Cameron Russell took to the stage at Glamour‘s Women of the Year Live Summit to talk about why and how we have to hold men accountable for their actions—especially in the modeling industry, where women are often treated as less than human.
Standing in front of a giant banner bearing the words, “We Do Not Consent,” Russell said: “People rarely spend time together without speaking, but that is what modeling is. Being in front of the camera is being silent and still finding a way to communicate, to build a relationship, to become someone without words. The silence required by my job is often mistaken for being voiceless. The assumption is that I have nothing to say. Sometimes I believed that, too. There were many moments when I found myself speechless.”
She went on to enumerate the incidents of sexual assault she experienced at the hands of powerful men in the modeling world. There was the time a man kissed her when she was 16. And the time a casting agent said he couldn’t book her because she was a virgin. Once, someone told her he couldn’t be sure if he liked her until he saw her naked.
When news broke about Harvey Weinstein’s years of sexual harassment against women, Russell began using her Instagram account to help other models share anonymous stories about their own experiences with sexual abuse in the fashion industry.
“I received too many to post, so I asked for help. And again, I saw what real power can be,” Russell said. “Real power is the 70 volunteers who said they would continue to help break the silence by posting the voices of the most vulnerable, even if it didn’t get them the most likes, even if it made the people who decide whether or not they have a job tomorrow uncomfortable.”
She concluded by saying, We [women] are the majority, and although we don’t always have the titles or the resumes or the wealth, what we do have is of much greater value. We have the power to make a much more livable world.”
Watch the video above, then read the entire speech, below.
Good morning. My name is Cameron Russell and I’ve worked as a model for the last fifteen years.
At its best, modeling is a creative partnership.
Models must be trusting. We must find a way to submit to someone else’s creative vision and direction, so that when they tell us to close our eyes, arch our back, open our lips, we do it for them. We breathe in for them, out for them. And when we open our eyes and look into the camera, it’s to look at them. And when they tell us to jump, to dance, to laugh, we do it unrestrained. Other times, it’s being vulnerable enough to lead, and expose real feeling. There’s no script in modeling, the model must own their performance.
People rarely spend time together without speaking, but that is what modeling is. Being in front of the camera is being silent and still finding a way to communicate, to build a relationship, to become someone without words.
The silence required by my job is often mistaken for being voiceless. The assumption is that I have nothing to say.
…And sometimes I believed that too. There were many moments when I found myself speechless. Like when
______ said we need to shoot a Lolita story on you. I thought, don’t they know that was a story about rape? But I said nothing.
_____ kissed me when I was 16. So quickly I thought maybe I did the fashion double kiss wrong. Did he like you? my agent asked. Maybe, I said. But we didn’t shoot again.
_____ massaged my shoulders and told me I was jailbait. No man had ever touched me before so I wondered, is this what it’s supposed to be like.
________ told me they wouldn’t book me because I was a virgin.
My job was to be their wildest dream. Because there were, we were constantly reminded, a million girls in line behind us who would do anything to take our place.
______ said he wasn’t sure he liked me until he watched me get naked to change looks. He said, I thought you were too much of a prude before, like the other girl. She’s never been kissed.
______ served alcohol to a minor. Was more than twice my age. Was my boss. I said no, but then, I said nothing.
Even when I knew _________ , ______, _____ were predators I said yes, I’ll work with them, because it felt like they all were.
________ published pictures of me exposed, even though he promised to retouch them. When I message him, he says he remembers our agreement but it just didn’t work artistically.
Yes, he’s creepy, said an agent, but he’s a genius behind the camera.
_______ pressured me to appear nude against my contract, I said no, he trailed his hand along my back and let me know he was separated from his wife, and I smiled because money was on the line.
I did not consent to any of this. No permission was requested, so none existed to give.
Nor did I acquiesce, there were acts of protest.
Nor compromise, no dispute was ever formally acknowledged by both parties, intermediaries struck the bargain.
I think the correct word is tolerate. What is the difference between tolerating and consenting? Choice.
Without tolerating these things, I couldn’t work in this industry, couldn’t have gone to my professors’ office hours when I was in college, and I couldn’t go to parties or take the subway.
The question is: What choices do we have? When whether you wanted to be a movie star or the President of the United States, you had to tolerate Harvey Weinstein, studio exec and one of the biggest donors to democratic campaigns.
