Model Emily Ratajkowski Slams Erotic Photos of Her as ‘Violation’
Image by Getty
By Thea Glassman December 1, 2016
One year before Emily Ratajkowski hit it big with her topless role in Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” music video, she participated in a sultry photo shoot with photographer Jonathan Leder.
Leder, best known for his erotic photographs, took about 100 pictures of Ratajkowski sprawled out out on furniture both in lingerie, and fully nude.
The photographer curated a selection of those pictures for a new, collector’s edition book titled “Leder/Ratajkowski,” which displays 71 images of the model in various stages of undress. Leder is selling the book for $80, and plans to display the original polaroids at an exhibit at Chelsea’s Castor Gallery in New York City.
“She was very, shall we say, comfortable with her body,” Leder wrote in the forward. “And as far as shoots go, I would say it was fun.”
Ratajkowski has clapped back at the photographer on Twitter, calling his decision to turn her photo shoot into a book a “violation.”
“I’ve been resisting speaking publicly on the recently released photos by Jonathan Leder to avoid giving him publicity. But I’ve had enough,” she wrote.
Ratajkowski explained that only 5 of the images were used for what they were intended, which was “an artful magazine shoot back in 2012.”
“My body, my choice,” she concluded.
The model, an outspoken opponent of body shaming, said that the book goes against everything she fights for.
“These photos being used w/out my permission is an example of exactly the opposite of what I stand for: women choosing when and how they want to share their sexuality and bodies.”
This isn’t the first time that Ratajkowski has spoken out on a woman’s right to her sexuality.
In September, after Tim Gunn picked apart a revealing gown she wore as “appallingly vulgar,” Ratajkowski fought back on Twitter.
“It’s 2016. Why keep trying to dictate what women can wear?” she wrote. “Who controls women’s bodies in 2016?”
Thea Glassman is an Associate Editor at the Forward. Reach her at glassman@forward.com or on Twitter at @theakglassman.
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