Terry Richardson’s Work is Degrading to Women

[ultramarine]

Pffft! Degrading to women? Did you see the Tom Ford campaign with a whole bunch of naked -male- models?

If you mean objectification .. look that up... and his work for Sisley as well objectifies men ... check out the Tony Ward campaigns and the "Jamaica" one ... hes into sex and sex images ... he does portray it both with boys and girls ...

Now, if I was a girl and saw him coming onto me .. id be kinda creeped tho

 

[Fontenrose]

I had a prof who said he'd be thrilled if someone thought of him as a "sex object", however he was so full of himself that obviously he could never believe anyone could think of him as an object.

One more article, the (weak) point of which is that cool, ironic hipsters like TR shouldn't admit that their feelings get "really hurt".

Whatever the outcome, it’s probably not a career high for Richardson. But hurt (and its nuclear option, Really Hurt), in the context of a photographer who is fêted by every top fashion magazine (and therefore occupies a position in the planetary constellation of most young models’ geogospheres that is almost certainly one up from God’s), may be the part of this that is truly inappropriate.

Like Ricky Gervais’s psychotic laugh, which suggests that maybe he’s not quite as in on his own joke as we hoped, Richardson's feel-my-pain cry could topple him.
His huge success is largely predicated on his self-anointed role as brazen agent provocateur and smasher-down of taste taboos. And you thought that was Katie Price’s overarching contribution to modern culture ... But the reason Price was eventually adopted — ironically, obviously — by the underground glossy mags was because Richardson made her aesthetic cool. Ironically, obviously.

...

once you get the joke about seeing a supermodel decked up like a crack-wh*re in £20,000 worth of couture garter and thong, there’s not that much more to parse here.

article

The part about models being abused/degraded doesn't even get a mention.

 

[McClaire]

I always found him so damn creeeepy.

 

[Fontenrose]

Now the amazing Tavi has torn a strip off the lowlife pervert:

http://www.thestylerookie.com/2010/05/can-i-just-say.html

A must-read!

 

[t-rex]

Very well said by Tavi, I'm a bit surprised she wrote on this subject.

I wonder if (and hope) that the June issue of American Vogue will be Terry's last collaboration with the magazine (as he shot an editorial in the issue.) I can't imagine how Anna Wintour enlisted a photographer who is mostly known for explicit photos of women engaging in sex acts. Could we get an article on Sasha Grey too?

 

[ad041715]

I love her for saying that! Way to go Tavi!

 

[agee]

How old is this Tavi girl? Her mama needs to whoop her tail.* I don't have a problem with her writing an opinion piece about Terry Richardson, but I am not crazy about her linking to these photos - if my child read her blog, I would restrict her from doing so going forward.

I am conflicted, as you can see from my previous posts, I have been very critical of Terry Richardson and I find these latest images beyond gross, but I don't think that journalists / columnists should conflate his explicit photographs with the allegations of sexual misconduct. If the writer at Jezebel thinks that the model is underage, then she should try to track the model or get Richardson and his people to confirm that they did an age check - in some jurisdictions, a photographer is supposed to to verify a model's age if she is posing nude. If that is not doable or he does not cooperate - apparently he brushed off someone who was trying to question him, then turn the photos over to the authorities and also share with them the story about him publishing pictures without consent.

The story from the ex-girlfriend was pretty compelling and should have been its own entry.

I dunno, the allegations of trickery really bother me. I would like to think that with all the heat on Terry Richardson that the woman in the most recent photos is of age, is she credited in the photos or has one of her high school pals recognized her? If she is of age and consented then this is just one more series of photos that I find distasteful. If it's all consensual, good fun and above board, then why not have the model confirm this to a publication that has tried to present all sides, off the top of my head, nymag and the one of the British publications - either The Telegraph or Guardian (I think), come to mind. And in fairness to Richardson, some (not necessarily all) of his accusers need to go public or at least be as detailed as the ex-girlfriend so that it is clear to Terry Richardson who is making the allegation.

I agree with the sentiment expressed that if he is not willing to cooperate, then people should express their dissatisfaction to the editors of the fashion magazines and brands that he works for. There are online and print publications that are willing to hear his side of the story and he should avail himself of them.


ETA:
* I don't mean this literally.

 

[ErnstLudwig]

This story really seems to get exploited by those fashion blogs/sites and certain people who simply hate his work/art… if you don’t like it ok, but no need to use every post to emphasise how disgusting his work is (in your eyes).

Back to topic, what puzzles me is that it happened in the US the country in the world with one of the strictest laws concerning that topic. so WHY has nobody sued (if it even happened on multiple accounts)? He also is a) famous and b) has some money… you can find lawyers that would do it for free… if you WANT justice it's up to YOU to do something about it.

