My Body

In 2020, model/actress Ratajkowski published an essay in The Cut about buying herself back—and this collection is her continued effort to demonstrate her ownership of her body—a process that, for a woman made in and of tabloid culture, comes at great personal and political cost. Her story highlights the experiences of people whose bodies are perceived as female, in patriarchal structures: groping, harassment, objectification. In this debut, she shares her thoughts on pop culture and her place within it. In doing so, she discusses womanhood and motherhood—stepping out of her mother’s shadow and attempt to discover the true version of herself. With candor, Ratajkowski also delves into her life as a model, and what it says about her that she makes a living off of her appearance—and beauty. For the author, this is a struggle she attempts to reconcile throughout, coming to no easy answers. Her writing is in the form of essays and occasional letters directed to people who were significant in her life at one point in time.