Bingo. I may be sticking my neck out a bit here, but I’d be willing to bet that the number of young girls watching the ‘Blurred Lines’ video and going ‘wow, I feel so empowered by this display of female nudity by highly attractive young women dancing around in front of appreciative, fully clothed, older men!’ was outnumbered, grossly, by the number of young men furiously grappling with their zippers and vigorously one-hand-fapping. Sorry, clapping.
JP Martin
2 years ago
My very antiquated opinion is that it would be better if models and actors said nothing to keep some mystery.Their banal opinions invariably diminish their effect. Still, they all seem to choose the path of relentless overexposure. The prime example is the odious Meghan Markle who was given an offramp from tacky celebrity but chose to double down on this sort of vulgarity.
I used to think it was a good thing that brains and beauty on the same person was rare. Hitting the genetic lottery jackpot and all that. Now I wonder if it is in fact a problem.
Although we could mitigate this problem if those of us with (hopefully) brains, ignored those without.
Depends what you want out of life and how obliging circumstances + luck + our own efforts and talents have been for any of us. Not always something over which we ave control.
Lesley van Reenen
2 years ago
I find her unlikable and I cannot identify with her angst. She wants to get her kit off for a lot of money and behave like a sex kitten …. live with the consequences.
Yes, that is rather my feeling about her too. You want to strip off and flaunt your body for a living? Go right ahead! Enjoy the fame and fortune! Feminism is about personal choice. But it’s also about accepting the (reasonable) consequences of those choices – and that’s where I think Ratajkowski comes unstuck.
She was also at the centre of one of the dafter body crazes in recent years, the “ab crack”, i.e. a clear cleft running down the middle of your abs. It was right up there with the “thigh gap” in the ranks of stupid things that women have been told they “need” to be desirable.
The ab crack is the linea alba, which often gives away steroid use by male bodybuilders. When they take all those hormones everything gets larger including their intestines. This eventually forces their abs apart and eventually results in guys with 1% body fat, a 43″ waist and a linea alba you can fir your hand into.
Re Emily Whatsherface and her line of work generally, it has always struck me that being in porn is on the prostitution spectrum and maybe so is this. If you have sex or are photographed to be leered at for money, how are you not a prostitute?
There isn’t a prostitution spectrum. You either provide sexual intimacy to others for money, or you don’t.
David Morley
2 years ago
“I feel lucky that I can wear what I want, sleep with who I want, and dance how I want, and still be a feminist”,
ahh yes – all those essential human freedoms, so oddly absent from Mill’s On Liberty.
John Riordan
2 years ago
At least Ratajkowski is gamely making an attempt to square her well-paid exhibitionism with feminist principles, and I suspect to be honest that it is no longer possible to maintain a celebrity career by simply admitting that her career is mostly dependent upon gratifying the male gaze and telling everyone to suck it up if they don’t like it. Women in this line of business now have to adopt the facade of feminine empowerment in order to remain inside the bien pensant collective. If we’re going to criticise anyone, it should be the people in that collective who operate one of the stupidest and most risible emperors-new-clothes cultural systems we’ve ever witnessed.
Frankly I have far more of a problem with that tedious muppet who JK Rowling made famous, Emma Watson, who went full-on judgemental feminist in her teens, then was photographed near-topless, and couldn’t honestly work out what the problem was, having snobbishly condemned Page3 models for years. She was a perfect demonstration of the hypocrisy behind the idea that it’s not what you do that matters, it’s whether or not its done with the blessing of the self-appointed culture police.
Last edited 2 years ago by John Riordan
peter lucey
2 years ago
I confess that I had never heard of Ms Ratajkowski before this article.
AC Harper
2 years ago
“Men act and women appear,” wrote John Berger in Ways of Seeing in 1972. “Men look at women. Women watch themselves being looked at. The surveyor of woman in herself is male: the surveyed female.”
