The Stereotype Lives

Out of interest, curiosity and just a plain old need for money, I briefly returned to modeling last week. From the 15th to the 23rd, I worked as a hostess for a company exhibiting at the IAA in Frankfurt (an automobile fair, sort of like the Auto Show in Detroit). My job description sounded fairly innocuous: Show up on time, wear the prescribed outfit (consisting of a short, black skirt, high-heeled boots and a shirt with the company logo) and be friendly to the customers at all times. The reality was that I spent 10 hours out of every day standing around on those obscenly high heels, smiling politely at everyone and observing the people walking past.

1. Demographics
Cars are for boys. Think what you want about gender stereotypes, but the vast majority of the visitors at the fair were male. For the first time ever, the bathroom line was in front of the Men's room. If women showed up at all, they were there with their friend/boyfriend/husband. A lot of the time, I saw them staring blankly at the product while their male partner enthusiastically explained technical details.

Once, in a conversation with one of the engineers from the company, I pointed out that I'd be visiting the fair if I wasn't working, because I've been interested in cars all my life. He looked at me in disbelief, then explained to me that cars, all of their different parts and everything that they do, are the domain of men. Women are not interested. As if to prove that point, all of the engineers from the company who came to work at the fair over the course of the week (and there were many of them), were male.

2. "We Have To Let Them"
The first time I was asked by a customer if they could take a picture of me, I was too surprised to say No. I was also a little amused, since the query came from three boys who were around 13 years old. The second time it was the son of a company employee, so I said Yes because I did not want to get into trouble. Afterwards I talked to my co-hostess, a woman who had worked at fairs before. Her simple reply was "We have to let them". We have to be friendly to all customers, always. Over the course of the week, I learned what that meant. I smiled nicely at:
-all of the men who wanted to take pictures of me (about 3 or 4 a day), and also at those who took pictures of me without asking
-all of the people who thought the hostesses were the people to verbally abuse if they did not like the display
-the man who, when asked to enter the stand through the front, asked me "Oh, so you do not like it from behind?"
-the man who thought it was necessary to be inches from my face and holding on to my arm while asking me a question about the display
-the man who walked up to a couple of girls from another company (that had had the bright idea to make their hostess uniforms consist of white, skin-tight spandex body-suits) and circled them while holding his camera to the approximate height of their butts and filming his approach.

It was an interesting experience, to be sure. There is a certain confidence-boost that comes with knowing you represent that company, knowing you were picked because of your appealing looks and personality. It was what first drew me to modeling seven years ago - the validation it gave me. But it wears thin when you realize you are being reduced to those aspects of who you are, that you are being regarded not as a person but as a body.

It pays well, and I made a great new friend (my co-hostess, M., who's been modeling for a year and is just as disillusioned as I am), but damn, it's not something I need to try again.