Terry Richardson’s Work is Degrading to Women

[KhaoticKharma]

I don't like what he does- even as a Ellen von Unwerth fan I find Richardson's work unbearably repetitive- but that doesn't even matter. It's the fact that he's harassing, sexually and emotionally, very vulnerable young girls who often don't speak English and are looking for a way to feed their families and make a better life for themselves. It's wrong if he's harassing anyone male or female, obviously, but more than likely the parents of a young model western model would be present, or she would have the knowledge and ability to report the happenings herself without fear of going home empty handed and back to abject poverty. He needs to be brought in front of the law, period.

 

[Fontenrose]

Jezebel.com

Industry Insiders Defend Pervy Terry Richardson
The past week has been deluged with accounts of powerful fashion photographer Terry Richardson's sexual misconduct with models, particularly with some of the underage girls he's worked with. Now it's time for the insider reactions…and they're not what you'd think. In an industry that values the status quo and strictly adheres to its own power structure, the general response is maybe not that surprising: Basically, this is just how Terry is. Or, you know, that nothing's even wrong at all! As model Noot Seear told The Cut:

"Terry's a really cool guy. It's not like he pressures you into doing anything you're not comfortable with … Terry is an amazing photographer. All that goes on while shooting is participatory play."
​

Is that so? And even if it is, who says models are genuinely "participatory," especially when they're young and willing to do anything for a break? In regards to that aspect, and the allegation that some agencies knowingly sacrifice their underage models on Terry's sexual altar, there is at least some recognition that things are terribly ****ed up. Fashionista quotes an insider:

"Who knows if anybody really gives a **** about the models, because really, has anything else with models (weight, age, race) been resolved?…Maybe agencies will at least stop sending younger girls to him."
That seems to be the major issue, agencies saying no to younger girls. One editor agrees, "The bigger issue is underage models, and I think at some point it would just be better to say models need to be 18," while another says, "You'd think this whole situation is such a bad photographer/model cliché that you'd only see it on TV, but when you think about how many young-REALLY young-girls are trying to become the next Karlie or Chanel, it's not surprising that they would do whatever it takes to get discovered. The most surprising thing to me are the adults on Terry's team that reportedly stand by and let this happen.
​

Maybe these insights will prompt a change on the part of agencies/bookers. Or maybe people will continue to defend Richardson, denying the very existence of a problem. That's easier, after all.

At least Noot was willing to give her name, I'll give her that.

"it's not surprising that they would do whatever it takes to get discovered"... or young models don't know what the boundaries are... and Noot, a 27-yr-old model and actress, does.

 

[Squizree]

F*ck this discussion, I'm gonna go take pictures of my d!ck on some girl's face and call it "art". I'll see you b*tches in Vogue.

 

[IAmLordZen]

Is this a model's secret? No wonder this "Noot Seear" is super famous (insert sarcasm here).

 

[mrsjamesdean]

There was a user comment on The Cut's reporting on Noot Seear. I agree with this.

Here's the difference: Noot is a top professional model who most likely worked with Richardson on professional commercial or editorial projects where she could complain to an editor or client or agent if she was treated disrespectfully. The stories we are hearing come from young women who are non-professional models and probably recognize Richardson's name from his work with celebrities, famous magazines and designers. They are probably expecting the kind of environment that Noot worked in, but are getting something entirely different. It's clear that Terry Richardson has two M.O.s. One for his commercial work with magazines and top models, and another for his sexually explicit personal work.
Here's a good question to ask: Did Terry ever take off his pants and put his dick in Noot's face and ask her for a hand job? I'm guessing no.
Here's another question: Did Helmut Newton, Richard Avedon and Irving Penn (who all worked for big designers as well as Vogue) take of their clothes and molest models when they photographed nudes? I pretty sure not.
I think even Bruce Weber keeps his pants on.

