Age is just a number…right?

Well, in the modeling world, it is. Male head of agencies are responsible for scouring cities far and wide to adore young pre-teens, such as the one pictured above, in their “prime.”

The image above is from a 2017 Calvin Klein ad. And while the ad was eventually pulled for being  “inappropriate”and “suggestive,” it embodies the modeling industries ignorance of campaigns that can target young audiences and sexualize young girls.

Further, these agencies are rating underage girls on their ability to purvey sex appeal and grab the attention of men. Supermodel, Emily Ratajkowski, touched on this injustices young models face in her new book, “My Body”. In her experience, she found that men had begun to look at her in an infatuated way since she was just 12 years old.

“I was a child, but somehow already an expert in detecting male desire”

 

Pictured on the left is Emily at the age of 14. She used to be told that the photo was a great asset of hers to prove to other that her body was “real,” but with age, has come to regret that the industry ever allowed such photos to be taken. In her instance, the industry degraded her preteen self to her body, which leads to a slippery slope of self-esteem and mental health issues.

And as a consequence of these young models being thrown into an adult industry, children are exposed to the prevalent drug abuse, severe eating disorders, and the unwanted sexual advances that “come with the job,” leading to addiction and other struggles later in their life.

In society, we have to take a step back and ask ourselves, is this ok? Is it ok to use underage models to promote adult content? Is it ok for middle-schoolers to be placed into bikinis and photographed in suggestive poses?  Is it ok for modeling agents to comment on teenager’s sex appeal?

 

I mean sure sex sells, but does pedophilia?