Hi. My name is Cameron Russell, and for the last little while, I've been a model. Actually, for 10 years. And I feel like there's an uncomfortable tension in the room right now because I should not have worn this dress.
Zdravo! Moje ime je Cameron Russell, i u zadnje neko vrijeme sam model. Zapravo, 10 godina. I osjećam neugodnu napetost ovdje u prostoriji
(Laughter)
zato što nisam trebala obući ovu haljinu. (Smijeh)
So luckily, I brought an outfit change. This is the first outfit change on the TED stage, so you guys are pretty lucky to witness it, I think. If some of the women were really horrified when I came out, you don't have to tell me now, but I'll find out later on Twitter.
Srećom, donijela sam rezervnu odjeću. Ovo je prvo presvlačenje na TED pozornici, pa smatram da imate sreće biti svjedoci tome. Ako su neke žene bile izuzetno užasnute kada sam izašla, ne morate mi sada reći, saznat ću kasnije na Twitteru.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
I'd also note that I'm quite privileged to be able to transform what you think of me in a very brief 10 seconds. Not everybody gets to do that. These heels are very uncomfortable, so good thing I wasn't going to wear them. The worst part is putting this sweater over my head, because that's when you'll all laugh at me, so don't do anything while it's over my head. All right.
Istaknula bih da imam privilegiju promijeniti ono što mislite o meni u vrlo kratkih 10 sekundi. Ne dobije svatko priliku za to. Ove cipele su vrlo neudobne, dobro da sam odlučila ne nositi ih. Najgora stvar je oblačenje pulovera, jer ćete mi se tada smijati, pa nemojte ništa raditi dok mi je preko glave. U redu.
So, why did I do that? That was awkward.
Zašto sam to napravila? Bilo je čudno.
(Laughter)
Dakle,
Well --
(Laughter)
Hopefully not as awkward as that picture. Image is powerful, but also, image is superficial. I just totally transformed what you thought of me, in six seconds. And in this picture, I had actually never had a boyfriend in real life. I was totally uncomfortable, and the photographer was telling me to arch my back and put my hand in that guy's hair. And of course, barring surgery, or the fake tan that I got two days ago for work, there's very little that we can do to transform how we look, and how we look, though it is superficial and immutable, has a huge impact on our lives.
nadam se, ne toliko čudno kao ova slika. Slika je moćna, ali je i površna. Upravo sam promijenila što ste mislili o meni u 6 sekundi. A na ovoj slici, nisam zapravo nikad u životu imala dečka. Bilo mi je zaista neugodno, i fotograf mi je ponavljao da svinem leđa i stavim ruku u kosu ovog dečka. I naravno, osim operacije, ili umjetnog tamnjenja zbog posla od prije dva dana, jako malo možemo učiniti kako bismo promijenili vlastiti izgled, a kako izgledamo, iako je površno i nepromijenjivo, uvelike utječe na naš život.
So today, for me, being fearless means being honest. And I am on this stage because I am a model. I am on this stage because I am a pretty, white woman, and in my industry, we call that a sexy girl. I'm going to answer the questions that people always ask me, but with an honest twist.
Tako danas, za mene, biti neustrašiva znači biti iskrena. Nalazim se na ovoj pozornici zato što sam model. Nalazim se na ovoj pozornici zato što sam lijepa, bjelkinja, a u mojoj industriji to zovemo seksi curom. I odgovorit ću vam na pitanja koja meni ljudi uvijek postavljaju, ali s potpunom iskrenošću.
So the first question is, how do you become a model? I always just say, "Oh, I was scouted," but that means nothing. The real way that I became a model is I won a genetic lottery, and I am the recipient of a legacy, and maybe you're wondering what is a legacy. Well, for the past few centuries we have defined beauty not just as health and youth and symmetry that we're biologically programmed to admire, but also as tall, slender figures, and femininity and white skin. And this is a legacy that was built for me, and it's a legacy that I've been cashing out on. And I know there are people in the audience who are skeptical at this point, and maybe there are some fashionistas who are like, "Wait. Naomi. Tyra. Joan Smalls. Liu Wen." And first, I commend you on your model knowledge. Very impressive.
