"My Body" by Emily Ratajkowski
The Power of the Male Gaze…
And realizing it’s not powerful after all.
Read Review Below
I applaud Emily’s honesty and candid nature when she writes about her body image, and the role it’s played in her life. I also appreciate that she admits her constant internal comparisons between herself and other women. Even as one of the most beautiful people in the world, she still has the same body issues everyone else has. Although, I would argue her body issues are more severe since she relies on this image for her career. Her experiences of sexual assault were surprising to hear - not because they happened (no surprise there*) , but because she was so open about it.
This may be terrible to say, but it was a huge relief reading her reaction to those moments - especially those involving her feelings of shame. Just knowing that no matter how rich, beautiful, or famous someone is, ALL women have experienced very similar feelings when it comes to varying degrees of sexual harassment. I admire that she acknowledged this connection.
Emily also brought to our attention the way women tend to internalize feelings. I can’t stress enough how true this is. I don’t know why it was engrained in our heads the need to hide negative feelings and pretend everything is ok. I think we just have this notion that we are supposed to keep everyone happy and calm. But it builds inside of us and, not to be so dramatic, but it feels like our soul is deteriorating. Emily writes about this realization, and I appreciate that she expresses the awkwardness and exposure of finally expressing how she feels. After years of keeping it all in, it takes practice to start being yourself.
Overall, Emily stumbles and makes mistakes. But because of these mistakes, she realizes that power isn’t the power men give to beauty - it was taking control of her body.
*To be clear, it is not a surprise because of the industry she works in and knowing what men could get away with - not because of anything Emily had done.
| Pub Date: | November 9, 2021 | Page Count: | 239 Pages | ISBN: | 1250817862 |