TONN Model Blog

What do these have to do with one another? Here’s a recent comment to my posts on Sex Tape and Racism.

“Great post, Tonn!  As a sociologist you may well know that people tend to be more accepting of sex scandals and sex tapes in Western cultures.  There's lots of speculation that Kim Kardashian "leaked" her tape for a little cash settlement and publicity (did Paris, her close friend, give her a little push?).

But while Kim and Paris enjoyed more fame (and admiration?) after their respective sex tapes, Hong Kong "pop-star" Edison Chen was much less fortunate when his "scandal" broke out.  His career may even be over...and it doesn't look great for the other movie stars allegedly involved.”

When I was working in Hong Kong as a model, there was a popular soap actress there, who was due to marry into old Hong Kong money. Sounds like a fairytale, but the problem was that the groom’s family, who was very conservative, threatened to disown him if he married her.

You see, models and actors, even in today’s traditional Chinese families, do not hold a very high social status (keep in mind that social status is different from economic status). They are seen no different from prostitutes, selling their looks for a few bucks. So, it’s no surprise to me that the East react very differently to celebrity sex tapes than the West does.

What does all this have to do with modeling? Well, as a model, especially a top model, you are breaking cultural barriers. People may think that models can’t possibly make a contribution to society. Well, these people are usually unattractive people. But aside from that, these people also don’t understand that models are instrumental in defining popular culture, and popular culture is who we are as a society at any particular moment in time.

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