Prvo pitanje jest: kako postati model? I ja uvijek kažem: " Pronašli su me", ali to ništa ne znači. Pravi razlog što sam postala model je taj što sam osvojila na lutriji u genetici, i ja sam nasljednica, a možda se pitate što je nasljedstvo. Dakle, unazad nekoliko stoljeća definiramo ljepotu ne samo kao zdravlje i mladost i simetriju kojoj smo biološki predodređeni da se divimo, nego i kao visoke, vitke figure, ženstvenost i bijelu kožu. I to je nasljedstvo bilo predodređeno za mene, i na tom nasljedstvu zarađujem. Znam da su ovdje ljudi u publici u ovom trenu skeptični, i možda je među vama nekoliko modnih stručnjaka, koji će reći: "Čekaj. Naomi. Tyra. Joan Smalls. Liu Wen." Prvo, čestitke na modnom znanju. Vrlo impresivno.
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
But unfortunately, I have to inform you that in 2007, a very inspired NYU Ph.D. student counted all the models on the runway, every single one that was hired, and of the 677 models that were hired, only 27, or less than four percent, were non-white.
Ali, nažalost, moram vas obavijestiti da je 2007. inspirirani doktorant NYU-a izbrojao sve modele na pisti, svaku koja je bila angažirana, i od 677 angažiranih modela, samo 27, ili manje od 4 posto, su bile ne-bjelkinje.
The next question people always ask is, "Can I be a model when I grow up?" And the first answer is, "I don't know, they don't put me in charge of that." But the second answer, and what I really want to say to these little girls is, "Why? You know? You can be anything. You could be the President of the United States, or the inventor of the next Internet, or a ninja cardiothoracic surgeon poet, which would be awesome, because you'd be the first one."
Sljedeće pitanje koje me ljudi uvijek pitaju jest: "Mogu li postati model kad odrastem?" Prvi odgovor jest: "Ne znam, nisam odgovorna za to." Ali drugi odgovor, i ono što zapravo želim reći tim djevojčicama jest: "Zašto? Znate? Možeš biti što poželiš. Možeš biti predsjednica SAD-a, ili izumitelj sljedećeg Interneta, ili nindža kardio-torakalni kirurg pjesnik, što bi bilo fenomenalno, jer bi bila prva."
(Laughter)
(Smijeh)
If, after this amazing list, they still are like, "No, no, Cameron, I want to be a model," well, then I say, "Be my boss." Because I'm not in charge of anything, and you could be the editor in chief of American Vogue or the CEO of H&M, or the next Steven Meisel. Saying that you want to be a model when you grow up is akin to saying that you want to win the Powerball when you grow up. It's out of your control, and it's awesome, and it's not a career path.
Ako su, nakon ovog nevjerojatnog popisa, i dalje kao: "Ne, Cameron, želim biti model", onda im kažem, "Budi mi šef". Zato što ja nisam glavna, a ti bi mogla biti urednica američkog Voguea ili glavna izvršna direktorica H&M-a, ili sljedeći Steven Meisel. Kad kažeš da želiš biti model kad odrasteš je kao da kažeš da želiš osvojiti Powerball kad odrasteš. To ne možeš kontrolirati, i to je predivno, ali nije karijera.
I will demonstrate for you now 10 years of accumulated model knowledge, because unlike cardiothoracic surgeons, it can just be distilled right now. So, if the photographer is right there, the light is right there, like a nice HMI, and the client says, "We want a walking shot," this leg goes first, nice and long, this arm goes back, this arm goes forward, the head is at three quarters, and you just go back and forth, just do that, and then you look back at your imaginary friends, 300, 400, 500 times.
Sada ću vam demonstrirati znanje modela prikupljeno u posljednjih 10 godina, koje, za razliku od kardio kirurga, se može prenijeti u -- ovaj trenutak. Ako se fotograf nalazi tamo, a svjetla su ondje, i klijent kaže: "Želimo te uslikati u hodu", onda ova noga ide prva, lijepo i dugo, ova ruka ide iza, ova naprijed, glava je malo zakrenuta, a ti ideš naprijed-nazad, tako, i gledaš prema svojim zamišljenim prijateljima, 300, 400, 500 puta. (Smijeh)
(Laughter)
It will look something like this.
Izgleda nešto poput ovoga. (Smijeh)
(Laughter)
Hopefully less awkward than that one in the middle. That was -- I don't know what happened there.
