Inequalities are everywhere, even in the boudoir world.
We grew up in France seeing boudoir done in a classic and non-inclusive way: perfectly photoshoped young women, laying down on an hotel room’s bed, in black and white. We never saw curvy women, or even transgender people on those pictures. And for men, the only time we saw male boudoir photography it was done in an ¨humoristic way¨ (men posing very femininely, to make fun of women posing for boudoir -.how nice is that 😬).
Even now, only a few photographers dare to stand out and create a different boudoir experience.
All of those caricatures makes boudoir intimidating, and limited for people who don’t relate to traditional boudoir photography.
You have to be the changes you wanna see in the world
Changes don’t magically happen over night. We have to fight for things we care about in order for them to change.
So opening Scandaleuse was, and still is, our way to change mentalities around this amazing art that is boudoir photography: make it accessible to all genders, body shapes, ethnicities, and ages, and create a safe community where everyone feel welcome.
Be loud about the changes you are making
We don’t understand how in 2021 we are still struggling with those inequalities. For us, it just makes sense that every services should be inclusive, this is part of our beliefs. We never understood why some business owners select their clients based on their gender, sexual orientation, or even skin color (and in a more general way, why we are still dealing with racism, sexism, homophobia,… - but that is another discussion).
Back to topic! To give you an example, one of our client told us she was afraid to be rejected by photography studios because she is trans - this really blows our mind but not in a good way!
There is a funny thing that often happens when you try to make positive changes. Most of the time, you think you are doing enough until you realize you could do even better.
Why are we telling you this? Well, we recently noticed that we haven’t really wrote it in our website’s copy that we are inclusive. People who personally know us, or are following us on social media know about that fact. But for those who go directly to our website, they have to do a bit of digging to read about it.
Being inclusive is not just about accepting everyone, it is also about making this information clear and easily accessible so people feel comfortable reaching out.
Like this gif above, your boudoir shoot is your freaking show, so you should feel 100% yourself doing it. And it starts by feeling accepted by the photographer!
Even in life in general, your gender should not be an excuse others use to reject you. Your body type should not stop you from experiencing all the things you wanna. Your skin color should not close doors on beautiful opportunities life gives you.
To recap:
don’t be passive, fight for things you care about;
be loud about it, don’t be afraid to share your message;
and make sure you are doing your best, there is always room for improvement.
We are always open to suggestion, so don’t hesitate to let us know how we can, in your opinion, improve Scandaleuse.