New York bill aims to protect models from exploitation

Kaja Sokola was a shy teenager from Wroclaw, Poland, when she received life-changing news: modeling agents saw her picture during an open casting call and they wanted her to walk to a show in Warsaw.

Sokola had taken a walk or two in a dress or skirt, but the show was mostly in her underwear. She was 14.

"Being a 14-year-old girl, walking around in a push-up bra and tiny underwear, in crowds of over 40 men and women, and clapping and looking at us like everything is normal, [it] feels like a horror movie right now," she said. "It was 'normal' back then and it is still the case now, I think, unfortunately."

Soon after, Sokola was thrown into an industry notorious for worker abuse that ranges from unsuitable assignments to age - at 15 she was photographed in a completely transparent blouse - to financial exploitation and sex trafficking.

"On so many levels, from physical to financial, fashion has been abusing models for years and years and years,” said Sokola, who is among many women to have accused sex criminal Harvey Weinstein of sexual misconduct.

Sokola, who now works as a clinical psychologist, is also among former and current models advocating for the Fashion Workers Act, a New York state bill that aims to prevent abuse in establishing labor protections. The bill, which aims to protect everyone from models to makeup artists, was introduced in the spring of 2022 and will be considered again in the 2023 legislative session, which begins in January.

The renewed attention to this bill comes at a pivotal moment in the #MeToo movement. Weinstein and actor Danny Masterson will soon be on trial for rape in a Los Angeles court, and Kevin Spacey's civil sexual abuse trial began Thursday in Manhattan.

These trials high-profile stories suggest the movement hasn't slowed since its inception five years ago. The growing focus on model rights suggests that #MeToo is expanding beyond the world of entertainment into other industries where power imbalances – whether economic or gender-based – can pave the way for of abuse.

"This is really an outgrowth of advocacy on the part of survivors of sexual abuse," said New York State Senator Brad Hoylman, who is sponsoring the bill. "They were engaged with the Child Victims Act and then the Adult Survivors Act.

"This collective of survivors, most of whom are younger women, s came together and helped write this bill, so the next generation of creatives and fashion workers don't go through the same thing. »

Under the Fashion Workers Act, management agencies should compensate models within 45 days of completing a job and provide them with copies of their employment contracts. If management companies collect royalties for a model or creation they no longer represent, the agency should notify them.

Management fees would also be capped at 20% - and they would also be prohibited from pocketing onerous signing fees and above-market rent in agency accommodations. Proponents argue that if models and other industry creators are indeed paid, they are much less vulnerable to exploitation: a paycheck can buy a plane ticket away from a dangerous situation or cover the rent of a 'secure and stable housing.

There was some opposition to the bill; non-model management trade groups, such as the Artist Management Association and the American Association of Advertising Agencies (AAAA) argue that it could have detrimental financial ramifications. The AAAA notes that agencies play the role of “middleman” between those they represent and brands; if these brands don't pay management on time, agencies should cover their clients' costs.

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