Edie Campbell has written an open-letter about sexual harassment and abuse in the fashion industry for WWD.
Though a large number of victims have come out and spoken about their experience of sexual harassment and violence, since allegations were raised against Harvey Weinstein, Campbell clearly states she is not one of them.
She has not a been a victim of abuse, if anything she has in her own words been “very lucky” - being a working model of twelve years and counting - to not have experienced this.
But that is not the point.
Social movements such as #metoo are built on the bravery of the victims.
However, Campbell writes in her letter about how sexual abuse is more than the victim and the predator, and the pressure to speak out should not be put on to the victim.
When a photoshoot is taking place, it is rarely just a model and photographer, there are stylists, assistants, editors, producers, directors and so many other roles and faces involved in close proximity.
“We operate within a culture that is too accepting of abuse, in all of its manifestations,” Campbell writes. “Although we may not all, as individuals, have actively contributed to this culture, every time we turn a blind eye, our silence perpetuates that culture. Our inaction makes us complicit.”
Campbell emphasises this line of thinking with a quote from a now-retired male model she spoke to: “The real story is the enablers: The people who work with them [the abusers] and don’t do anything. They knowingly put young men and women in dangerous situations.”
She also draws attention to the male models who have been victims of sexual abuse, stating that in the fashion industry “the discussion then becomes less about toxic masculinity and patriarchy, and more about abuse of power”.
Campbell understands that being a model means selling your “desirability” but that does not mean models, actresses, or anyone frankly, is asking for it.
Campbell has issued a rallying cry to the fashion industry and the world beyond it, calling for those who are aware of sexual harassment to speak out. Regardless of your role, gender, or where you align at work and where you bear witness to it.
She calls on agents to step up and shoulder their responsibility for models and to operate zero tolerance policy when it comes to abuse.
Read Campbell’s letter in full on WWD.