I thought this was the most insightful part of the article, which is echoing someone else’s words. My local Marks and Spencers has almost 90% of its clothing floorspace devoted to womens’ clothing. The mens’ clothing has been relentlessly compressed over the years. Similarly if you look at the magazine rack in a large newsagents most of the womens’ magazines have a picture of a tidy looking woman on the cover. Most of the mens’ magazines have pictures of things (trains, cars, electronics). Is this an example of the ‘patriarchy’ exploiting women or is it provision of things that women wish to buy?
David Morley
2 years ago
Dropping a Dworkin quote next to a bikini shot doesn’t exactly suggest a rigorous engagement with feminist thinking.
No, but it does suggest an unrecognised, and wholly unconscious, talent for irony.
Pretty simple really. Woman manipulates and exploits male libido for ego and bank account gratification, but must do so while fending off disapproving “sisters,” so adopts narrative that sexploitation is in fact an act of solidarity with feminist sisterhood that strikes a blow at the patriarchy. Gratification continues.
Anyone else bothered to do more than idly skim this? Ditum is just trying to pump out a few words but this empty airhead social media world is…empty. Trying to analyse it ends up in bathos so I’ll stop too. In the motto of the social media inarticulati : ‘I have no words’.
I mainly came here to the comments in the hope someone would point out this.
AC Harper
2 years ago
It’s regularly rehearsed opinion that men compete with other men to establish their status and gain access to women, or retain that access.
A less regularly rehearsed opinion is that women compete with other women to establish their status and gain access to men, or retain that access. They can compete by dressing and undressing to impress, or by retelling stories about how wonderful their children or grandchildren are (but rarely their husbands).
We are a social species and social status is an important part of what it is to be human.
James Joyce
2 years ago
Utter rubbish! I enjoy and pay for the completely stupid writing that occasionally appears here as much as the next non-birthing person, as it gives me a chance to publicly trash the author–and in this case, the subject of this tosh–and show how superior I am. Thank you, Sarah, for the opportunity.
Bravo to the commentators below who have done such a good job of trashing author and subject. They deserve it. No one needs to shed a tear for Emily if she does or does not decide to show any body part.
On to the next one….
The most pap on the subject of paps I think I’ve ever read.
Raymond Inauen
2 years ago
Oh, the poor model who posts on Instagram complaining that she’s being used? Really now? This topic is so boring. Let’s meet some real “wom*n”, or should we say gender neutral people with really important lives and stories? Now go away, as Critical Drinker says!
David Batlle
2 years ago
Thanks to feminism I had more meaningless sex in my 20s and 30s than Casanova or Henry the 8th. This is far from a boast, as I am nothing special.
No wonder that according to the Happiness Index, that has been taken since the 60s, men’s happiness has been going up steadily, while women’s happiness has been going down.
Feminism, a far greater gift to men than to women.
This a millions times. I had so much fun, I waited until I was nearing 40 to get married. Saying that, I wouldn’t want to be in my 20s now. It’s not the same world it was in the 1990s.
David Morley
2 years ago
the cis-hetero patriarchal construct that we live in
and after the revolution, when said construct has been destroyed, we can all look forward to a time when women will be able to show their breasts without shame, and men will be able to look at them without guilt.
But presumably no one will actually want to!
Jane Purcell
2 years ago
Given that about 70% of non-fiction is ghostwritten I doubt she wrote that book herself.
John Riordan
2 years ago
“I feel lucky that I can wear what I want, sleep with who I want, and dance how I want, and still be a feminist”
I’m no feminist myself, but I have to point out that this is not actually a problem. What would be the point of feminism if it restricted women from being free in this way?
Note: I am not suggesting that feminism demands that women behave this way or ought to, or that women whether feminists or not should behave this way (the important difference between can and should); merely that if the effect of feminist principles is to restrict women’s freedom, then what the hell is it for?
Last edited 2 years ago by John Riordan
Red Reynard
2 years ago
“I feel lucky that I can wear what I want, sleep with who I want, and dance how I want, and still be a feminist”, Of course you did, and there was nothing wrongheaded in that. However, what you are entering now is called ‘adulthood’. And you now have the ability to look backwards (albeit only a little), and think “Oh crikey!” So, here’s a tip from a ‘longtooth’, accept the things you did with humility, for they are the things that have molded you into the nascent human being you are…Oh, and you’l still be able to look back and have many more “Oh crikey!” moments as you move forwards in this wonderful life.