If you want to be a supermodel. If you want to be a partner in a law firm, or an artist, or an entrepreneur. Or if you simply want to earn a living.…at the end of the day, way too many of the gatekeepers are abusing their power.
What is consent if the law protects him before it protects you? If you can’t speak his name because YOU will be sued. If you can’t speak his name because YOU will be fired, blacklisted, and called a problem.
What is consent when the fashion industry is 80% women but the women are almost never in charge? What is consent when worldwide 1 in 7 women who work outside the home are employed somewhere in the fashion supply chain and the majority of them do not make a livable wage? When most of these women are women of color, and yet the CEOs of all the biggest fast fashion companies and luxury brands are all men, and mostly white men? When 98% of agency represented photographers are men. 71% of creative directors are men? When there is almost no place where the women, doing the bulk of the labor, are in charge?
What is consent when selling my body and my face to the men in charge made me more money than my mother made building a company that changed an industry. Do you know other ways a young woman can come into this money? This celebrity? This access?
In seeking to get behind the gates, I tolerated harm to myself, and I was complacent in a system that too often exploits women. I didn’t think there were alternatives. I thought if I wanted to make change, first I had to be on top.
I recognize now that many others speak out with far fewer resources and far more severe consequences. It would be irresponsible of me to come up here and not acknowledge all those who have been working towards change, for years before me and at much greater personal and professional cost. Now I have the luxury of not having to care what the gatekeepers think when I start to ask: why am I waiting for their gates to open?
Why is it we want little girls to grow up to have the jobs these power hungry men have?
I wanted to be president when I was a kid. I had my favorites. When I was old enough to ask about their flaws, I was told they were “products of their time.” For example, the fact that FDR had been responsible for Japanese internment camps was unfortunate, but we learned mostly about the brilliance of the New Deal. Only later would I learn the real architect of labor protections was Frances Perkins, the first female cabinet secretary. Only later would I learn what an influence Eleanor Roosevelt had. Only later would I learn of Pauli Murray, the queer black woman who was a longtime advisor to Eleanor, and Thurgood Marshall, who was, in 1941, the only woman in her Howard Law School class, whose student paper provided the framework for the Brown v. Board victory. She knew exactly what was right and wrong. Was she not also a product of her time?
Have you ever let yourself think, maybe we shouldn’t all be looking at the predator-in-chief when he can’t get a single useful thing done?
I start to find my voice when I start to see these alternatives. When I realize the power of these few men isn’t the only power in the world. And more importantly, their power isn’t the kind that can heal, or love, or make the world more just and free.
The power of these predators is entirely structural. They cannot move people with their words or their work. They can barely make eye contact. They are not so creative, nor so uniquely talented. They are not irreplaceable. It is only because we have suppressed the vast majority that they appear this way.
There are other photographers. Jody, Christelle, Yumna, Shaniqwa, June, Jade, Zoe, Carlotta, Nadine, Oumayma, Amanda, Danielle, Amaal, Gabriela. There are other stylists, Jessica, Anatolli, Jamie, Tess. There are other creative directors. Hawa, Ashley, and Yasmin. Casting directors like Nafisa and Gilleon. Directors like Imani and Kate. Producers like Amy and Sylvia. I could keep going all day.
A month ago a friend and fellow model sent me her story of sexual abuse on set, and said, I want people to know what’s happening in our industry because I don’t want this to continue. She asked me to share it anonymously on Instagram. Less than 48 hours later, hundreds of individuals, inspired by her act of bravery, came forward too, with their stories to challenge the status quo.They told me of rapes and groping, requests for sexual favors, unwanted massage, they told me of agents who told them to stay quiet even if they were just 14, 15, or 16.
And I saw real power is making yourself vulnerable. Real power is the hundreds who came forward, even if it was painful, even if they had nothing to gain.
I received too many to post, so I asked for help. And again, I saw what real power can be. Real power is the 70 volunteers who said they would continue to help break the silence by posting the voices of the most vulnerable, even if it didn’t get them the most likes, even if it made the people who decide whether or not they have a job tomorrow uncomfortable.
It looks like we are the majority, and although we may not have the titles or the resumes or the most whiteness, maleness, straightness or wealth…what we do have is of far greater value. We have the power to make a more livable world.