Being internationally famous for our sex appeal is not something that most of us will ever experience. And according to Emily Ratajkowski, it’s not necessarily something we should envy – because it’s not all it’s cracked up to be.
The British-born model, actress and Planned Parenthood advocate shot to fame in 2013 after starring topless in the music video for Robin Thicke’s Blurred Lines. Since then, she has appeared with Ben Affleck in Gone Girl, alongside Zac Efron in We Are Your Friends, and in the Entourage movie.
However, she claims that she loses out on acting work because of the size of her breasts.
“There’s this thing that happens to me: ‘Oh, she’s too sexy’,” Ratajkowski tells Harper’s Bazaar Australia. “It’s like an anti-woman thing, people don’t want to work with me because my boobs are too big.”
“What’s wrong with boobs?” she continues. “They’re a beautiful, feminine thing that needs to be celebrated.
“Like, who cares? They are great big, they are great small. Why should that be an issue?”
Ratajkowski, who identifies as a feminist, says that she isn’t deterred by people who criticise her for posting ‘sexy’ photos on social media.
“I have no problem with the backlash, because I feel it illustrates my point over and over,” she says.
In a separate interview with British Glamour, Ratajkowski credits Emma Watson with helping her formulate her understanding of feminism.
“To start saying that certain people need to have a license to be feminist is insane,” says the 26-year-old, adding: “Emma Watson said feminism isn’t some kind of tool to beat other women with, it’s supposed to be a freedom of choice.
“And I believe in sexuality. I think it’s a wonderful thing and, if anything, I want women to understand their own sexuality outside of a patriarchal male gaze.
“We’re the core of sexual beings, and I think that’s something that should be celebrated rather than attacked.”
Ratajkowski has previously spoken about her frustration that “society somehow feels that women can’t manage to be political, feminist and a sex symbol”.
Last year, she teamed up with Kim Kardashian to post a topless selfie on Instagram. Ratajkowski captioned her photo: “We are more than just our bodies, but that doesn’t mean we have to be shamed for them or our sexuality.”
Her pursuit of encouraging women to express themselves sexually has been supported by prominent feminists including Lena Dunham and the author Naomi Wolf, who wrote in 2016: “Her politics, especially about the body (show it off), attention (why should women not want it?), assertion, and self-acceptance occurred to me mostly as very good news.”
Images: Rex Features
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