The most surprising thing about the article in guardian linked below is that in “France, life-modeling is widely
seen as a serious career choice.” Really? I know you have to be fit to be able to become a life model (overweight people and art don’t go hand in hand), but I thought it was just something that someone who was a real life model or was into swimming did it as a part-time job that paid substantially better than, say, waiter. Please forgive my ignorance.
“Paris life models make nude protest to demand respect … and better pay”
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/dec/16/france-art-life-models-protest
The article describes how nude models in Paris went on strike, posing naked in this freezing weather, “to shame the state” after the tradition of “cornet,” or tips have been banned. The article further goes on that the nude modeling gig pays minimum wage… WHAT? Minimum wage?
Minimum wage is paid to those jobs that anyone can do, and many people apply for. As the amount of people willing to perform the job decreases, the pay increases. Apparently, according to a former co-worker of mine, he had a friend who cleaned up the train tracks after someone killed themselves by throwing themselves in front of the rushing train. Imagine the poor trauma the train conductor had to suffer. My then co-worker quoted his friend’s comment about the job: “It isn’t the proudest job I’ve done, but it put me through college with extra pennies in my pocket. After I had enough money from cleaning up suicide victim’s guts and blood, I quit the job.”
I really don’t think nude modeling is a job that anyone can do, or anyone wants to do. I don’t know about Paris, but in Tokyo, not everyone has a body that you would like to paint for for 6 hours or so
Okay, every protest has at least one hot nude model-able protesters
This is another interesting segment from the article:
“The disrespect shown to the models was “proof that something is badly wrong with French society”, shouted one shivering male model through a megaphone. Artists, students and art teachers sat sketching them in support.”
Erm…. All I can say is that I really admire the guts of guys that went on this protest. For those who don’t know…. Guys’ jewels shrivel up when it’s cold, making the on-looker think incorrectly that that is his actual size
And that had to be the funniest part from the article. “Sketching them in support.”
I wish I could have supported them too. Unlike the PETA protest, all the protesters are ensured to be great to be looked at naked for hours.
Tokyo Ruins Everything 
It’s weird how life models get so much less pay than photographic nude models, not just in Paris but worldwide!
Thanks Katie for the post. I have no idea how much life models get paid, but it sounds like very very very little.
Well, if these models are okay being naked in public, they should be okay having their pictures taken… or is that not artsy enough?
You said: “I know you have to be fit to be able to become a life model (overweight people and art don’t go hand in hand), but I thought it was just something that someone who was a real life model or was into swimming did it as a part-time job that paid substantially better than, say, waiter. Please forgive my ignorance.”
I’m inclined to say that I don’t think you know at all and I won’t forgive your ignorance, which seems willful, but I believe you simply misunderstand the work of life models and the nature of work.
Anyone is “fit” to be a life model, “overweight people” and “art” have often gone hand in hand (there are numerous examples from the Old Masters and many others over the centuries), a “real life model” is anyone who models for whatever reason… and you don’t have to be a swimmer. (Where did you get that idea from?) Some life models are paid more than waiters, others not, but the “value” of both jobs cannot be solely judged in monetary terms, like any other work.
I’ve known many people who have made a “serious career” from life modelling, doing only that or combining it with other work. Some make a great deal more than the minimum wage, others don’t. But so what?
You seem to think that a job that pays a minimum wage is worth less than others – but I’d put more value any day on a cleaner on minimum wage who clears up my shit than, for example, a banker who shits on me.