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.
Živjo. Moje ime je Cameron Russell in zadnje čase se ukvarjam z manekenstvom. Pravzaprav zadnjih 10 let. In občutek imam, da je ta trenutek v sobi neprijetna napetost, ker ne bi smela obleči te obleke.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
K sreči sem prinesla obleko za preobleči. To je prvo preoblačenje na odru TED-a in mislim, da imate srečo, ker ste mu lahko priča. Če ste bile nekatere ženske zgrožene, ko sem prišla na oder, mi ni treba povedati zdaj, ampak bom izvedela na Twitterju.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
Dodala bi, da sem precej privilegirana, ker lahko spremenim, kaj si mislite o meni v samo 10 sekundah. Vsi tega ne morejo storiti. Te visoke pete so zelo neudobne; še dobro, da jih nisem nameravala nositi. Najhujši del je, ko si potegnem pulover čez glavo, ker se mi boste takrat vsi smejali. Tako, da ne naredite ničesar, medtem ko ga imam čez glavo. Dobro.
So, why did I do that? That was awkward.
Torej, zakaj sem to naredila? To je bilo nerodno.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Well --
No --
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
Upam, da ne tako nerodno kot tista slika. Videz je vpliven, vendar je videz tudi površinski. Pravkar sem popolnoma spremenila, kaj si mislite o meni, v šestih sekundah. In na tej sliki še nikoli nisem imela fanta v resničnem življenju. Bila sem v grozni zadregi in fotograf mi je govoril, naj usločim hrbet. in dam roko tipu v lase. In seveda, z izjemo operacij in lažne porjavitve, ki so mi jo naredili dva dni nazaj za službo, ne moremo narediti nič kaj dosti, da bi spremenili svoj videz in naš videz ima, kljub temu da je površinski in nespremenljiv, ogromen vpliv na naše življenje.
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 danes zame biti pogumna pomeni biti odkrita. In na tem odru sem, ker sem manekenka. Na tem odru sem, ker sem lepa belka in v moji industriji temu rečemo seksi dekle. Odgovorila bom na vprašanja, ki mi jih ljudje vedno postavljajo, vendar bom tokrat iskrena.
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.
Torej, prvo vprašanje je, kako postaneš manekenka. Vedno odgovorim samo: "Oh, odkrili so me." Ampak to ne pomeni nič. V resnici sem postala manekenka, tako da sem zadela na genetski loteriji in podedovala zapuščino, in morda se sprašujete, kakšno zapuščino. No, že nekaj stoletij lepoto definiramo, ne samo kot zdravje in mladost in simetrijo, ki jo po naravi občudujemo, ampak tudi kot visoko, vitko postavo in ženstvenost in belo kožo. In to je zapuščina, ki so jo zgradili zame in zapuščina, ki sem jo dobro vnovčila. In vem, da so med občinstvom ljudje, ki so ta hip skeptični in mogoče je med vami kakšen modni navdušenec, ki si misli: "Čakaj. Naomi. Tyra. Joan Smalls. Liu Wen." In najprej bi rada pohvalila vaše impresivno poznavanje manekenk.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
Ampak žal vas moram obvestiti, da je leta 2007 zelo navdahnjen doktorski študent z NYU preštel vse manekenke na modni pisti, čisto vsako, ki so jo najeli, in od 677 manekenk jih samo 27, manj kot 4%, ni bilo bele rase.
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."
Naslednje vprašanje, ki mi ga ljudje vedno postavijo je: "Ali lahko postanem manekenka, ko odrastem?" In prvi odgovor je, "Ne vem, jaz ne odločam o tem." Toda drugi odgovor, kar bi res rada rekla tem malim deklicam je: "Zakaj? Veš, lahko postaneš karkoli. Lahko bi bila predsednica ZDA ali izumiteljica naslednjega interneta ali nindža pesnica, ki se ukvarja s srčno kirurgijo, kar bi bilo mega, ker bi bila prva na svetu."
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
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.
In če mi po tem čudovitem seznamu še vedno rečejo "Ne, ne, Cameron, hočem biti manekenka," potem rečem, "Bodi moja šefica." Ker jaz ne vodim ničesar in ti bi lahko bila glavna urednica ameriškega Voguea ali generalna direktorica H&M, ali naslednji Steven Meisel. Reči, da bi rada, ko odrasteš, postala manekenka, je kot bi rekla, da bi rada, ko odrasteš, zadela na loteriji. Ni odvisno od tebe in super je in ni kariera.
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.
Zdaj vam bom pokazala znanje, ki sem ga nabrala v 10 letih manekenstva. V nasprotju s srčnim kriurgom svoje znanje zlahka povzamem. Torej, če je fotograf na tej strani in luč na tej strani, dober reflektor, in naročnik reče: "Hočemo posnetek hoje." To nogo daš naprej, lepo in dolgo, ta roka gre nazaj, ta roka gre naprej, glavo držiš takole in potem se samo premikaš naprej in nazaj in potem pogledaš nazaj proti svojim namišljenim prijateljem 300, 400, 500-krat.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
It will look something like this.
Izgledalo bo nekako takole.
(Laughter)
(Smeh)
Hopefully less awkward than that one in the middle. That was -- I don't know what happened there.
Upajmo, da manj nerodno kot ta na sredini. Ne vem, kaj se je zgodilo tukaj.
