ONE is a top model who parades designer outfits on international runways.

The other usually appears in local print advertisements or at product launches.

Both are models, but what Sheila Sim and Karen (not her real name) have to say about their jobs couldn't be more different.

Ask top local model Sheila, 26, about her working conditions and the worst she can come up with is about having to 'run for a long time' for an ad campaign shot in Milan.

The client 'didn't even provide water', she told The New Paper on Sunday.

But it's a different world that freelance model Karen works in. She routinely has to fend off lecherous men, one of whom even 'flashed' at her once.

Karen, 21, told The New Paper: 'Men in the industry will take advantage of models, especially the younger ones.

'It's almost a given: If you want to be in the modelling industry, you have to be prepared to receive such proposals.'

Local models Diana Sidek and Kiora also told The New Paper on Sunday about having to endure similar unwanted attention.

But you can't get any such story out of Sheila, or for that matter, other top models like Junita Simon and Charmaine Harn.

They said they have not had such personal experiences, even before they got famous, as the men they work with behave professionally.

So, could they have remained unscathed in what USmodel Sara Ziff calls 'a predatory environment' in her new documentary Picture Me? (See report on opposite page.)

Or, are they just not telling?

Modelling agency owner Jeffrey Chung thinks these top models may be feigning ignorance 'to protect their reputation'.

He said: 'When you're tall, pretty and have a nice body, you're bound to meet people (with ulterior motives). I've been in the business for 19 years. It's impossible that no one has ever been hit by inappropriate behaviour.'

Mr Chung said his agency regularly receives requests for lunchtime sex with his models, and he had to insist that it does not offer such services.

Ziff alleges in the documentary that the modelling industry is 'full of middle-aged men circling like sharks around underaged and vulnerable girls'.

Karen recalled an incident two years ago where a model agency owner invited her to his house 'in a suggestive manner' late one night.

She declined.

On another occasion, she said the man took his pants off in front of her and was about to remove his underwear when she ran away.

'I was traumatised and disgusted. I filed a police report,' she said.

'Word got around and he even sent me an SMS, asking why I'd tarnished his name. But I know I'm not the only one he's done such rude things to.'

She doesn't know if any action was taken against him, and no longer speaks to him.

Sex objects

Another man asked her to sit on his lap to take photos. She said: 'I could have sat beside him. I think he, like many men, treats models as sex objects.'

Karen had been asked to attend private parties - topless - but said she declined.

Kiora said a photographer she was working with found 'all sorts of excuses to give me 'friendly' hugs'.

Said the 26-year-old: 'These men have a mindset that, since models take off their clothes for the camera all the time, they may as well strip for them too... They think it's easier to get fresh with a model...'

Diana, of Jeffrey Chung Models, said she had been harassed by a prominent businessman whom she did not name.

'We met at a private gala party and he asked for my number. I declined to give it to him. The next day, I received a call from him. He refused to tell me how he got the number,' the 26-year-old said.

'He wanted to meet up and said he wanted to have a relationship with me, though he's married with kids.'

After a week of being hounded, she changed her handphone number and has not seen him since.

Still, former top model Celia Teh, 37, says a sexual assault during a photoshoot is highly unlikely.

Ms Teh, who is married to renowned local photographer Mark Law, said: 'In Singapore, there are usually a lot of people involved in a shoot. It is never a one-on-one production.'

The models also admit that the men are not always to blame and some girls may be using their sex appeal to get ahead.

Karen said she knows girls who have broken up with their boyfriends to get together with those in the industry.

She said: 'I'm not sure if they're dating these men to make it big in the industry. But if they are, their plans are not working because they are still unknowns.'

Junita also warned against submitting to lecherous come-ons 'just to land bigger and better jobs'.

Local model and online reality show Supemodelme.tv contestant Christabel Campbell spoke of a friend who slept with a local photographer because 'she felt it was a faster way for her to get better photos'.

The friend was then a teenager, and her career got a boost.

Said Christabel, 21: '(These liaisons) work both ways... Unfortunately, the fashion industry has become associated with promiscuity.'

In Picture Me, Ziff also accused modelling agencies of being slave drivers, not taking care of their models and starving them.

Karen claims she knows at least one model who had purged to stay thin during the filming of a local TV show.

Christabel said the industry does expect models to maintain a hip width of no more than 35 inches.

But this is 'more for practical reasons, since clothes are of sample sizes with specific measurements', she said.

Again, it seems to be a bit different at the top.

Sheila, who has been modelling for seven years, said that far from starving them, 'production crew members are happy to grab lunch for models when they ask them to'.

Always have a choice

She also pointed out that models always have a choice. Agencies may advise a model to take up certain assignments to advance her career.

But the final decision still lies with the model, she said.

And the girls do have ways to protect themselves. When a photographer pushed Christabel to pose more provocatively than she was comfortable with, she suggested other suitable positions.

She said: 'I didn't feel his suggestions had been for the good of the photos. I offered alternatives which he grudgingly took up, thankfully. So there are ways of getting around sticky situations.'

Christabel also felt the business is not as seedy here as Ziff's depiction in Picture Me.

'These people know that they won't be able to get away with such offences in Singapore.

'You have to learn to say no if you feel uneasy with the situation, and stand up to the person in authority.'

This article was first published in The New Paper.