A male photographer created this?

Upon hearing about The Century Project for the first time, it’s not unusual for a woman to react somewhat skeptically: “Uh-oh, another guy making pictures of naked babes.”

Hardly surprising. Men haven’t exactly done much that’s laudable in this category of photography. They are no doubt responsible for the vast majority of the trash.

The good news is that once women have had a chance to take a thorough look at The Century Project, their suspicions are assuaged. A fair number are pleased to learn that a guy is actually capable of doing something like this! Given the understandable tension and distrust that exist between the sexes now, that discovery is a vital step in itself. Maybe some men will also have a tough time rejecting the project as just “some feminist BS,” because, after all, one of them did it.

None of those reactions, however, represents the greatest and most surprising impact of my being male. When I began working on The Century Project, I assumed that the road would be much more difficult for me as a man, especially in finding the variety of people I needed: the young, the old, those who had been through psychologically stressful experiences. I imagined that a female photographer would have an easier time gaining access.

A little mind-boggling, however, is that in some situations, the converse is true. Fairly early on, I happened to photograph someone who had been violently raped. As often happens, we became friends in the years afterwards. At one point, she told me that if I were female, she would not have volunteered!

I was so taken aback by this revelation that over the course of the next few years, I conducted an informal poll among some of my other subjects, those who had also been violated or experienced similar emotional crises. Without exception, they all agreed: my being male was an important part of their process and decision.

While this seems counterintuitive at first, it boils down to the fact that their attacker was male. My being a man then becomes an essential part of their healing process.

Please don’t misunderstand: I haven’t cured anyone. Much of the work has been done by the women themselves, either before or after our paths crossed. Yet being photographed nude for this project has often been an important stepping stone for them.

Realizing this, many hope that they will somehow be helped a little. Just as important: they realize that by putting their image and statement out there, they will also help others with similar experiences. It is this duality, both helping and being helped, which has made it possible for many women—who, let’s face it, are on no one’s short list of likely nude models—to volunteer to be photographed. Nude. For exhibition and publication. And by a guy, no less.

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