Možda manje neobično nego ova u sredini. To je, ne znam što se tu dogodilo.
Unfortunately, after you've gone to school, and you have a résumé and you've done a few jobs, you can't say anything anymore, so if you say you want to be the President of the United States, but your résumé reads, "Underwear Model: 10 years," people give you a funny look.
Nažalost, nakon škole, imaš životopis, neke poslove, i ne možeš više ništa reći. Ako kažeš da želiš biti predsjednik SAD-a, a u životopisu piše: "Model za donje rublje: 10 godina", ljudi te čudno gledaju.
The next question is, "Do they retouch all the photos?" And yeah, they pretty much retouch all the photos, but that is only a small component of what's happening. This picture is the very first picture that I ever took, and it's also the very first time that I had worn a bikini, and I didn't even have my period yet. I know we're getting personal, but I was a young girl. This is what I looked like with my grandma just a few months earlier. Here's me on the same day as this shoot. My friend got to come. Here's me at a slumber party a few days before I shot French Vogue. Here's me on the soccer team and in V Magazine. And here's me today. And I hope what you're seeing is that these pictures are not pictures of me. They are constructions, and they are constructions by a group of professionals, by hairstylists and makeup artists and photographers and stylists and all of their assistants and pre-production and post-production, and they build this. That's not me.
Sljedeće što me ljudi uvijek pitaju: "Obrade li sve fotografije?" Da, retuširaju gotovo sve fotke, ali to je samo mali dio svega što se događa. Ovo je prva slika koju sam napravila, i to je prvi puta da sam imala obučeni kupaći kostim, a nisam još imala ni mjesečnicu. Znam da je ovo osobno, ali, bila sam mlada djevojka. Ovako sam izgledala nekoliko mjeseci prije sa svojom bakom. Ovo sam ja tog istog dana kada je bilo snimanje. Prijateljica je išla sa mnom. Ovo sam ja na pidžama partyu nekoliko dana prije snimanja za francuski Vogue. Ovo sam ja u nogometnom timu i V Magazineu. A ovo sam ja danas. Nadam se da vidite da te fotografije nisu fotografije mene. To je proizvod, proizvod grupe profesionalca, frizera i šminkera i fotografa i stilista i svih njihovih pomoćnika, predprodukcije i postprodukcije, oni su to sagradili. To nisam ja. Sljedeće pitanje koje me ljudi uvijek pitaju:
Okay, so the next question people always ask me is, "Do you get free stuff?"
"Dobivaš li besplatne stvari?"
(Laughter)
Imam previše cipela na petu od 20 centimetara koje nikada ne nosim,
I do have too many 8-inch heels which I never get to wear, except for earlier, but the free stuff that I get is the free stuff that I get in real life, and that's what we don't like to talk about.
osim one od maloprije, ali besplatne stvari koje dobijem su stvari koje dobijem u stvarnom životu, a to je ono o čemu ne želimo pričati.
I grew up in Cambridge, and one time I went into a store and I forgot my money and they gave me the dress for free. When I was a teenager, I was driving with my friend who was an awful driver and she ran a red and of course, we got pulled over, and all it took was a "Sorry, officer," and we were on our way. And I got these free things because of how I look, not who I am, and there are people paying a cost for how they look and not who they are.
Odrasla sam u Cambridge-u, i kad sam jednom otišla u trgovinu, zaboravila sam uzeti novac sa sobom i dali su mu haljinu besplatno. Kada sam bila tinejdžer, vozila sam se s prijateljicom koja je bila loš vozač i prošla je kroz crveno. Policija nas je zaustavila i sve što je bilo potrebno jest: "Oprostite policajče", i mogle smo nastaviti dalje. Sve ove besplatne stvari dobila sam zbog izgleda, ne zbog toga toga što sam, a postoje ljudi koji plaćaju cijenu zbog toga kako izgledaju, a ne zbog toga kakvi s.
I live in New York, and last year, of the 140,000 teenagers that were stopped and frisked, 86% of them were black and Latino, and most of them were young men. And there are only 177,000 young black and Latino men in New York, so for them, it's not a question of, "Will I get stopped?" but "How many times will I get stopped? When will I get stopped?" When I was researching this talk, I found out that of the 13-year-old girls in the United States, 53% don't like their bodies, and that number goes to 78% by the time that they're 17.
