INDECENT proposals were the last thing freelance model Averal Lim, 20, expected when she posted pictures of herself on the Clubsnap forum pages about a year ago.

'I wanted to build up my portfolio and make myself known to photographers,' said Miss Lim.

She had hoped to model for artistic shoots, but what she got was an avalanche of requests asking her to model in lingerie or in the nude.

Now she is worried that younger girls may fall prey to men who want to exploit their bodies.

'When a new young face advertises herself as a model, a lot of guys pounce and offer free photos or a fee for doing such shoots,' she said.

'These girls are eager to get into modelling and think that by agreeing, they can start their portfolios.'

They think they should cash in while they are young and still have their looks, she said.

'To a teenager, earning $50 an hour may be a lot compared with some other part-time jobs.'

After the sleazy requests, she messaged the website moderators to suggest that organised photo shoots should include the provision of lighting equipment and guidance from a professional photographer.

She also put up posts to advise model wannabes on the proper steps to take to become a model and to caution them against posing for lingerie, bikini or nude shots, and to work only with photographers with good and decent portfolios.

For that, she was flamed by netizens who claimed to be hobby photographers.

'They were offended because they felt I was a troublemaker,' she said. 'Such people only want to take such pictures for their own pleasure, without a thought for the future of these young models.'

Though she no longer advertises as a model, Miss Lim said she still receives up to four e-mails a week asking her to give quotes for fetish or nude shoots. She even get requests for social escort services.

'The experience has opened my eyes to the dark side of modelling,' she said.

But her parents were not surprised when she told them of photographers asking her to pose nude.

'They told me this is common, but they trust me. They know I will not take part in such shoots.'

Miss Lim has now lost interest in being a model.

She was also disgusted by the portfolios of some of the hobby photographers who approached her.

She recalled how a photographer tried to persuade her to do a bikini shoot at his home studio.

'He spoke fluently and sounded very persuasive over the phone,' she said. But she did not like his pictures when she checked his portfolio online.

'His photographs were mostly of girls in lingerie or nude, and some were in sexually suggestive poses.'

Miss Lim said her model friends had also warned her not to work with him.

'Bikini shoots are usually done on the beach,' she said. 'What's the point of shooting a girl in a bikini indoors?'

This article was first published in The New Paper on Nov 30, 3008.