can i just say:

I kind of thought that Terry Richardson would stop doing certain things and taking certain kinds of pictures after that whole episode, but apparently not! I wrote this Friday night because I had just read what Olivier Zahm had to say about it, but figured that since nothing bad had come out of Richardson in a while, I'd save it. But then this happened. And so:

Most of you have probably read about the Terry Richardson malarky. If not, here you are. I have reason to believe these people because it clearly doesn't make them look too good or their agency too happy if they publicly confront someone with so much power. And lots of people in fashion, many people I really respect, have jumped to his defense. The most common arguments from these folks and Internet commentators point fingers at the barely legal girl who has been pressured into taking her clothes off for photos that will be published in magazines and online.

Ah, blaming the victim. A personal favorite of mine!

"You can always say no. It's the girl's fault for not saying no. There is a choice. The girl could've refused."...the girl should never be put in the position in which she has to refuse. I mean, sure, she could just not say yes, but there's another person to blame, and that would be the person who could just not pressure a girl into performing those kinds of acts. Remember him? And for what reason, other than selfish pleasure? Nevermind the emotional damage it can do to a person. I don't think its purpose is in the quality of the photos -- nudity in fashion is no longer shocking. And as for the kind of things he has asked models to do to him, you don't need to get some action in order to take a head-on picture of someone against a wall.

"It's fun! Uncle Terry said it's fun and everyone likes it!" Know who didn't say it's fun and everyone likes it? The people who had the opposite of fun and did not like it at all! Who are risking a lot in saying what they're saying, whether it's true or not, and I kind of feel like it's true! Go reread those articles! (The stuff with Abbey Lee and others -- I can believe that that's fun and it wasn't manipulative or anything, because they've said so themselves. But as for the people who have done the same things but without all the fun and willingness and have talked about it, I'll take their word.)

"But it's ART! He's an ARTISTE!" OH, my bad! Sorry, I'll just step out of your way and let you continue with your Disturbed Genius/Troubled Artist Technique of sexually harassing people, then! In the name of like, art, and stuff! But I kind of think that morality > art. It doesn't matter if his photographs are good or bad, because this situation has to be looked at as Older Man Taking Advantage Of Young Girl and not Older Man Who Did These AWESOME Shots Of Shaun White In The Last Issue Of Rolling Stone Taking Advantage Of Young Girl.

"That's what the models should expect. It's Terry Richardson." Really? This is where we are now? That's normal? That's acceptable? That's even encouraged and applauded as these same photos that took intense emotional toll on a person are put into the pages of a magazine? Look, I will never be able to be like "Oh, haha, typical pervy Terry!" and find it "ironic" or "funny" or "cool" or anything, the way others can.

But oh, I guess I have just lost my mind. I am just mean. Says Olivier Zahm:

"They are just, uh, they have lost their mind. It’s totally ridiculous and embarrassing for them. The women who attacked Richardson, it’s really sad. To me, it is really sad because Terry loves so much people [sic], not only women, he’s such a sweetheart that I can’t understand how people can be so mean. I don’t even see their point."

The point is that this kind of thing keeps happening, as we learned from that article today. If it was really nothing to be upset about, I have the feeling he wouldn't have removed all the sketchy photos off of his blog days after these articles began popping up. So maybe he knows how wrong it is - is he sorry? No, he's "hurt." He never responded to any allegations further than that. Oh, but one person did call him up to ask about his recent photos, and he replied, "Get a life."

I don't think I or anyone else who was so disgusted upon hearing about such awful experiences were just trying to be "mean." It's not bullying or trolling or the same as writing "Miley can't sing!!!1!" in the comment section of a Youtube video. It's being concerned and infuriated at how jaded someone has to be to actually find this kind of thing acceptable. Some of the models could barely speak English, PS.

And, let's clarify: you don't love women just because you have sex with them and like taking pictures of their ladyparts. I'm not saying that's all Richardson does, but "love" entails "respect" and also "the basic human decency to not use pictures of someone's lady parts for your photography show without her permission" and also "the basic human decency to not pressure a girl into giving you a hand job because OH MY GOD I WILL LITERALLY NOT BE ABLE TO PRESS THE FLASH BUTTON ON MY CAMERA UNLESS YOU TAKE NOTICE OF THE FACT THAT I HAVE NO PANTS ON. ALSO I'M A PROFESSIONAL."

Some people have also criticized the victims who have spoken out about their experiences with Richardson for things like sounding too flippant in retelling it or in their reaction to it. So because someone who could easily be embarrassed about what happened tries to sound relaxed during their interview or didn't tell their agency about what happened (not like that would be really humiliating or anything,) they deserve these kinds of things?

Sigh.

I know this won't do anything. I kind of thought that the Not Okay stuff would end after all that hoopla but not really, apparently! And my writing this won't change anything, and it probably does not make me look really good, and I can already see the comments reading "You feminists are so uptight! Let a stranger manipulate you into doing weird things to him for once in your life, gosh!" (Even though I hope there aren't people who view this as a strictly feminist issue-it's a HUMAN issue. As in, this shouldn't be happening to any human, no matter their gender, though it's worsened by the fact that being male gave him more power.) And it's not like I'm like "That Richardson better not show his face in this town again!" or am hellbent on making sure he NEVER WORKS! EVER! and HAHAHAHA, no one has that power (other than the magazines who ask him to take nude shots of 17 year olds. But magazines, that's your shit and your message you're giving thousands of people, you work it out!) I mean, mostly I was just really really not feeling all this and felt like writing about it and wanted to let it out and take advantage of the fact that I run this bloggy blog myself. Maybe I really should just "get a life," though.