Sarah R. Phillips is very detailed and analytical as a Sociology Prof should be.
That much is for sure. Facts and quotes are scattered amidst her prose work in a way that draws you into believing what she says. She makes a statement and offers proof much like a prosecutor draws a conclusion and offers evidence for which you are dared to disprove. I like her presentation and am half way through the book "
Modeling Life". At this point, I can say she doesn't leave anything out. Having been a figure model myself, I fully relate to all the issues, concerns, and stories mentioned by her interview subjects. She doesn't ignore anything. She offers historical insight and elaborates on the relationship between artist(s) and model, boundaries, sex, the penis, people's ill-perception about models vs. their admiration for the results rendered by the artist.
Let me clarify, Chapters 4-7 deal with sex, erotica, and genitalia in
some way, shape, form or fashion, but its cleverly done, informative, and I would stretch to say even necessary. In particular, she discusses moments when male models have that uncomfortable moment when an erection may occur and how they deal with it. She goes into how female models may feel violated when an artist constantly positions himself for the best view of her genitals or may illustrate them in an exaggerated fashion in their work. She covers instances when models may have an accident while posing during their menstrual cycle. Sarah covers it all and expounds upon it. You can tell she feels totally at ease discussing and reporting the subject which obviously bespeaks her sociology background and research on matters inflenencing human sexuality.
At the same time, I am still not totally sure I can concur with some of her findings.
She is definitely an outsider looking into this world. I wish she'd have left Portland and sought out models in California, or maybe some from the Midwest. I did not like some of her associations with art models and sex work. Case in point, she speaks to the prostitute who doesn't want to be degraded by being called a whore; and then the stripper who feels the same about being associated with a prostitute; and finally the art model who resents being referred to as a stripper. I felt there was an allusion to the fact that [she believes] we are who we are despite our resentments for derogatory titles, a prostitute may not like the title of a whore, but that's still what they are...Just as art models may not like being called a stripper but in essence, that is indeed what they are. I'll keep reading, so should you. Enjoy these images of Laura.
I have finished Sarah R. Phillips' book, "Modeling Life: Art Models Speak About Nudity, Sexuality, and the Creative Process". After consuming the entire contents, I can say it was well work the read and purchase. As I mentioned previously, I can personally identify with every issue, concern, and story she presented in her findings. The last portions of her book deal with model interviews and then she gets into her discoveries on what it takes to become a good art model. I know modeling for is hard work and strenuous on the body, but she pointed out that over time, this profession can significantly have an impact on your body, especially where chronic pain and joint pain is involved. I hadn't really given much thought the long term affects of modeling, but again, it would have been better to have a larger sample size than 30 models located in Portland, Oregon to base her findings on. In sociology, you have to become a statistics nut, so I am somewhat surprised that after admitting to spending several years on this project, she didn't feel compelled to venture out a bit more.
Another thing I was surprised with are a few issues she left out of her book. She lends deep insight to sexual perspectives, which is one of her specialty fields of study, according to her university link bio. She also covers a variety of aspects in art modeling, such as older models (briefly), but three big topics to cover which were omitted are race, religion and maybe large models. I was pretty much the only black art model around. There was one black female who refused to remover her panties, but she only modeled once. No black males, other than myself even thought about doing this. With her background in observing the way people think, I wish I could have benefited from her experience. Religion is another topic I wish she could have briefly touched on to give a perspective on the church stigma and how models dealt with it or whether or not they even had to. I modeled in the Bible belt so there was indeed a certain connotation about that there. I have dealt with large models, but you don't get that many. A perspective from a model such as in these images of whom I worked with here may have been a good addition.
Overall, I was pleased with her work with the exception of her conclusions on photography. I wish she could have talked with me before writing this. I think I would have been able to offer a helpful contribution to her work with my dealings in this matter as well as my education in Human Sexuality from both a sociology and a psychology standpoint. Many sociology students had to take business statistics at some point and I excelled in that too. I invite any of you review her work for yourselves. I'd love to hear some of your perspectives.
