{"id":137741,"date":"2021-07-27T13:30:53","date_gmt":"2021-07-27T17:30:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/?p=137741"},"modified":"2023-03-18T18:35:22","modified_gmt":"2023-03-18T22:35:22","slug":"model-jennie-runk-speaks-up-about-the-hyper-sexualization-of-her-queerness","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/models.com\/oftheminute\/model-jennie-runk-speaks-up-about-the-hyper-sexualization-of-her-queerness\/","title":{"rendered":"Model Jennie Runk Speaks Up About the Hyper-sexualization of Her Queerness"},"content":{"rendered":"

While the fashion community may in theory support the causes surrounding the LGBTQIA+ community, the backing can come across as surface-level when acknowledging the lack of protection and harmful practices that are still rampant, especially within the modeling world. In plain sight young, often underage, models have been subjugated to the whims and seedy fancies of the powerful fashion elite without guidelines about what is inappropriate behavior. The public outcry of the #MeToo movement in 2018 allowed for recalibration within the modeling community and an opportunity to call out rampant abusers, but what about its not-so-distant sister, in the nightlife world? Not much focus has been on how nightlife contributes to sexual abuse but it is an unacknowledged asterisk that dictates that the lines between work and play blur, whether it’s coveted after-parties attended by teenagers or promoters who stalk model industries looking to recruit \u2018hot girls\u2019 for parties. Through the lens of queer club culture, boundaries can be even more muddled as consent is ignored in lieu of sexual expression. Model Jennie Runk<\/a> gives a first-hand account of how she navigated unrestrained misogyny first in fashion at age 13, then as a young adult in nightlife, and how her queerness was hyper-sexualized in both industries. <\/strong><\/p>\n

I entered the modeling industry in 2002 as an impressionable queer child of 13 in a world where queer women in American media existed to serve the male gaze. A Google Image search of the word \u201clesbians\u201d in 2008, aside from copious amounts of pornography made by and for men, would bring up various images of women making out in public while men watched, and advertisements featuring two thin, feminine women, posing sexually with each other. Meanwhile, a regular Google search would offer only a smattering of helpful articles written by the queer community, mixed in with even more blog posts questioning if lesbians were even real, or musing on what kind of hormonal imbalance they might have. The photoshoots I was booked on, even as a young teenager, prioritized looking sexy more often than not. I remember overhearing a conversation on one of my first editorial jobs, of people discussing if it was ok to put such a revealing, sexy dress on a 14-year-old. The consensus was that no one would know I was only 14, so it would be fine. How could I possibly find my sense of self in a world where women like me were consistently shown as sex objects and my worth was entirely dependent on the desirability of men?<\/p>\n

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A post shared by Jennie Runk (@jennierunk)<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n