My insperation for posting this is the current CNN article about Alina Cho, who is now 17 but was 15 when she started modeling.
This goes to the heart of the objectification of woman, as well as the many other issues. Why is it okay to plaster pictures of a 15 year old in scanty clothing all over the place as long as she is a ‘model’?
Furthermore, I find it more than a little annoying and hypocritical that the fashion industry pushes these young girls as the ideal of beauty, while society at large would consider you a pervert for looking at them.
Meh. The video had her modeling some dresses and a swimsuit. Maybe if she was modeling lingerie or something I could get worked up about it, but I don’t see a problem with her modeling clothes. After all, designers presumably want to sell clothes to teens, makes sense to use teen models.
You seem to have some idea that modeling automatically has some sexual connotations, which I don’t think is true. I mean, otherwise using these models would be perverse, which I doubt most people think is true.
Maybe because in America we like to put 18 year old highschool boys in prison for having sex with their sixteen year old highschool girl friend just because the parents threw a temper tantrum.
When the laws don’t match the societal message, problems are bound to arise - from minor to gruesome.
I am not getting into my personal beliefs on legal age and all that can of worms - what I am saying is that we (as a society) right now are creating a problem by having a considerable gap in what we ‘sell’ on TV, magazines, advertising - and what we consider legal.
Furthermore, I am asking the more general question about the morality of objectifying women, which I think modeling does - as well as push unrealistic body image and cause eating disorders, etc.
How does it objectify women in particular? There are male models, too, and I imagine that the sorts of companies who would be using this Lindsey’s services would also be hiring about the same number of male models, too. After all, boys and girls alike buy clothes, and it makes sense to advertise to both.
I don’t understand the issue. You can’t tell by looking at her that she is under 18. Even if she was, she might be wearing those clothes anyway. And I don’t think society considers you a pervert for being attracted to pretty women, even under the age of 18. You would be considered a pervert if your attraction increases from the knowledge that she is under 18.
There has also been much debate around these laws, and even modifications and exceptions made in some cases (often called Romeo and Juliet laws): Statutory rape - Wikipedia
However, though this is a strong example - what I would consider an edge case - I don’t want to get too bogged down in it. It is just one issue stemming from what I perceive as an inbalance between our attitudes, and our actions as a society with regards to young women.
I’m really a bit taken aback at the responses I’m getting scratches head.
There was a similar case in Florida about an 18 year old high school quarterback who was taped getting a blowjob from a 16 year old girl and getting 10 years in prison and the governor simply refused to give the kid a pardon. The football player was headed to an SEC school on a scholarship the next year and now his life is ruined. Oh yeah, and the boy was black and the girl was white.
It would be nice if the fashion industry decided only to use models who are over 18 and promoted a healthy body image. But the companies who adhere to this would be competing with companies who do not, and this is what generally ends compliance with these kind of high-minded policies. (Remember the fashion show in Spain a few years ago that banned too-skinny models? They quietly dropped the ban the following year.)
Should we enact such policies into law to level the playing field? Fine. Corn-fed American models with chunky thighs would be competing head to head with European teenagers. Europe for the win.
If I were selling dresses, I would want the models and photographers with the best chance of moving my merchandise in the most malls all over the world. My conscience would not be assuaged by using the professionals a couple notches down from this objective, because I’m not in business to make the world a better place for plus-size women; I’m just out to sell dresses. And while I personally am repelled by anorexic teens, the fact is that clothes look better on coathangers than on barrels, a fact not lost on my competitors. Or me.
BS. My op mentioned (in the f’ing title) morality. I later brought up the gap between law and societal pressures. The idea that I would have to outline every possible implication of my OP in my first post is beyond silly. That’s what a discussion is for. Something you and he are apparently not at all interested in having. So, feel free to go not have it some place other than my OP.