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.
Na žalost potem, ko končaš šolo in imaš življenjepis in si imela nekaj služb, ne moreš več reči, da boš karkoli, tako da, če rečeš, da bi rada postala predsednica ZDA, na tvojem življenjepisu pa piše: manekenka za spodnje perilo: 10 let, te ljudje čudno pogledajo.
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.
Naslednje vprašanje je: "Ali retuširajo vse fotografije?" In ja, retuširajo bolj ali manj vse, ampak to je samo majhen del tega, kar se dogaja. Ta fotografija je čisto prva, ki sem jo posnela, in to je bilo tudi prvič, da sem oblekla bikini, in sploh še nisem dobila menstruacije. Vem, da je to precej osebna stvar, ampak bila sem mlada deklica. Takole sem bila videti s svojo babico samo nekaj mesecev prej. Ti dve sliki sta bili posneti na isti dan. Moja prijateljica je lahko šla z mano. Tukaj sem na zabavi v pižamah nekaj dni pred snemanjem za francoski Vogue. Tukaj sem z nogometno ekipo in v reviji V Magazine. In to sem jaz danes. In upam, da vidite, da te slike niso slike mene. Konstrukcije so in te konstrukcije je zgradila skupina profesionalcev: frizerjev in vižazistov in fotografov in stilistov in vseh njihovih asistentov in predprodukcije in postprodukcije in zgradijo tole. To nisem jaz.
Okay, so the next question people always ask me is, "Do you get free stuff?"
Naslednje vprašanje, ki mi ga ljudje vedno zastavijo, je: "Ali dobiš zastonj stvari?"
(Laughter)
Res imam preveč čevljev z 20-centimetrsko peto, ki jih nikoli ne obujem,
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.
razen malo prej, ampak zastonj stvari, ki jih dobim, dobim v resničnem življenju in to je tisto, o čemer se ne maramo pogovarjati.
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 sem v Cambridgeu in enkrat sem šla v trgovino in pozabila denar in obleko so mi dali zastonj. Ko sem bila najstnica, sem bila v avtu s prijateljico, ki je bila obupna voznica. Prevozila je rdečo luč in seveda naju je ustavil policist in samo opravičila sem se, pa naju je spustil naprej. In te zastonj stvari sem dobila zaradi svojega videza, ne glede na to, kakšna sem navznoter, in drugi ljudje plačajo ceno, za to, kakšni so videti in ne kakšni res so.
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 v New Yorku in lani je od 140.000 najstnikov, ki so jih ustavili in preiskali 86% spadalo med Afro- in Latinoameričane in večina je bila mladih moških in v New Yorku živi samo 177.000 mladih afro- in latinoameriških moških, tako da zanje ni vprašanje, ali jih bodo ustavili, temveč kolikokrat jih bodo ustavili. Kdaj jih bodo ustavili? Ko sem raziskovala za to predavanje, sem odkrila, da 53% 13-letnim deklicam v ZDA ni všeč lastno telo in ta številka se povzpne na 78%, ko dopolnijo 17 let.
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.
Torej, zadnje vprašanje, ki mi ga ljudje postavijo je: "Kako je biti manekenka?" In mislim, da je odgovor, ki ga iščejo: "Če si malo bolj suha in imaš bolj sijoče lase, boš tako srečna in čudovita." In ko smo v zakulisju, odgovorimo tako, da se to mogoče zdi res. Rečemo: "Fantastično je potovati in fantastično je imeti priložnost za delo z ustvarjalnimi, navdahnjenimi, strastnimi ljudmi." In vse to je res, ampak je samo polovica zgodbe. Tisto, česar nikoli ne rečemo pred kamero, česar nikoli nisem rekla pred kamero, je: "Negotova sem." In negotova sem, ker moram vsak dan razmišljati o svojem videzu. In če se kdaj sprašujete, "Če dobim vitkejša stegna in bolj sijoče lase, ali bom srečnejša?" morate samo spoznati skupino manekenk, ker imajo najvitkejša stegna in najbolj sijoče lase in najbolj kul obleke, in so verjetno najbolj fizično negotove ženske na svetu.
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.
Ko sem pisala ta govor, sem se zelo mučila z iskanjem iskrenega ravnovesja, ker mi je bilo po eni strani zelo neprijetno priti sem in reči: "Poglejte, imela sem vse te koristi, ker sem se rodila s to prednostjo" in obenem mi je bilo zelo neprijetno nadaljevati z: "in nisem vedno srečna." Ampak predvsem je bilo težko razpakirati zapuščino spolnega in rasnega zatiranja, ko sem na njej tako veliko zaslužila.
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.
Ampak obenem sem tudi srečna in počaščena, da sem tu in mislim, da je super, da so mi dovolili priti, preden bi minilo še 10 ali 20 ali 30 let in bi imela več nadzora nad svojo kariero, ker vam takrat mogoče ne bi povedala, kako sem dobila prvo službo ali vam mogoče ne bi povedala, kako sem plačala šolnino na univerzi, kar se zdaj zdi tako pomembno.
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.
Če naj bi od predavanja nekaj odnesli, upam, da nam je zdaj lažje priznati, kako velik vpliv ima videz, na to, kar dojemamo kot uspehe in to kar dojemamo kot neuspehe.
Thank you.
Hvala.
(Applause)
(Aplavz)