Jon Hawksley
2 years ago
You do not own what other people see. The only thing you own is what is inside your own head. To make that a welcoming place to be you need to take account of how other people are likely to react to your behaviour and take responsibility for how you react to their response to your behaviour. Taking offence at other peoples reaction to you creates problems for yourself and achieves very little. We can invest time in making interactions with other people more rewarding and hope they do the same but you need to be robust when they do not. If you get it wrong keep away from social media until it provides a filter that removes the sort of things you do not want to see.
Dan Gleeballs
2 years ago
Some of the comments – and the article – are pretty harsh. She has a certain amount of power and influence because of her unusual physical beauty. Hence articles like this written about her. She has used that platform to discuss choice and feminism – subjects that interest her. All fine so far.
Falling on those opinions from a great height seems a bit petty to me. Even pointing out that her arguments aren’t quite as robust as something Jordan Peterson might have created. So? Why are we all so viciously critical? She’s clearly a LOT brighter than some models and trying to do something more interesting than just being a clothes horse for fashion houses.
Well, good for her. If she were my daughter, I’d be very proud.
Ian Stewart
2 years ago
I like the song Blurred Lines, it’s lyric and the video. In a simple ditty presented in the style it is, it raises lots of conflicting points. Brilliant.
Penny Adrian
2 years ago
Her talent “was for embracing her role as the surveyed while giving voice to the surveyor.” Brilliant!
Penny Adrian
2 years ago
Her talent “was for embracing her role as the surveyed while giving voice to the surveyor.” Brilliant!
MJ Reid
2 years ago
Why do men go topless? And why do the majority look pregnant when they do it?
There is the argument that because people were born in their birthday suit, they should be allowed to wear said suit when it is too hot for clothes. Unfortunately, far too few people look good in said suit for a number of reasons and so everyone should desist. More comfortable for everyone. That is my feminism as it was my mother’s and grandmothers’.
She surely is the global icon of boring, shallow narcissism masquerading as female empowerment
“i’m entitled to show my t!ts whenever i please, but don’t you dare enjoy them, you misogynistic pig.”
Bingo. I may be sticking my neck out a bit here, but I’d be willing to bet that the number of young girls watching the ‘Blurred Lines’ video and going ‘wow, I feel so empowered by this display of female nudity by highly attractive young women dancing around in front of appreciative, fully clothed, older men!’ was outnumbered, grossly, by the number of young men furiously grappling with their zippers and vigorously one-hand-fapping. Sorry, clapping.
My very antiquated opinion is that it would be better if models and actors said nothing to keep some mystery.Their banal opinions invariably diminish their effect. Still, they all seem to choose the path of relentless overexposure. The prime example is the odious Meghan Markle who was given an offramp from tacky celebrity but chose to double down on this sort of vulgarity.
God occasionally bestows good looks and occasionally brains but very rarely on the same person
I used to think it was a good thing that brains and beauty on the same person was rare. Hitting the genetic lottery jackpot and all that. Now I wonder if it is in fact a problem.
Although we could mitigate this problem if those of us with (hopefully) brains, ignored those without.
I like to think you’re right but I have in fact met some very good-looking people who were also extremely bright. Life ain’t fair.
Some, but not many. In most cases, good looks mitigates against developing other qualities.
And they wonder why life is so difficult for the rest of us
Depends what you want out of life and how obliging circumstances + luck + our own efforts and talents have been for any of us. Not always something over which we ave control.
I find her unlikable and I cannot identify with her angst. She wants to get her kit off for a lot of money and behave like a sex kitten …. live with the consequences.
Yes, that is rather my feeling about her too. You want to strip off and flaunt your body for a living? Go right ahead! Enjoy the fame and fortune! Feminism is about personal choice. But it’s also about accepting the (reasonable) consequences of those choices – and that’s where I think Ratajkowski comes unstuck.
She was also at the centre of one of the dafter body crazes in recent years, the “ab crack”, i.e. a clear cleft running down the middle of your abs. It was right up there with the “thigh gap” in the ranks of stupid things that women have been told they “need” to be desirable.