Report

By slaghoople on 03/19/2010 at 3:11pm

Read more: Model Noot Seear Defends Terry Richardson -- The Cut http://nymag.com/daily/fashion/2010/03/model_noot_seear_defends_terry.html#ixzz0ii2F1Hnj

 

[Darling_Myy]

This has probably been pointed out in this thread already, but I thought I'd just put my two cents in:
What bothers me most of Terry's work is how you can see it's his sexual fantasy, how he is just thinking 'oh yeah, this is just great, I think I'll take my clothes off and join in the picture!'. Most nude photos you see are about imagination (like the ones of Lara by M&M) (which I think fashion photography should be about).
Even if Richardson's work is supposed to be funny and ironic, I don't see it in his pictures.
Maybe his work isn't degrading to women, and maybe the models said yea, mayde they even liked the pictures, but still, I don't think photography should be about seeing some guy living in his own pornfilm.

 

[iluvjeisa]

Some of the greatest fashion photographers did some of their best work for Playboy - notably Chris von Wangenheim and Helmut Newton...however, that was at a time when Vogue Paris allegedly was racier than Playboy. Also, Terry's father, Bob, was famous for his photo shoots, not that I've head anything but more *partying* rather than sexual abandon about those shoots....which is not what you hear about Terence Donovan, Duffy and Bailey of 60s fame...

Just saying, he is not the first and he is not the last. He is accepted because he's a statement of something everyone knows is going on....something that is absolutely central to businesses concerning beauty. It's inevitable. That doesn't mean it should be applauded, though....

 

[Paws]

^and your point is?

Are you saying that they whipped out their private parts during the shoot also?

This is not about doing nudes, sexual pictures.

 

[Drusilla_]

I like some of his editorial work, and frankly I think he can take naked pictures all day if that's what he wants to do and the models are happy about it. I find most of it boring, but that's besides the point. The objectionable part here is that he apparently works with some of his subjects (professional models or not) on the basis of whether they will dispense sexual favours, or pressures them into it. Abbey Lee or Noot Seear saying they were not pressured into anything they didn't want to do, does not invalidate the statements of the girls who do say that they were exploited.
Simply put, Terry Richardson should not have the power to hold a model's career to ransom in exchange for hand jobs/BJs/naked pictures/ whatever. And saying 'oh, the models AGREED to do it so they should put up or shut up' is not the answer. Model agencies aren't always acting in their clients' best interests- Cameron Russell, at sixteen, was told by her agency that she should sleep with a photographer. And she was one of the ones who could say no. What happens to the girls who aren't given that option, who are told by their agencies to let the powerful photographer do whatever he wants to them so that they'll book work? It's sexual harassment, plain and simple. And I find it appalling that there are people out there who actually justify his behaviour on the basis of his 'openness'.

 

[surrealseven]

I say in the fashion world, where sex definitely sells, this is inevitable.

But i dont disagree with Rie.

 

[moussemaker]

from his blog terrysdiary.com

March 20, 2010
I just want to take a moment to say I’m really hurt by the recent and false allegations of insensitivity and misconduct.
I feel fortunate to work with so many extraordinary people each and every day. I’ve always been considerate and respectful of the people I photograph and I view what I do as a real collaboration between myself and the people in front of the camera.
To everyone who has embraced and supported me and my work, I am so grateful. Thank you, it means a lot.
Terry​

 

[Paws]

There is a lot of industries where sex sells.....movies*, music, fashion.

I really do not think that it is inevitable. There are so many professional people that can make an image work or a scene regarding this subject (nude/sexual) without resorting to Terry's ways.

*And I am not talking p*rn movies (but even then, it is usually the the actors involved not the director, crew etc.).

 

[Paws]

from his blog terrysdiary.com

March 20, 2010
I just want to take a moment to say I’m really hurt by the recent and false allegations of insensitivity and misconduct.
I feel fortunate to work with so many extraordinary people each and every day. I’ve always been considerate and respectful of the people I photograph and I view what I do as a real collaboration between myself and the people in front of the camera.
To everyone who has embraced and supported me and my work, I am so grateful. Thank you, it means a lot.
Terry​

hmmmmm, interesting. Interesting but delusional. He said, she said (and from he is saying, the she is false).

