There are multiple wonderful things about Emily Ratajkowski, but a lot of people associate her with her boobs. Like, even more than people do with other attractive young actresses and models.
While that sounds kind of dehumanizing, it’s only fair to acknowledge that she does talk about them. A lot. Emily Ratajkowski says that her large boobs keep her from getting hired for certain jobs, even.
And now she’s talking about her boobs once again.
You wouldn’t think that Emily Ratajkowski would be a “divisive” figure in popular culture, but somehow people love her work or admire her body or hate her stances.
Some lust after her and rage against everything that she says, which is weird and hypocritical and more than a little gross.
What’s to hate?
She’s a feminist, which should only be a problem if you’re awful or literally don’t understand what femenism is.
And yeah, she was on Team Bernie during the primaries, but she didn’t go nuts like Susan Sarandon or even say anything outlandish.
She flaunts her body, but it’s he meat prison and she can show as much or little of it as she likes.
Emily Ratajkowski has gone nude multiple times, and again, she can do that all that she likes.
Some people almost seem bothered that she’s skinny and has boobs, as if that’s somehow cheating?
It isn’t “cheating,” it’s just what her body looks like.
Emily Ratajkowski will appear topless for Allure, where she talks about her boobs some more.
“It really bothers me that people are so offended by breasts…”
Yeah, if you’re offended by breasts rather than, like, fascinated or disinterested or whatever, you’ve got a problem.
They’re boobs. Regardless of gender or sexuality, doesn’t everybody like boobs?
“That’s when I realized how f–ked our culture is.”
That’s sad but true.
But don’t worry, because she knows that “our culture kinda sucks” is hella vague — she elaborates.
“When we see breasts, we don’t think of beauty and femininity.”
That’s true.
Breasts aren’t universally feminine or necessarily always beautiful, but they’re usually both.
“We think of vulgar, oversexualized images.”
Porn, basically. She means porn.
Breasts come in a wide variety — big and small, with a whole array of shapes and nipple sizes and color combinations and even textures.
(Even though Rob Kardashian’s social media tantrum made it pretty clear that nipple sizes can confuse him. Don’t be like Rob)
The interesting thing about Emily Ratajkowski’s statement is that she’s absolutely right.
In some cultures, breasts are almost entirely non-sexualized.
In other cultures and faiths, bare breasts can be part of sacred expression.
The many-breasted idol of Diana of Ephesus wasn’t pornography for the Romans — the statue was absolutely sacred.
For the Igbo ethnic group of West Africa, a woman’s nudity is a sacred act during arguments or public protests and invokes the presence of the gods.
So much classical art (and modern art) includes tasteful nudity and beautiful portrayals of breasts.
Now, we’re not anti-porn by any stretch of the imagination, but we have to acknowledge the role that pornography has played in “vulgar” presentations of boobs.
We wouldn’t say that all porn that features boobs is party to this, but there are definitely elements of porn where all nudity is inherently and immediately sexual.
So people who are used to that sort of mindset see an actress or model posing nude for artistic purposes and they get confused, basically.
Interestingly, this is the same kind of mindset — and confusion — that we see from uberconservatives.
(Who are typically anti-porn to the highest degree)
Like, Mike Pence won’t even be alone with a woman unless Mother is present.
We can only imagine his confusion if he saw, gasp, a pair of boobs.
The rest of us can laugh at these mindsets, but these are the same things that lead to oppressive and sexist dress codes and make it harder for women to go topless at beaches and protests even on scorching-hot days.
Sexuality is wonderful and nudity is wonderful, but you can be sexy without being nude and you can be nude without it being inherently sexual.
Interestingly, while Emily Ratajkowski is maybe best known for appearing in the “Blurred Lines” music video and in “Gone Girl” — and was topless in both — a lot of us first saw her in her recurring role on ratings juggernaut iCarly.
Just to clarify, she was not topless on the Nickelodeon sitcom.
She’s a good actress, independently of her boobs.
She’s also a person, independently of her boobs.
(And we don’t just mean that she also has a butt or whatever)
Maybe when the world matures enough to appreciate women for their talent, Emily Ratajkowski will finally get to talk about something else.