Živim u New Yorku, i prošle godine, od 140 000 tinejdžera koji su bili zaustavljeni i pretreseni, 86 posto njih bili su crnačkog i latino podrijetla, te su većina bili mladi muškarci. A u New Yorku ih je samo 177 000 pa za njih nije upitno: "Hoće li me zaustaviti?", nego: "Koliko puta će me zaustaviti? Kada će me zaustaviti?" Kada sam istraživala za ovaj govor, saznala sam da trinaestogodišnje djevojčice u SAD-u, 53 posto njih ne vole svoje tijelo, i taj se broj penje na 78 posto kada dođu u dob od 17 godina.
So, the last question people ask me is, "What is it like to be a model?" And I think the answer that they're looking for is, "If you are a little bit skinnier and you have shinier hair, you will be so happy and fabulous." And when we're backstage, we give an answer that maybe makes it seem like that. We say, "It's really amazing to travel, and it's amazing to get to work with creative, inspired, passionate people." And those things are true, but they're only one half of the story, because the thing that we never say on camera, that I have never said on camera, is, "I am insecure." And I'm insecure because I have to think about what I look like every day. And if you ever are wondering, "If I have thinner thighs and shinier hair, will I be happier?" you just need to meet a group of models, because they have the thinnest thighs, the shiniest hair and the coolest clothes, and they're the most physically insecure women probably on the planet.
I posljednje pitanje koje me ljudi pitaju: "Kako je to biti model?" Mislim da je odgovor koji traže ovaj: Da si barem malo mršavija i imaš malo sjajniju kosu, bila bi tako sretna i nevjerojatna." I kada smo u backstageu dajemo odgovor koji možda zvuči da je tako. Kažemo: "Zaista je divno putovati, i uzbudljivo je raditi s kreativnim, nadahnjujućim i strastvenim ljudima." Sve je to istina, ali to je samo dio priče, ono što nikad ne kažemo ispred kamera, što ja nikada nisam rekla pred kamerama, jest: "Ja sam nesigurna." A nesigurna sam zato što moram razmišljati kako izgledam svaki dan. I ako se ikada pitate: "Da imam mršavije noge i sjaniju kosu, bih li bila sretnija?" samo morate upoznati skupinu modela, jer oni imaju najmršavije noge i najsjaniju kosu i odličnu odjeću, a najvjerojatnije su psihički najnesigurnije osobe na svijetu.
When I was writing this talk, I found it very difficult to strike an honest balance, because on the one hand, I felt very uncomfortable to come out here and say, "Look I've received all these benefits from a deck stacked in my favor," and it also felt really uncomfortable to follow that up with, "and it doesn't always make me happy." But mostly it was difficult to unpack a legacy of gender and racial oppression when I am one of the biggest beneficiaries.
Kada sam pisala ovaj govor bilo mi je jako teško biti iskrena, jer, s jedne strane, osjećala sam se veoma nelagodno doći ovdje i reći: "Gledajte, primila sam sve ove povlastice jer su se karte posložile u moju korist", i bilo mi je neugodno nastaviti ovako: "i to me ne usrećuje uvijek". Ali najteže mi je bilo raspakirati nasljeđe spolne i rasne potlačenosti kada sam ja jedna od glavnih korisnika.
But I'm also happy and honored to be up here and I think that it's great that I got to come before 10 or 20 or 30 years had passed and I'd had more agency in my career, because maybe then I wouldn't tell the story of how I got my first job, or maybe I wouldn't tell the story of how I paid for college, which seems so important right now.
Također sam sretna i počašćena što sam ovdje i smatram da je sjajno što sam došla prije nego što je prošlo 10, 20 ili 30 godina kada bih imala još više agencija u karijeri, jer, možda tada ne bih pričala o svom prvom poslu, ili kako sam plaćala školovanje, što mi se sada čini veoma važnim.
If there's a takeaway to this talk, I hope it's that we all feel more comfortable acknowledging the power of image in our perceived successes and our perceived failures.
Ako ima poanta u ovom govoru, nadam se da je to da se svatko od nas osjeća ugodnije priznajući snagu slike u našim zapaženim uspjesima i našim zapaženim neuspjesima.
Thank you.
Hvala. (Pljesak)
(Applause)