Rant Against Bullying Models

I realize that the kind of images I create might not be everyone’s cup of tea. Living in a fairly conservative town, I’m more than aware that taking photos of scantily clad women might not be the best career choice to have made if I wanted to be treated with a certain level of dignity and respect by some of the more uptight members of the community. And that’s fine, I’ve grown to accept that. No matter how much I can fall back on my lifetime of making art, my numerous accolades and years of experience with galleries and in the media, there’s always going to be some ignorant fool out there who calls me a pervert or pornographer without ever knowing anything about me.

But although many would say the women I work with should also be prepared for the harsh judgement of their community, I STRONGLY disagree. It angers and depresses me to hear first hand from friends and models that a large amount of bullying is consistently being heaped upon them and their work. The women i work with are funny, smart, enlightened, and comfortable with who they are and in their own skin. They should be lauded for the confidence they feel about themselves in our restrictive society, not ridiculed, belittled, and insulted. These women are sisters, aunts, moms, and daughters. They do their best surviving in a world that tells them to feel guilty for any want or desire they might have. They struggle in a thousand countless ways that you’ll never see, and in ways that you could never understand.

The malicious, mean-spirited, and sometimes abusive slurs directed at these creative and talented women are both despicable and hypocritical. The loudest perpetrators spreading these offensive words are the same people who follow my work because they enjoy being titillated by it. However, the moment these same people recognize one of the women in my photographs, that model is sought out on social media, sent numerous hurtful messages, and labeled with a myriad of sexist, slanderous terms.

I’m so tired of this attitude, so sick of it. If you have to pick on someone, pick on me. Send me your dick pics and sleazy come-on lines so I can correct your grammar and try to explain to you why your opinions are wrong.

If you are the kind of person who acts in such a manner, and you know who you are, please stop following my work. I don’t want you here. You don’t deserve to have them in your life. Go take a long, embarrassing look at yourself in the mirror and try to discover all the darkest, meanest parts of yourself, those parts that allow you to take out your own insecurities and inner pain on others. Take a class on respecting women, or a class on the female form in art history, or maybe even a class on how to not be such a misogynistic dickhead. Learn to respect all life and to not judge people based on your small-minded view of the world. But please, just leave these women alone.