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Looks aren't everything. Believe me, I'm a model - Cameron Russell

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TED Talk

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Cameron Russell admits she won “a genetic lottery”: she's tall, pretty and an underwear model. But don't judge her by her looks. In this fearless talk, she takes a wry look at the industry that had her looking highly seductive at barely 16-years-old.

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How do we perceive beauty? Is our understanding of beauty biologically ingrained, or is it something we learn in our culture? According to scientists, it is actually a combination of both. And ideas of beauty can affect many aspects of our lives, like salary, parenting and even the legal system.The perception of beauty has changed with developments in imaging technology. In reaction, documentaries like Dove's "Real Beauty Sketches" and Siebel-Newsom's "Miss Representation" challenge notions of self-image, while viral videos like Jesse Rosten's "Fotoshop by Adobé" mock the false standards of beauty in the media.Lack of diversity on the runway is an ongoing issue and even increased in the last year! Historically, under-representation of minorities has plagued the fashion world. In a controversial fashion editorial, Vogue Netherlands published photos of a model wearing blackface makeup as did Numéro magazine in its African Queen editorial.Cameron Russell questions the modeling world she works in and benefits from. In a recent project, she transformed five media-making women by "turning them into glamazons" and photographing and filming them - "mocking what media executives want." Cameron also runs the blog ArtRoots.info and promotes positive social change through radical demonstrations in the collaborative group The Big Bad Lab.

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