Emily Ratajkowski is explaining why sexism hurts “everyone” — not just women.
On Thursday, the My Body author appeared on stage with Tory Burch at the 10th Annual Forbes Power Women’s Summit, where she discussed gender equality. She explained, “I always say that sexism is bad for everyone, including men. I think toxic masculinity is a huge issue and we feel the ramifications of that, but also, men live with that as well. As somebody who has a son, I think about that a lot. It’s, for me, very important to expand that conversation to men.”
The model and mother, 31, said that when she was writing her 2021 book, which explored her relationship to “men in power,” she often wondered how aware men were about the “dynamics that they were participating in.”
“Sometimes they are aware, but I don’t think they understand what they need to do differently,” she added. “I think it’s really, really crucial to include men in those conversations. I don’t think feminism should be a word that means that we’re just talking to ourselves.”
Ratajkowski, who has long been outspoken about gender equality, recently took to TikTok to share her thoughts on a video which questioned why it seemed there was little “love” in many cis-hetero romantic relationships. Earlier this month, the model filed for divorce from her husband Sebastian Bear-McClard amidst rumors of infidelity on his part.
“I love this video because she is making a point that bell hooks made which is that under a patriarchy, there’s this premise of men getting women, like getting them, pulling them like they are something to possess,” she said. “I feel, as a recently single person who’s thinking about dating and stuff, I’ve really seen that with my friends and with the conversations kind of around it, its like, ‘Well who is going to get her’ rather than you know, ‘This is a reciprocal mutual relationship where two people could potentially foster love.’ So yeah, basically that’s why we don’t have a lot of love in cis-hetero relationships.”
The mom of 19-month-old son Sylvester previously told ELLE that she is happy her child won’t experience many of the challenges of womanhood.
“I wanted a daughter initially, but when I found out I was having a son, I was so relieved,” the Gone Girl actress said at the time. “I think that it would bring up — I want more children, so it might be something I deal with later — being sexualized way before puberty and being aware of it.”
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