‘What becomes of the artists’ models? … Where is she now, this model who was so beautiful?’

In My Body, Emily Ratajkowski opens up about her personal experiences and perspective on body positivity, femininity, and the modeling industry as a whole. She reflects upon her internal struggle to empower herself through her body while coming to terms with the way her body becomes a commodity to powerful people around her.

There are a lot of moments of clarity and honesty in the book, especially in the things that Ratajkowski holds dear to her such as her mother and career. Her writing prose is well put together without shying away from what she wishes to say. She exposes a lot of things that people see online - the NFTs, parties, and Instagram posts - and attempts to tie them all together in a way that portrays her personal battle for body empowerment.

I so desperately craved men’s validation that I accepted it even when it came wrapped in disrespect. I was those girls in that room, waiting, trading my body and measuring my self-worth in a value system that revolves around men and their desire.

I appreciate the honesty and her attempts at uncovering the ugly truths as her experience modeling, but her hypocrisy is hard for me to swallow. She complains about not liking the male gaze and lack of control she has in certain situations which is entirely fair, but refuses to leave, as she has too much to gain from the patriarchal capitalist world. While I don’t want to take away from her struggle, it seems that she wants the best of both worlds without sacrificing anything. To bash on an industry that she could easily leave at any point, complaining about having to sell bikinis on Instagram, seems to lack self-awareness to a certain extent.

This book really leaves me in a state of ambivalence. On one hand, her perspective is extremely unique. On the other hand, this book is not applicable for 99.9% of people, nor will it offer any meaningful advice (unless you are an attractive woman looking to model). It’s an interesting read, but it doesn’t leave much impact beyond that. Perhaps its unfair for me to want more considering she is only one person, but I think that she is actually in a great position to change the existing social structures that she dislikes or at least begin a conversation.

I failed to meaningfully engage on any intellectual level for any of the topics that she writes about. I found it very frustrating as her ideas became more contradicting and disjointed as it went on. In a way I wish she dug deeper on fewer topics instead of trying to cover all the bases of her life. I would love a follow up to this book 20-30 years down the line, because it’s clear to me that there is much more exploring for her to do before reaching her final destination.

The world celebrates and rewards women who are chosen by powerful men.

Overall Rating: 5/10