Wonder Woman of the Week: Emily Ratajkowski
- Nov 10, 2021
- 3 min read
Admittedly, I under-appreciated this week's Wonder Woman for years. Models- regardless of gender- are often overlooked due to their career-defining beauty and people from all walks of life often don't take models seriously for a number of reasons n a number of contexts. Models however are paid for how people judge how they look; and that comes with issues that people of all professions have to deal with- being forced to conform to societal demands of beauty, but unique to models, their paycheck is frequently on the line. Emily Ratajkowski frequently appears on lists of the most beautiful people in the world, but that beauty frequently delivered unwanted attention to the young woman- even while she was still a child. Unfortunately- like many 12-14 year old girls, adult men sexualized Ratajkowski while she was still a child, and her parents both drove their teenage daughter into the world of modeling. And while modeling was a way for Ratajkowski to at least try to take agency over how her image was shared through turning it into a career, that chosen career still came with unintended attention.
Emily Ratajkowski wanted to become an actress, but hard to work hard to get anyone to take her seriously because they deemed her "too beautiful" and asking her to "be uglier," but when she did wear less makeup and intentionally dressed to appear ugly, suddenly she wasn't beautiful enough. Unable to break into the film or television scene because of casting directors failing to take her seriously, Ratajkowski's agent suggested she appear in erotic magazines to make a name for herself. Through appearing on the cover of an erotic magazine and performing in sexually suggestive music videos, Ratajkowski finally earned a name for herself. That break came at a cost though, as Ratajkowski reported toxic working conditions including musician Robin Thicke allegedly sexually assaulting her on the set of the music video "Blurred Lines" which itself has been condemned as a song about sexual assault and predatory behavior.
Fortunately for women like her, Emily Ratajkowski had the courage to speak out. Ratajkowski has published articles and a biography speaking out against the toxic environment she's had to endure as an actress and model, but also essays on how women taking control and agency over sexual expression can be a form of empowerment (frequently discussed in Third and Fourth Wave Feminism via concepts like body positivity) and advice on how young women and girls can set boundaries in careers where they way they look can affect the jobs they receive. This includes both in words and action as Ratajkowski has sued photographers on multiple occasions for using photos of her outside of agreed upon conditions and in counter-suits against photographers who have tried to sue her for using photos they took of her on social media taken under contracts without clauses preventing such usage.
Ratajkowski has even spoken out against perceived hypocrisies in contemporary feminism by publicly condemning women who claim women who supported Bernie Sanders' presidential bid were only doing it to meet future husbands. Women are constantly judged for being too beautiful, not beautiful enough, too skinny, not skinny enough, for going to work, for not going to work, for not having children, for having children, for having children and going back to work, for having children and not going back to work, for being too ambitions, for not being ambitious enough, and for simply just being alive... and Emily Ratajkowski has had enough. The model and actress has made her stand and has become a standard barer for the struggles women endure in their battle to be taken seriously.
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