The War on “Objectification” Didn’t Protect Women — It Pushed Them Somewhere Worse

I say this not as an outsider looking in, but as someone who has spent decades behind the camera.

I am a professional fashion photographer who came of age in the 1990s — the era when modeling wasn’t just a job, it was a gateway. I’ve photographed aspiring models, mentored young women entering the industry, and watched countless girls walk onto a set for the first time with a dream in their eyes.

Back then, the modeling world was not some shallow sideshow.

It was a training ground.

Young women learned how to carry themselves in front of a camera.
They learned public speaking.
They learned branding.
They learned professionalism.

Even if they never became supermodels, those skills followed them into every career they touched.

The camera didn’t diminish them.

It often revealed their confidence.

And for many, it opened doors they never imagined.

But over the last decade, I have watched something heartbreaking happen.

The culture declared war on “objectification.”

And in the process, it quietly dismantled one of the few industries where women could transform beauty into long-term economic power.

The Supermodel Was Never Just a Model

For decades, the modeling world produced women who didn’t just pose for cameras — they built empires.

Women like Cindy Crawford, Kathy Ireland, Tyra Banks, and Heidi Klum.

Each of them started in front of a lens.

But that was only the beginning.

Kathy Ireland transformed her modeling career into Kathy Ireland Worldwide, a billion-dollar licensing empire.

Tyra Banks created and hosted America's Next Top Model, teaching a generation how the fashion industry actually works.

Heidi Klum helped build Project Runway, one of the most influential fashion competition shows ever made.

The pattern was clear:

Model → visibility → influence → entrepreneurship

Modeling was not the end of the story.

It was the first chapter.

The Corporate Cowardice Problem

Today, many companies are terrified of image-based marketing.

Not because it doesn’t work.
Not because audiences don’t respond to it.

But because executives fear backlash.

So brands retreat.

They sanitize campaigns.
They avoid celebrating beauty.
They abandon the very imagery that built industries.

And when corporations step away from beauty-driven marketing, the entire ecosystem that supported modeling careers begins to disappear.

Agencies shrink.
Campaigns vanish.
Opportunities evaporate.

For the young women entering the industry today, what remains often feels like a desert wasteland of opportunity.

The Market Didn’t Disappear — It Just Moved

The demand for beauty never disappeared.

It simply migrated.

When corporations abandoned image-based marketing, the market moved to decentralized platforms where individuals monetize attention directly.

One of the most visible examples is OnlyFans.

In theory, these platforms offer independence.

In practice, their economic incentives reward increasingly explicit content because that is what drives subscriptions.

And that creates an uncomfortable reality.

Many aspiring models who once dreamed of careers in fashion, advertising, and media now find themselves facing a brutal choice:

Reveal more — or disappear.

When Survival Requires Crossing Lines

I have watched this shift firsthand.

I have worked with incredibly talented young women — intelligent, disciplined, professional — who entered modeling the way previous generations did.

They created beautiful work.
They invested in their craft.
They treated modeling as a profession.

But as traditional opportunities shrank, many discovered that the financial rewards now lived somewhere else.

Models like Rachel Cook and Kendel Kay began with polished, professional imagery that once would have formed the backbone of campaigns and magazines.

Yet in today’s market, even highly successful creators often feel pressure to move onto platforms like OnlyFans just to remain financially competitive.

For many women, this is not a dream.

It is a reluctant compromise.

A compromise made not because they want to cross those lines — but because the industry that once supported them has vanished.

The movement that intended to protect women from objectification may have unintentionally pushed many into environments that demand far more explicit exposure than traditional modeling ever did.

The Loss of Aspirational Role Models

And perhaps the greatest loss is happening quietly in the minds of young girls.

For decades, a girl who dreamed of becoming a model looked up to women like Cindy Crawford, Kathy Ireland, Tyra Banks, and Heidi Klum.

They were glamorous.
They were intelligent.
They were entrepreneurs.

They built businesses and media empires.

But today, the spotlight has shifted.

Many young girls scrolling through social media now see fame measured in followers and subscriptions rather than influence and entrepreneurship.

When the ladder disappears, the aspiration changes.

Reform Was Needed — Destruction Was Not

None of this means the modeling industry was perfect.

There were real abuses and real exploitation.

Those problems deserved exposure and reform.

But reform is different from demolition.

What we needed was an industry with stronger protections, transparency, and accountability.

What we did instead was dismantle one of the few structured pathways where women could turn beauty into influence, opportunity, and long-term wealth.

A Challenge to the Companies Who Can Change This

So here is my challenge to the companies with the resources to do something about it.

Bring it back.

Bring back image-based marketing — not as exploitation, but as empowerment.

Create campaigns that celebrate beauty, professionalism, and ambition.

Give aspiring models legitimate platforms to build careers again.

Imagine the company that stands up and says:

We believe in women.
We invest in women.
We create opportunities for women to build something for themselves.

Not objectification.

Opportunity.

Not exploitation.

Careers.

Imagine a brand brave enough to say:

“We’re not afraid of beauty.
We’re investing in the women who turn it into something extraordinary.”

Because when businesses rebuild those opportunities, they won’t just revive an industry.

They’ll restore a ladder that once helped countless women climb toward confidence, independence, and empire.

