice before and once a friend of mine responded. After she related her experience, we decided the person was really screening for models who would do nudity.
The indirect way it was done left a kind of sleazy feeling in both our mouths. This doesn’t mean I have an opinion on what constitutes 'selling" your body or that I think one way or the other about doing so.
Also, I am not saying that is what we have here.