Sexist Pigs of the Catwalks
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Men vs Women
A female photographer talks about the photographers who photograph the women on the catwalks at fashion shows.
“They’re almost always all men,” she explains. “And, there’s a lot of ego; this football team mentality, like a really close posse. As a woman I found they can be really awful.” She’s not naming names but, in Paris and Milan the riser culture was appalling. “It’s sexist, basically. There’s so many of them, so few of us; like, three girls versus 30 or more males.” The imbalance of numbers, she says, naturally alienates the few women and, in her experience, also produces a sense of blokey territorial rights. “I’ve had males (on the riser) treat me like I’m an assistant. Like; ‘Who’s this chick? What’s she doing here?’ It’s their power trip. I think that’s why you don’t get many women (on the risers).” Paul says the way men and women photograph - even in split-second digital catwalk flashes - is also different. “I noticed back in Melbourne once, when I was shooting fashion week; the models weren’t wearing lots of clothes - the stuff was very skimpy - and they were being urged to do things they probably might not normally do.” She believes the connection between the mostly male riser and young women pony-stepping along the average catwalk is inevitably sexual and agrees this could influence the way they shoot, what they shoot, and ultimately, the frames and footage they edit and forward to their mainstream media clients.