By laying bare her darkest thoughts and her experiences — ranging from her obsession with Instagram likes, to affectionate competition with her mother, to casual cruelty from industry people, to horrific assault by several different men — Ratajkowski asks us to consider her questions and ask some of our own.
Her work is thought-provoking, bringing into sharp focus a corrupt patriarchal system and the men who perpetuate it and profit from it. Though her scope is narrow, it works to highlight just how damaging the system is — after all, if someone as beautiful and privileged as Ratajkowski can be so hurt by it, what hope is there for the rest of us?
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Indeed, rather than not being qualified to dissect the subject, Ratajkowski proves to be the ultimate expert: after all, few women in the world have been objectified as much as she has. Sure, she has been complicit in and profited from that objectification herself but one of the most remarkable aspects of My Body is the way Ratajkowski grapples with her own actions and faces the very hard truth that where once she saw empowerment in playing the system, she now recognises that any power she gained from displaying her body is hollow and still reliant on the very men who have harmed her.
Ratajkowski is open about the fact that products from her bikini line sell better when she’s photographed in them. She’s hyper-aware that it is her body that people are interested in. Which makes it all the more significant that this essay collection, which is all about that body, doesn’t include one single photo of it. Unlike other celebrity memoirs, Ratajkowski doesn’t even adorn the cover; instead, her name and words take centre stage, allowed to take up space without the distraction of what she looks like.
Ratajkowski wants to be known as more than the Blurred Lines music video girl. She wants to be known for more than her body. She asks, “What is the power of my body? Is it ever my power?” In My Body, at least, she seems to have found a power that is finally all her own.
Jenna Guillaume is the author of two YA novels, What I Like About Me and You Were Made For Me, published by Pan Macmillan.
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‘What is the power of my body?’ Emily Ratajkowski’s honest reckoning
Source: Philippines Alive
