I think it’s something that is at the forefront of our cultural conversation right now, around Only Fans and revenge porn and maybe even related to crypto and NFTs and the free internet, but that’s a separate conversation. I could go into a whole thing about my relationship to the internet and women and control. Instagram was one of the places where I first experienced feeling some kind of control, because I was the one who was able to choose the images and put them out. RATAJKOWSKI: I didn’t know that Marilyn Monroe quote but it’s interesting that she was talking about control, because even when I believed in choice feminism in my early twenties, and believed in the power that I had as somebody who had worked the system, I definitely didn’t feel in control very often. Do you think that this is a fair assessment, and to what extent was power and control at the forefront of your mind as you set out to write the book? Someone, as you say, who might make a movie one day, rather than get naked in one. Again and again, you express contempt for the control that these men exercise, and a longing for more creative power. The men who direct, film, and manage you, who own the companies and production houses, and who so often treat you as fungible and stupid, simply a body to be sold, consumed, and unfortunately occasionally assaulted. But in the book, you tell these stories again and again of realizing that the real power lies with men. And you acknowledge that the way you look has given you a certain form of power. On one hand, you rightly condemn those who criticize you and other women for capitalizing on their beauty. When you choose to take off your clothes or post an Instagram photo of your ass, is this an act of control? Is being able, so successfully, to make men want you, to understand what men want and play on that desire, a form of power? Or are all of these things just simulacra of power and control? My sense is that you give a pretty ambivalent answer to these questions. She said, “Like any creative human being, I would like a bit more control.” It seems to me that this theme of power and control is maybe the central theme of the book? It runs through all 12 essays. SRINIVASAN: I read your book in one sitting and it reminded me of something Marilyn Monroe said in her final interview. – MARA VEITCHĮMILY RATAJKOWSKI: It’s so nice to meet you!ĪMIA SRINIVASAN: It’s really nice to meet you too, congratulations on the book! “The purpose of an essay is to get to the root of something, to investigate it.” To mark the release of My Body, Ratajkowski joined Srinivasan over Zoom for a discussion about money, the myth of being a muse, and what it means to raise a son in today’s world. “I’ve always been drawn to sparse, unpretentious writing,” Ratajkowski says. The result is a book that, in the opinion of the philosopher Amia Srinivasan, opens itself up to just about anyone-teenage boys and feminist scholars alike. Over 12 essays-concerned less with her body itself than with its status as an object of fetishization-Ratajkowski confronts with unflinching frankness topics like shame, solidarity, and the search for male validation in a culture that often confuses exploitation with empowerment. My Body, Ratajkowski’s recently released book of essays, is the latest step in this process. But instead of dwelling on the public’s reaction, Ratajkowski, a new mother, has done her best to focus on the process of creation. The essay sparked seismic reactions-both positive and negative-in the fashion and art worlds. Last fall, she published an essay about her experiences with on-the-job assault and exploitation, naming a prominent photographer in the process. After more than a decade spent embodying what many-Ratajkowski included-would say is an impossible beauty standard, the model and businesswoman has endeavored in recent years to shine light on the toxic aspects of an industry that long held her up as the epitome of female sexuality. “Even my body has responded to the desire to know how this book will be received.” Ratajkowski has long since come to terms with relinquishing control over her image, but for the 30-year-old San Diego native, the project of removing her body from the conversation has been a challenging one. “I have so much anxiety about this,” says Emily Ratajkowski from the floor of her Manhattan apartment.
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