Name: Farin Weinger

Social Justice Group: Sexualization of Women in Fashion

Date of Fieldwork: February 21, 2019

Name of Organization: IMG Models

Person (people) with whom I met and their job titles: Mina White, Director of IMG Models

Type of Fieldwork: Interview

What I did:

We had an interview with Mina White, the director of IMG Models.

What I learned:

I learned about what IMG Models are doing, and about their curve models. How they believe in size diversity, and how Ms. White got her job from interviews and perseverance. I also learned that many models like Ashley Graham can be found at the age of 12, but because of the modeling companies they can become stars. The modeling companies are a great guidance, and could be the cause of the lack of “plus-size” models.

What I learned about Social Justice “work” and/or Civil and Human rights “work” from this fieldwork:

Through the fieldwork I learned that making change in the fashion industry is brick by brick, as Ms. White said. The fashion industry is very stuck in their ways and as companies like IMG Models continue to support many “plus-size” models it will help make the change. That change also often comes with a lot of backlash, an example of that is comments like “why are you supporting obesity?”. In reality, supporting the models through helping them gain jobs is more important. Those comments don’t matter as long as you can love yourself (as cheesy as it is, it is true).