My Body by Emily Ratjakowski

"Fuck capitalism, but until it's fucked, keep getting that bag."

While this book offers a fresh and curious insight to the life of famous fashion model Emily Ratajkowski and all the good and the bad that comes with such a glamorous life, I found myself just... nodding when it ended. There were some really good essays like her narration of her experience shooting the notorious Blurred Lines music video that shot her to fame. The essay she wrote that began this journey, "Buying Myself Back" was heartbreaking to read about, but much like the rest of the book it felt like an experience reserved for the very few fortunate (or unfortunate) enough to worry about online image. Sure, much of the book talks about ownership and autonomy, as well as security in one's image and body, but it felt like I had to nod my head in order to manufacture a relatability to this life I could only imagine living. Whether that's a positive or a negative is yet to be determined.

It's actually been a while since I finished reading this so it's not quite fresh in my mind, but I do remember it being an easy read. I have to admit my experience kind of soured near the end when I found out the author is engaging with NFTs as a way to personally capitalize on that which others already do. As an artist I'm absolutely against NFTs and yeah, I get that it's her way of asserting her ownership of her own body, but I feel like it's such a poor way of handling it. Enough about that though.

The book has a lot to say about feminism and the female experience in the fashion/celebrity industry. As mentioned it was incredible to be given a glimpse into this glitzy world but if it was trying to encourage women and other readers to be enlightened to these conditions and experiences, I believe it fell short. None of her epiphanies were surprising or novel, and I didn't feel like I learned anything new from reading her book. It felt like a rehash of other better written feminist articles (of which I've read quite a lot, with my yet unfinished thesis dealing with the subject) with a dash of that celebrity gold. I'm very fond of reading novels that deal with the entertainment industry so those parts were quite enjoyable for me, but as for the revelations she found in herself, well, I'll leave that for her to relish.

Rating: 2.9/5 (not high enough to be a 3 star, but not low enough to be a 2.75)

My storygraph review