The Miss Representation Project Not Buying Terry Richardson’s Defense

Recently we reported that photographer Terry Richardson is refuting claims from former model Charlotte Waters that he sexually assaulted her during a photo shoot. The photographer who has been involved in racy shoots called the whole thing “a witch hunt” and addressed the numerous claims over the years to be smears against his character.

While some people may take his open letter as enough exoneration, there’s one group that doesn’t. The Miss Representation movement, which is slowly turning into a “project” will not stand for Richardson’s denial of sexual abuse claims, and is taking a stand.

According to the official site:

“The Representation Project is a movement that uses film and media content to expose injustices created by gender stereotypes and to shift people’s consciousness towards change.”

Last night The Miss Representation Project created a blog post with a new campaign called #NotBuyingIt calling action against Terry Richardson. “It’s time to say no to Terry Richardson” is the titled post, and it goes on to describe who photographer Terry Richardson is to those who aren’t familiar.

“He’s worked for dozens of major publications and brands, from H&M to Vanity Fair. As a result, he has photographed the most famous people in the world – including Madonna, Kate Moss and even President Barack Obama.”

Their mission against Terry Richardson comes in loud and clear as the blog post goes on.

“All this, despite the fact that numerous young women have consistently and publicly accused him of being a sexual predator.”

“This week, yet another model came forward with allegations that Richardson sexually harassed and assaulted her during a photo shoot.”

The Miss Representation Project has started an online petition on Change.org to encourage companies to “pledge to stop working with Terry Richardson And tweet #NotBuyingIt at irresponsible brands” who knowingly promote Richardson’s behavior. The site also alleged that Richardson’s misogyny is a well-known fact in the fashion industry, and celebrities like Lena Dunham have come forward to say how they regretted working with the photographer.

As for the recent claims against Richardson, Waters said that during the shoot the situation was, “completely pornographic and never once initiated by me. He was now on the couch with me and it became sexual act after sexual act, aggressive kissing, random sexual things being done to me and being directed to do everything you can think of back, everything slow so his assistant could photograph.”

Since The Miss Representation Project put up their blog post at least one company has come forward via Twitter. H&M stated in a tweet that has since been deleted:

[Image Credit: The Miss Representation Project]