So far this whole story is on the stage: "I hear there's rumors on the Internets" GWB

 

[Paws]

This story really seems to get exploited by those fashion blogs/sites and certain people who simply hate his work/art… if you don’t like it ok, but no need to use every post to emphasise how disgusting his work is (in your eyes).

Back to topic, what puzzles me is that it happened in the US the country in the world with one of the strictest laws concerning that topic. so WHY has nobody sued (if it even happened on multiple accounts)? He also is a) famous and b) has some money… you can find lawyers that would do it for free… if you WANT justice it's up to YOU to do something about it.

So far this whole story is on the stage: "I hear there's rumors on the Internets" GWB

Isn't it interesting the way you said the story is getting exploited......
turning it around and not mentioning the young models that ARE being exploited.

And there is more to this than just rumours.

 

[ErnstLudwig]

I mean there is no reliable source (with real background checks) to back up those allegations just some blogs / internet sites… so for me it is still rumours

If you want to really kill his reputation & show that it is serious sue! And then he would also be forced to make a statement

 

[MyNameIs]

Terry is creepy.

But you know who's even creepier? That 11 year old "fashion blogger".

 

[Squizree]

^ She's 14..... yeah still creepy LOL

 

[Paws]

Terry is creepy.

But you know who's even creepier? That 11 year old "fashion blogger".

Yes the young blogger is creepy but no, no IMO no one is creepier than Terry. To me you can't even compare the two in the creepy way.

 

[ponytrot]

Tavi

Has she even been told the birds and the bees yet? Much less writing a "piece" about sex?

I'm no fan of Richardson, but honestly, what legitimate basis has Tavi got to say anything?* She's barely qualified to talk about fashion...now she's doing social criticism?

WTF?

(* Yeah freedom of speech etc - but honestly, at this point its like everyone and their mother commenting now. Goodbye actual intelligent, well informed, insightful discussion)

 

[Fontenrose]

You guys talk like she's 10 instead of 14. I think avoiding sexual information is harder these days than finding things out.

Her social commentary showed a lot more backbone than her elders. She was not sidetracked by a bit of nudity and went right to the main point: that Richardon's behavior is disrespectful to women, and not the behavior of a man who loves and respects women. Rather it is the behavior of a predator who gets off on tricking girls into doing things which he knows they will regret. Tricking his lover by having his staff photograph them against her will was a particularly clear example.

It's interesting that now that the huge stigma against the woman in ANY sexual situation has abated a bit that a lot of bad behavior is becoming public. It's too bad we have to be subjected to all of it, but we have to remember that most people are not bad, but we should listen to our inner feelings when it starts to tell us that someone's behavior is abnormal and creepy.

 

[misspistol]

I think the point being made is that a 14 year old can not make an informed comment about being pressured into performing sexual acts. One would hope. Somebody slightly older with slightly more experience can truly understand the situation and can empathise. A 35 yr old is not going to read an article by a 14 yr old about sexual exploitation and think "she really know what she's talking about!". Unless that 14 year old has been on an episode of Maury.

 

[tigerrouge]

Yes, it's easy to pull together an 'insightful' piece about an issue that people have been talking about for some time - it's not difficult to echo what others have already said, and to borrow from their position of experience, with observations that sound like they have some sort of authority, but not in terms having encountered it as an adult.

 

[YoninahAliza]

Honestly I get the feeling that Tavi knows what she is talking about, she understands how degrading Terry's work is towards women, even if she hasn't been in that situation before. The fact that she understands that it isn't right, say's a lot about her maturity level. Besides this whole "Tavi issue" I think the point is, Terry is a slimeball, a creep, perve, whatever you want to call him. It doesn't seem right that he should be paid a ton of money to treat these young women like this and get away with it. It is also impossible to claim "he love's women" (which I've heard people say before), if he really loved women then he wouldn't have minuplated and degraded them.

 

[Shelton123]

I don't like Tavi, but I agree with her on this point.

But the thing is... Jesus knows (or at least I figured) that Terry's been doing this his whole career... why did it take this long for some people to figure it out? Or for someone to come out with proof about it? Probably because they're so traumatized about being molested and persuaded to do sexual things. All because of him, and he probably threatened them not to tell anyone, or what he did to them was seriously, seriously disturbing, as opposed to the seriously disturbing events we've heard about

 

[Cammy]

if people here think she is too naive to write about anything to do with sex... then her blog makes an even bigger point than she intended. That exploiting some one of a young age sexually is a huge crime.. as they dont understand what they are getting themselves into.