Idiotic Assumptions

The other day I contacted the University of Vermont Art Department to see if they could post a "photographer wanted" notice so their students would know we were looking. As a start-up, we were offering to pay in product (lingerie!) and give the students a chance to stretch their skills at a little "glamour girl" fashion photography.

Sadly, none of the students will be allowed to accept or decline the opportunity, since the University refused - REFUSED - to post it.

Now, I know from the person who referred me to them that they do post such notices for their students. I also know from speaking to them directly that they screen people looking for free wedding photographers - although, apparently, those people are told they can hang the posting on campus themselves, which my company was not invited to do.

Obviously, there are still lots of options - and I've already exercised them by placing an ad in the local paper (again) and spreading the word around town.

But it is very hard to believe this didn't result from a preconception about lingerie and what kind of photos would be involved. Since I know what my company is and is not, I find this incredibly frustrating. The whole point of my company is to define sexy in a new way within the lingerie community – a sexy that comes from within the woman herself, not something thrust upon her by the shallowest realms of the fashion world.

What kills me is the moralizing tone of the whole thing – especially since it seems obvious to me that the minute the word “lingerie” entered the conversation, a whole string of pornography and exploitation flashed through their minds. So, of course, without asking for any clarification, being upstanding people, they had to say no.

Wouldn’t upstanding people not have had those images in their minds to begin with?