The ab crack is the linea alba, which often gives away steroid use by male bodybuilders. When they take all those hormones everything gets larger including their intestines. This eventually forces their abs apart and eventually results in guys with 1% body fat, a 43″ waist and a linea alba you can fir your hand into.
Re Emily Whatsherface and her line of work generally, it has always struck me that being in porn is on the prostitution spectrum and maybe so is this. If you have sex or are photographed to be leered at for money, how are you not a prostitute?
There isn’t a prostitution spectrum. You either provide sexual intimacy to others for money, or you don’t.
ahh yes – all those essential human freedoms, so oddly absent from Mill’s On Liberty.
At least Ratajkowski is gamely making an attempt to square her well-paid exhibitionism with feminist principles, and I suspect to be honest that it is no longer possible to maintain a celebrity career by simply admitting that her career is mostly dependent upon gratifying the male gaze and telling everyone to suck it up if they don’t like it. Women in this line of business now have to adopt the facade of feminine empowerment in order to remain inside the bien pensant collective. If we’re going to criticise anyone, it should be the people in that collective who operate one of the stupidest and most risible emperors-new-clothes cultural systems we’ve ever witnessed.
Frankly I have far more of a problem with that tedious muppet who JK Rowling made famous, Emma Watson, who went full-on judgemental feminist in her teens, then was photographed near-topless, and couldn’t honestly work out what the problem was, having snobbishly condemned Page3 models for years. She was a perfect demonstration of the hypocrisy behind the idea that it’s not what you do that matters, it’s whether or not its done with the blessing of the self-appointed culture police.
I confess that I had never heard of Ms Ratajkowski before this article.
I thought this was the most insightful part of the article, which is echoing someone else’s words.
My local Marks and Spencers has almost 90% of its clothing floorspace devoted to womens’ clothing. The mens’ clothing has been relentlessly compressed over the years. Similarly if you look at the magazine rack in a large newsagents most of the womens’ magazines have a picture of a tidy looking woman on the cover. Most of the mens’ magazines have pictures of things (trains, cars, electronics).
Is this an example of the ‘patriarchy’ exploiting women or is it provision of things that women wish to buy?
No, but it does suggest an unrecognised, and wholly unconscious, talent for irony.
i hope to god it wasn’t Dworkin in the bikini
“I post my silicone enhanced breasts prominently in photographs, but men should not just focus on them.”
[Girl shakes head and wonders why men are so superficial]
[A unique, and rare, non-superficial man, tells his girlfriend to tone down the breast display with her clothes/lack of clothes]
[Girlfriend berates her boyfriend for ‘telling’ her what to do]
(And we wonder why decent honorable men loathe feminism?)
This is a struggle that predates recorded history:
From Milton’s Paradise Lost – Eve blaming Adam for their fall from grace:
Quoting Milton?! This is why I subscribe.
Pretty simple really. Woman manipulates and exploits male libido for ego and bank account gratification, but must do so while fending off disapproving “sisters,” so adopts narrative that sexploitation is in fact an act of solidarity with feminist sisterhood that strikes a blow at the patriarchy. Gratification continues.
BINGO
Anyone else bothered to do more than idly skim this? Ditum is just trying to pump out a few words but this empty airhead social media world is…empty. Trying to analyse it ends up in bathos so I’ll stop too. In the motto of the social media inarticulati : ‘I have no words’.
I didn’t manage to complete the first paragraph. A pointless article about a non-entity
The only words I could come up with are: is there no end to this degeneracy?
Agree, she could have written the same article about any number of women who pout at cameras for money.
I mainly came here to the comments in the hope someone would point out this.
It’s regularly rehearsed opinion that men compete with other men to establish their status and gain access to women, or retain that access.
A less regularly rehearsed opinion is that women compete with other women to establish their status and gain access to men, or retain that access. They can compete by dressing and undressing to impress, or by retelling stories about how wonderful their children or grandchildren are (but rarely their husbands).
We are a social species and social status is an important part of what it is to be human.
