I did a very embarrassing thing and I need come clean: I cried at Coachella. Not a loud, heaving cry like you'd let out while listening to Gaga's "Born This Way" in a field of 100,000 people, but more like a soft, private sniffle in the back corner of a daytime party. Let me explain: I was interviewing Emily Ratajkowski after her denim fitting for the Levi's poolside brunch (above). And while she's one of the most famous models in the world, she's also a woman trying to single-handedly redefine what feminism looks like in our culture. So, yeah. Tears.
If we're getting super real, I'd downed a glass of sauvignon blanc, and hearing Ratajkowski talk with ease about what it means to be a woman today restored my faith in people after a very rocky few months under the current administration. If you follow her on Twitter, you may have had a glimpse at what I'm talking about. Some examples: "If you can't take a woman seriously because you've seen her body, that's on you," "women choosing when and how they want to share their sexuality and bodies," "gender specific attacks are disgusting sexist bullshit," "it's time not only to stand for things generally but to take political action and demand systemic change"—the tweets go on.
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So I first asked Ratajkowski whether it was difficult to put her voice on the Internet. “It’s not the most fun,” she said. “There have definitely been moments where I think I can't do this anymore—I hear so much negativity. People don’t think I have the right to say things because I’m not a politician—but that’s crazy because everyone in this country should be involved in politics. You should have an opinion on politics whether you work at a 7/11 or are the president.” But she also said it's gotten a little better as time has passed: "The more consistent I was about my ideas, the people who were at first like, ‘You’re a stupid girl who doesn’t know anything,’ were like, ‘Well, maybe I don’t agree with her but I at least understand her point of view.’” Since we are (OK, I am) obsessed with Ratajkowski's opinions, I asked her for a hot take on some topics of the moment. Starting with...
GLAMOUR: Mom jeans—yes or no?
EMILY RATAJKOWSKI: Yes! Absolutely. I actually feel the best in mom jeans. I’m wearing mom jeans [to this event]. I love them because you can eat a lot [laughs]. They're always flattering.
GLAMOUR: Going braless—do or don’t?
ER: Do. For sure. Because bras are miserably uncomfortable. Bras are so uncomfortable and sometimes it looks so pretty to not have a [bra] line. So I just let it go and let it happen. It makes for some interesting scenarios; sometimes I hug someone and all up in my business. But at a certain time of the month, they need [a bra]. I wear a 32D, which is a very specific size, so I love La Perla and Free People, which make them.
GLAMOUR: Legalized weed.
ER: Why not?
GLAMOUR: Pepsi's protest commercial.
ER: I [retweeted] something on Twitter and I think that says it all.
GLAMOUR: People—or brands, rather—that think that activism is trendy.
ER: Horrible. That’s not what it's about! It's cool that people want to be a part of something, and it's cool that activism is cool, because I want people to be excited and interested. But activism about political change and empowering people and their ideas.
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GLAMOUR: Selective activism—you attend the Black Lives Matter protests, right?
ER: Yeah. It’s a little scary when people can get behind a topic and be like, "I'm all for love and peace." Of course we're all behind peace and love, but when it gets to really specific issues, that’s when you have to stand up. As a white person, I feel like I should care about racism too. Even though it doesn’t impact me directly, it's something I don’t like within our culture, so I always feel like I have a place at the Black Lives Matter protests. If it’s a women's march, I feel like men are welcome. Because if they care about women and feminism and sexism, that’s great. The more people the better.
GLAMOUR: Political correctness.
ER: I don’t love PC-ness because sometimes we end up missing the larger points. It's important to know what the big-picture issues are.
GLAMOUR: Sexist trolls.
ER: No. Definite no. There was a sign at the Women’s March that said, "Fuck you sexist trolls," and I took a picture of it. [Laughs.] I mean, I guess it’s part of the world now with the Internet.
GLAMOUR: The next United States president.
ER: I wish I knew. I think no celebrities would be great. I also think no establishment politicians would be great.
GLAMOUR: Ivanka influencing the Syria strike.
ER: Nepotism. Scary.
GLAMOUR: Women against feminism.
ER: That trips me out. There still such a stigma around the word. Now there’s a weird thing where people are like "I would never want to be associated with that" but there are also people who are like, "I’m a feminist," but then they don’t actually believe in the feminist ideals. So it's happening on both sides. I wore this shirt on Instagram that said something feminist and someone commented, “Still can’t believe you’re a feminist.” Who says that? Like, "Still can’t believe you believe in fundamental equality"? OK.
