Emily Ratajkowski sat down with feminist author Naomi Wolf to talk about all things female sexuality (…and Kim Kardashian) for Harper’s Bazaar. The 25-year-old Gone Girl actress, who posed alongside Kardashian in a topless selfie earlier this year, is a self-proclaimed feminist but she explains just how difficult that is in her line of work.
“You know, when Lena Dunham takes her clothes off, she gets flack, but it’s also considered brave; when Justin Bieber takes his shirt off, he’s a grown-up. But when a woman who is sexual takes off her top, it plays into something,” she says. Of course, every woman is sexual, but she argues that it’s different for women whose jobs promote or celebrate their bodies in a sexual way.
Ratajkowski adds, “There’s this idea that if a man enjoys a photograph of a nude woman or if he likes your short skirt, he’s taking something away from you. It’s not right. Sex is normal. Desire is normal. Attention is normal, and that’s okay.” Wolf agrees, explaining that this ridiculous bias comes from the Victorian period, that supposedly “when you’re in the performance profession, you’re giving pleasure with the performance.” And, that’s a bad thing.
Ratajkowski believes that choosing to expose her body online is as equally impactful as a feminist and political statement as choosing not to. She explains confidently, “When I post a selfie and someone comments, ‘Oh, sure, go ahead and reclaim your sexuality, I got my rocks off,’ that’s not my problem.”
All women should be allowed to love their bodies and they should be allowed to express that love however they please—without body-shaming and without slut-shaming. For Ratajkowski and for us, that means that you can be a feminist and still love selfies. Finally, mystery solved.