Utter rubbish! I enjoy and pay for the completely stupid writing that occasionally appears here as much as the next non-birthing person, as it gives me a chance to publicly trash the author–and in this case, the subject of this tosh–and show how superior I am. Thank you, Sarah, for the opportunity.
Bravo to the commentators below who have done such a good job of trashing author and subject. They deserve it. No one needs to shed a tear for Emily if she does or does not decide to show any body part.
On to the next one….
The most pap on the subject of paps I think I’ve ever read.
Oh, the poor model who posts on Instagram complaining that she’s being used? Really now? This topic is so boring. Let’s meet some real “wom*n”, or should we say gender neutral people with really important lives and stories? Now go away, as Critical Drinker says!
Thanks to feminism I had more meaningless sex in my 20s and 30s than Casanova or Henry the 8th. This is far from a boast, as I am nothing special.
No wonder that according to the Happiness Index, that has been taken since the 60s, men’s happiness has been going up steadily, while women’s happiness has been going down.
Feminism, a far greater gift to men than to women.
This a millions times. I had so much fun, I waited until I was nearing 40 to get married. Saying that, I wouldn’t want to be in my 20s now. It’s not the same world it was in the 1990s.
and after the revolution, when said construct has been destroyed, we can all look forward to a time when women will be able to show their breasts without shame, and men will be able to look at them without guilt.
But presumably no one will actually want to!
Given that about 70% of non-fiction is ghostwritten I doubt she wrote that book herself.
“I feel lucky that I can wear what I want, sleep with who I want, and dance how I want, and still be a feminist”
I’m no feminist myself, but I have to point out that this is not actually a problem. What would be the point of feminism if it restricted women from being free in this way?
Note: I am not suggesting that feminism demands that women behave this way or ought to, or that women whether feminists or not should behave this way (the important difference between can and should); merely that if the effect of feminist principles is to restrict women’s freedom, then what the hell is it for?
“I feel lucky that I can wear what I want, sleep with who I want, and dance how I want, and still be a feminist”,
Of course you did, and there was nothing wrongheaded in that. However, what you are entering now is called ‘adulthood’. And you now have the ability to look backwards (albeit only a little), and think “Oh crikey!”
So, here’s a tip from a ‘longtooth’, accept the things you did with humility, for they are the things that have molded you into the nascent human being you are…Oh, and you’l still be able to look back and have many more “Oh crikey!” moments as you move forwards in this wonderful life.
You do not own what other people see. The only thing you own is what is inside your own head. To make that a welcoming place to be you need to take account of how other people are likely to react to your behaviour and take responsibility for how you react to their response to your behaviour. Taking offence at other peoples reaction to you creates problems for yourself and achieves very little. We can invest time in making interactions with other people more rewarding and hope they do the same but you need to be robust when they do not. If you get it wrong keep away from social media until it provides a filter that removes the sort of things you do not want to see.
Some of the comments – and the article – are pretty harsh. She has a certain amount of power and influence because of her unusual physical beauty. Hence articles like this written about her. She has used that platform to discuss choice and feminism – subjects that interest her. All fine so far.
Falling on those opinions from a great height seems a bit petty to me. Even pointing out that her arguments aren’t quite as robust as something Jordan Peterson might have created. So? Why are we all so viciously critical? She’s clearly a LOT brighter than some models and trying to do something more interesting than just being a clothes horse for fashion houses.
Well, good for her. If she were my daughter, I’d be very proud.
I like the song Blurred Lines, it’s lyric and the video. In a simple ditty presented in the style it is, it raises lots of conflicting points. Brilliant.
Her talent “was for embracing her role as the surveyed while giving voice to the surveyor.” Brilliant!
Her talent “was for embracing her role as the surveyed while giving voice to the surveyor.” Brilliant!
Why do men go topless? And why do the majority look pregnant when they do it?
There is the argument that because people were born in their birthday suit, they should be allowed to wear said suit when it is too hot for clothes. Unfortunately, far too few people look good in said suit for a number of reasons and so everyone should desist. More comfortable for everyone. That is my feminism as it was my mother’s and grandmothers’.