And that would be something worth photographing again.

Fashion models began to be replaced by celebrities on magazine covers in the late 1980s to early 2000s - the trend shifted from using models as the primary, exclusive cover stars to featuring Hollywood A-listers, pop stars, and influencers to drive newsstand sales during this period - starting with Madonna on the May 1989 cover of Vogue.

The "Fall of the Supermodel" was marked by actresses such as Uma Thurman and Nicole Kidman replacing models as the new symbols of glamour.

The COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 caused an unprecedented, "extinction-level" crisis for the print media industry, driven by a sharp, simultaneous contraction in advertising spend and severe disruptions to distribution.

ironic that you have merely criticized one form of paternalizing in favor of another, and offering women no agency in their choices

yes, the crusade against "objectification" resulted in marginalizing the workers instead of policing behavior of the consumers and staff that objectified people without their consent, ostracizing anyone that questioned that, stepping on the voices of the workers and never considering them at all unless it agreed with the jettisoning of the workers. It has some reactions that are misguided. executives don't understand it and aren't listening to women, they're reacting to the path of least resistance

"I don't understand why someone got cancelled, it feels random, I'm walking on eggshells, lets not do this at all, hmm some people that are also women are praising me for this choice, therefore this must have been the right choice, which I don't understand but I'm going to complain about it whenever I get the chance". I think we've all run into guys like that by now from all walks of life

in reality I see that people, women, have maximized the goal of consent. many women don't mind the revealing and erotic portrayals, trades, and simply never wanted it to affect their social standing and career. After people created consequences for executives, women didn't get more libidoless and conservative in attire in a newly more comfortable work environment, many got more expressive and revealing because there are consequences for people invading their space if those people didn't exercise self control, or if those people tried to invalidate her opinion just because she did something sexual in the past. that's not gone, but its more common that people operate under some assurance that consequences can be created for people that try to invalidate them for being a sexual human being.

I think it's helpful that you are adding representation to the women that don't want to choose OnlyFans and the like, I think it underrepresents women that don't mind that, don't mind other activities. It underrepresents how the fashion industry heyday you adore was policing their chosen models, totally cancelling those models if they did anything alternative, especially too revealing or merely published within a place that simply acknowledged libido exists. Those women never wanted that either, that also was a reluctant compromise to most.

This is one of the most Intelligent arguments  i have read on MM

but i disagree with some of it

My View is

The Supermodels and Top Models of the 90s were a select group of Models who were Industry Chosen , Cultivated and dominated the Commercial Market - which was more tightly controlled than it is now

And some of those SuperModels willingly allowed themselves to be objectified

Naomi , and Cindy posed in nude  Playboy , Christy in other publications such as GQ
Others did not

Most of them realized that Modelling had a half life of 5-10 years and closed that chapter to go on to get married , have kids etc

Some did not - like Naomi

But the whole Fashion Modelling Game started to change in the 2000s

I started shooting Fashion Runway in 2000 and evolved into shooting shooting Studio Fashion around 2005

In 2006 I met and befriended a remarkable young Model named Coco Rocha who was about 16 at the time ...I say that she is remarkable primarily because She possesses an Amazing Character and Personality ( Wholesome , Kind , Caring about Others and Charming ) and of course She can POSE

I learned a lot from young Coco . First of all I remember her telling me at the time that she was quite fascinated by a relatively new reality tv program called ANTM and would rush home from her school and other activities to watch it . In hindsight i think that ANTM probably inspired Tens of Thousands of other young Women to do the same .Suddenly the apparent Mysteries of how to become a Top Fashion Model were being revealed ( but not really ) and result was that Interest  in Modelling Boomed and the Industry ( ie Modelling Agencies ) expanded to accommodate that .. But it expanded well beyond what was needed for the actual paying work that was available

Secondly - Coco was very astute and the first real Model to understand how she could promote herself on the Internet - and reach 1M followers . Of course the Internet then expanded far beyond serving the promotional needs of existing Fashion Models and through One Model Place, Model Mayhem , Facebook , and Instagram a new type of Model evolved - The Internet Model

The Growing imbalance of the rapidly expanding population of models to real work only exacerbated the problem of how models could earn an income from being photographed wearing clothes , accessories , cosmetics etc when the work was not available to them

Of course Some models always been more interested in promoting themselves ( even to the point of objectifying themselves ) and no doubt others who could not find work promoting fashion joined them 

But again Coco has shown the world ( after more than 20 years ) that a True Fashion Model can stay on Top -Even after getting married , having 3 kids and still not objectifying herself - because with her Character , Personality , Sense of Style , Connections and Talent - She does not need to

Corporate Clients are Still aligning themselves with Top Fashion Models ( and other Celebs ) and Models are still building Empires ie Giselle as well as the Singer / Model Rihanna

Personally i don't know much about this Model that You mention - Rachel Cook ( though I should given that she started out in my part of the world ) to the point i don't even know if she was once a true Fashion Model . But if she was then now at 31 years of age she probably has been in the game for at least a 12 years = which is far longer than the career of the average Fashion Model - so i am betting that it is her decision not to retire but to pursue non fashion paths with her modelling . And why not as it is her life ?