Sexism flourishes still today in all walks of life. If women aren’t treated as second class citizens you can be sure they’re still held in contempt. Colin Pantall, author, photographer and lecturer at University of South Wales believes that the photography world is no exception. Recently he wrote an article on his blog exploring the harassment some female photographers face in the workplace when trying to ‘make it big’. Phogotraphy reached out to Pantall and asked how we could help lift the lid on what he dubs the ‘curator’s casting couch.’ What follows is his response.

I’m rather naive, so what I thought might be a relatively isolated problem is far more widespread than I imagined – a statement which will leave half the readers of this blog snorting in derision. But everybody who got in touch told me this is exactly what large numbers of young women photographers talk about when they get together. At Arles, at Paris Photo, at Unseen, at Houston and so on.

One woman mentioned her experience of the curator’s casting couch, something that doesn’t feature in any professional development how-to-get-a-show features that you periodically Continue reading →