My Body is a memoir by Emma Ratajkowski. She also famously goes by Emrata, being a combination of her first and last name. The book became a New York Times best seller when it came out. Thought out the book Emrata is very vulnerable and candid about her life and her experiences that she had from a young age to her life as of recent of before publishing.
This book will interest you if you are into fashion with her talking about her experience in the fashion world and how she came into it. This book will also interest you if you like to read about peoples lives candidly.
Open
Emrata thorouhgtout the book is open and does not shy away from anything. In the book she does touch upon how at one point in her life she would rather not bother and create problems. With this book she ends up owning everything and does not care about what others think about her. I think this is a real brave thing to do as she does touch upon very touchy and personal issues like sexual assault. This is good on my opinion because she is speaking upon a problem that goes on in the fashion industry pertaining the power dynamics and the way people feel entitled over other peoples body.
Moreover, I like how she is very straight up and does not sugar coat things. She tells the reader “I have my body because of genetics there is no secret.” In the current age of social media even this is rare as sometimes people can use their naturally lean bodies to swindle followers into buying a program that “worked” for them. Additionally, when she is in a salon and was asked about her ethnicity she just says white, while they try to push her and ask are you sure, she’s like yeah just white. I found that refreshing because you meet people who want to be something to be different and want to stand out but she was just herself. Authenticity is key.
Critique
While she does speak about her life and lets the world get to know her better, I don’t think Emrata realizes the privileges she has. One of the most laughable moments from the book was when in one part she complains “but I’m not rich my parents aren’t lawyers… they’re just professors…” GIRL BE FUCKING FOREAL… *crying laughing emojis* She does have a couple of other moments like this where its like well its not that bad and its not the end of the world… just get a grip for real. Like I am sorry my parents aren’t lawyers or professors either… LMAO! This was one of those moments where I was like riiiight… everybody does grow up with very different things around lol. This was one of my only critiques as it shows a level of privilege that while she may think she does not have, she does have, but does not acknowledge fully.
Overall, I would recommend that you read this book. I love how she is so vulnerable that you get to know her more than just the online persona that she can exude of being a hot cool model that companies portray her to be. You get to know how she made her rise to the top but you also learn about the silent struggles that she faced and that many others maybe facing as well but do not share. I
J’s Journal 