 

[sarehak]

Re: terrysdiary.
Oh really? Here's my concerned face ->

Of course, we can never know the authenticity of those accusations but I mean the casual pictures say it all.
I'm starting to accept that this guy will be in the business no matter how much we are against it. The fact that p*rn in a billion dollar industry in the States basically confirms that what he's doing is (so to say) legal. I just wish it wasn't this way.

 

[fee de foret]

really hurt i bet you are terry hopefully that "hurt" will cross over to your business.

 

[Fontenrose]

What a wienie. You'd think he's at least say, " I treat young models badly because I can. No one in the industry cares, at least, no one who matters."

That's even what his supporters say.

 

[Drusilla_]

I'm sure there are lots of models out there whom he's treated with respect while on the job, but I'm not sure if he's actually saying that they're lying or that his own perceptions are so warped that he doesn't realise that, in some situations, some of his models (and yes, I'm including the over-18 models he shoots for his private work in that category) don't feel comfortable doing what he wants them to. Not cool, either way- even if he hasn't done anything to a minor, stuff like this still counts as sexual harassment and maybe, if enough people keep making a stink about it online it won't get sidelined or excused.

 

[Fontenrose]

article in the guardian this week:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2010/mar/19/terry-richardson-fashion-photography-p*rn*gr*phy

Abby and Eniko must be really annoyed to have their pictures with Richardson in high-profile articles.

Today, however, he is less voluble. A call to his agents at Art Partner in New York for a comment on the Rasmussen's remarks was met with a curt "no comment" and a swift hanging up.

Previous article in 2004
http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/2004/oct/17/photography.art

'Oh, I have lots of stuff I am working out through my work,' he freely admits, though one suspects he tends to view his neuroses the way the rest of us might view our hobbies. 'I mean, I don't think I'm a sex addict, if that's what you're asking, but I do have issues, tons of them. Like, this current show could be about my midlife crisis. Or it could be something to do with the fact that since I gave up drinking and taking drugs, I have to get high on sex and being an exhibitionist. Or maybe it's the psychological thing that I was a shy kid, and now I'm this powerful guy with his boner, dominating all these girls. In a way, that's the very stuff I'm trying to work out in the work.'

By all reports, Terry Richardson was once a neurotically shy young man. And, before that, a sad and angry child. Until punk provided a vehicle for his self-destructive urges, he used to smash things up, furniture mainly, but sometimes himself. His anger first surfaced when he was four and his father Bob, a briefly successful fashion photographer, left his mother for the then 17-year-old actress Anjelica Houston. Terry's mother, in turn, took up with Jimi Hendrix and Keith Richards, and Terry once walked in on her making out with Kris Kristofferson. When he was nine, his mother was on her way to collect him from his child psychiatrist when a Pacific Bell telephone truck smashed into the back of her stationary Volkswagen. She was left with permanent brain damage, and in the charge of her already emotionally disturbed son.
'It was shell shock, basically,' he says, quietly. 'One minute, I was flying around in jets, I had a colour TV in my bedroom; the next my mother and me were on welfare, living on food stamps. She was in diapers and barely able to move or communicate. It was a real tough time. I retreated into getting high on weed, and when I wasn't high, I was this angry, sad kid. There is not one photograph of me looking happy as a child. I was kind of lost for a long while.'
Today, Terry has a tattoo of himself as a sad little kid on his upper torso, but, one suspects, the real scars run much deeper. He has made up with his wayward father, who, having been homeless for a long time, now lives on social security in California and, with Terry's help, plans to publish a book of his Seventies work. They briefly tried to work together, but it ended in tears.

 

[LUXXX]

I didn't expect this to be as big of a story in the fashion world, I figured they would avoid it. Terry must be feeling the heat...

 

[singlo]

I always hate Terry Richardson. He is a point-and-shoot pornographer disguised as fashion photogrpaher. Have a good look at his books, they are all explicit porns. This guy has lots of powerful connections, big ego but no talent. His works are all about sex, sex, sex...Every time he points a camera at a model, he thinks of nothing other than sex. I have no clue why on Earth people dismiss Rie's story as rumor. You would have to be really blind not to see this guy is a pervert and a complete jerk. His works are arts? Come on, give me a break.