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US model Emily Ratajkowski
Photo Credit: Ron Adar/ZUMA Wire/IMAGO
The US model Emily Ratajkowski became internationally known at the age of 21 with the music video »Blurred Lines«.
In the 2013 clip, she danced half-naked alongside two other young women and musicians Robin Thicke, TI and Pharrell Williams.
The music video sparked a heated debate about female emancipation and sexuality.
A lot has happened in the meantime, and in retrospect Ratajkowski obviously judges things differently.
In her book »My Body«, which has now been published in German, the 30-year-old shares personal stories and thoughts from her life in several essays.
According to this, she is said to have begged God to be attractive as a young girl.
"I want to be the prettiest," she kept thinking.
From the age of 13 she began her modeling career and became a sex symbol for many around the world.
She had succumbed to some misjudgments.
"How naturally I believed that the most desirable women were also the most powerful," she writes in her book.
She was convinced that all women were sexualized to some degree.
So choosing to do it yourself, and using it to your advantage, she considered a show of strength.
Today, according to the model, she is far more critical of sexuality and power relations.
Ratajkowski describes several incidents of abuse that happened to her within the modeling and entertainment industries.
She got used to suppressing painful experiences that didn't align with her beliefs.
Maybe she wasn't able to deal with it before.
Otherwise she would have had to admit to herself how small her power really was.
"These men were in control, not the women the world adored," writes Ratajkowski.
»I only got my influence and status because men liked me.«
She was undeniably rewarded for marketing her sexuality.
It also gave her a certain autonomy, but did not lead to true emancipation, writes Ratajkowski.
»I have only now achieved this by writing these essays, in which I have given a voice to my thoughts and experiences.«
ala/dpa
