Emily Ratajkowski has questioned the disparate reactions to female nudity, arguing when Lena Dunham takes off her clothes it’s considered brave, but for Kim Kardashian to do the same is branded problematic.
In a conversation with the feminist author Naomi Wolf for Harper's Bazaar, the Gone Girl actress highlighted the hypocrisy of applauding some women for refusing to cover up while denouncing those perceived as overtly sexual for taking their clothes off.
Ratajkowski has first-hand experience of this division. As a vocal feminist and ardent Bernie Sanders supporter, she has also appeared bare-chested in film, music videos and on her social media posts. That she can be a feminist, political and sexual is a concept some have struggled to comprehend; her endorsement of Sanders was dismissed by trolls and her images are often filled with comments by people mocking her belief in feminism.
She told Wolf: “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."
Agreeing that all women are sexual, she added: “But there is a distinction in the reaction between, for example, Kim [Kardashian] taking off her shirt and Lena. It's not fair to either of them."
Ratajkowski says “absolutely every picture” of her attracts unwanted, sexually explicit comments, regardless of what it depicts.
"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.”
