» Models aren’t stupid
Sandra Omo is irritated by the general assumption that models are stupid
Earlier this week, I went for a coffee with a new friend of mine from Thailand who was just visiting home again. Halfway through the coffee we got talking about careers. Well, I know what he does and that he lives in Thailand, but he knew absolutely nothing about me, as we never had time to chat, hence the coffee.
“He finds it difficult to believe that I am a model. ‘How come you are so intelligent,’ he asked?”
At the end of my introduction when I mentioned I am a model, I could see the surprise on his face but he waited until I finished before he lashed out. He finds it difficult to believe that I am a model. “How come you are so intelligent,” he asked? He thinks models are non-intelligent people who just sit around and sniff on their nail polish and get paid for doing that. He even justifies his thinking by saying he knows so many models and they all fall into this category and so he is surprised to find out that I am a model after all the intelligent discussions we have had. Can models talk this way? He is amazed.
He is back to Thailand now and remains a good friend, but since then I have been thinking about the one issue I would have loved to pretend does not exist. How many people out there think that models are generally stupid? I mean I have heard about this a million times. I have even seen funny movies about this, with my favourite being Head Over Heels, a drama about four professional models living in a huge New York apartment provided by their agency. Although I like this movie, I just cannot help blaming films like this, and old wives’ tales for this wrongly propagated notion that models are non-intelligent people. And lets not forget the fact, or shall I call it trend, that every career confused young star you meet these days claim they are models, or once they have photos taken in a studio, that makes them professional models.
Come on, if we begin to think every one who wears a green camouflage is in the army, wouldn’t the whole world be filled with unqualified army men and women? In fact, I am beginning to have cause to believe that people who think models are non-intelligent people are the non-intelligent ones because, one’s intelligence or lack of it, has absolutely nothing to do with one’s profession: it is who you are. You were either smart or not so smart before you took up a career, so why attribute it to the career? I was who I am before I choose to become a model so now does it matter that I am a model. Or would it have been easier to believe that I am smart because I am a lawyer? What nonsense!
On the other hand, things like this just prove that so many people out there have absolutely no idea what it takes to be a model. It takes determination, charm, confidence, and intelligence to be one, and to remain in an industry as competitive as modelling. In a nutshell, models are highly intelligent people with the unbeatable confidence (in themselves and their abilities) that is required to thrive in the industry. So the next time you meet someone who claims to be model but lacks intelligence, the question you should be asking is: “Are you really a model?’
June 11th, 2008 at 3:54 pm
I think there is a general assumption that most models are stupid, which is a shame. It’s very unlikely to be true – there are as many stupid models as there are journalists, for example.
Are all models as self-absorbed as you?