Terry Richardson, a name that is pretty much synonymous with general creepiness and sexual assault at this point, just got profiled over at The Cut. As you'd probably expect, the article serves to paint if not a sympathetic, at least a more gentle picture (no pun intended) of Richardson—to cast him not as a sexual deviant and borderline rapist, but as your typically misunderstood artist with a severely troubled past. Whether or not you want to believe his side of the story is up to you, but the piece does raise several interesting questions pertaining to public opinion's ability to mold someone's figurative image, in addition to the ethics of capturing certain literal images.
At one point, Richardson's longtime assistant, Alex Bolotow, defends Richardson's racey images of her because she was "having the time of [her] life" taking them. Honestly, it's hard not to think that there's a bit of Stockholm syndrome going on here, or that she's spent the past 10 years rationalizing his work to make herself feel better, but if she says she had fun being photographed with Richardson's swantz in her mouth, then who am I to judge? Ultimately, it's safe to assume there's some truth to Richardson crossing the line from time to time with certain women the way many men do when they start thinking with their dick, but it's probably just as equally true that a lot of these models throwing accusations around are thirsty for attention. Read the full profile and judge for yourself.
