Reviews tagging 'Mental illness'

My Body by Emily Ratajkowski

36 reviews

katiepearl's review

emotional inspiring fast-paced

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Sexual assault

Moderate: Mental illness

rebeccahensley's review

challenging emotional inspiring reflective slow-paced

4.5

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Rape, Alcohol, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Cursing, Dementia, Drug use, Eating disorder, Fatphobia, Medical content, Mental illness, Misogyny, Panic attacks/disorders, and Pregnancy

shewantsthediction's review

hopeful informative reflective medium-paced

3.0

In my early 20s, it had never occurred to me that the women who gained their power from beauty were indebted to the men whose desire granted them that power in the first place. Those men were the ones in control, not the women the world fawned over.

My first exposure to EmRata was through a 2015 movie she was in with Zac Efron called We Are Your Friends. I remember it specifically because I had no idea who she was, thought she was gorgeous and couldn't unglue my eyes the entire time, and in true bisexual fashion looked her up after it was over. I knew she was a model and on Insta, but that was about the extent of my knowledge.

Fast forward years later and a friend posted about her new book, so I decided to grab it on audio from my library. (Love the typeface on the cover.) It was so interesting getting to know more about her life, because we rarely ever hear real talk from the models on the magazines. I also liked the behind-the-scenes look at the video for "Blurred Lines," which is what catapulted her to stardom in the first place.

There are times when Emily seems to revel in her looks, even to the point of being bitchy, and other times you get a sense of an unhealthy amount of her self-worth and identity having been placed on her looks since childhood, reinforced by her parents and society—so is it really all her fault? The memoir is aptly titled, as it seems her body is the cause of everything good that's happened to her (wealth, fame, stability, a career, name recognition, etc.), but also a a ton of bad (sexual assault, paparazzi, invasion of her privacy, online hate, disrespect from men, etc.). It's a complicated topic, and even though she's rich, successful, and a "sex symbol," I think many women will find it super-relatable because of how honest she is about the battlefield that is her body. I know I did. 

My heart ached at her struggle to be taken seriously, as more than just "a pretty face"—which was part of her motivation to write this book. However, I was disappointed that she called out her own privilege several times, often savagely, but never made a move to divest from the systems that made her rich/famous. I think her argument was "I am a cog in the machine and don't have any real power," and while I agree with that to some extent, you can't just point out privilege and leave it at that; you need to take next steps. I hope she gets there someday.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Body shaming, Cancer, Eating disorder, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Misogyny, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Sexual harassment, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Vomit

missemilyn's review

challenging emotional reflective sad tense fast-paced

5.0

This is a really complicated and difficult series of essays to read. It approaches sensitive and difficult topics head-on in a really beautiful, but tragic way. Emily's writing style is absolutely brilliant and you really understand just how she had to compartmentalize and rationalize her years (and decades) of severe trauma and embarrassment with her body and others' perception of her body. Absolutely genius. If you can read these topics safely, I highly recommend doing so.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Body shaming, Dysphoria, Panic attacks/disorders, Physical abuse, Pregnancy, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Sexual harassment, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Misogyny, and Mental illness

Moderate: Alcohol, Alcoholism, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gaslighting, Medical content, Panic attacks/disorders, Toxic friendship, and Toxic relationship

booked4theweeknd's review

dark emotional inspiring reflective fast-paced

4.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Chronic illness, Mental illness, Misogyny, and Sexual assault

poisonivy's review

emotional informative inspiring reflective slow-paced

5.0

somehow before i even started it, i knew i would connect with this book, and i am so glad it didn’t disappoint. emily ratajkowski has a very engaging style of writing which left me unable to put this down (i read the whole book in less than 24 hours). despite the fact that she is many things that i am not, i related to a lot of her feelings about her body and society’s relationship with it. in particular, the complicated dynamic many women navigate in gaining power (whether actual or imagined) by appealing to men really spoke to me, and i thoroughly enjoyed reading her take on it

side note: i’ve seen a few reviews complaining about how emily is essentially shitting on the industry that built her and complaining that she is still a part of it, but i think those people missed the point. throughout this whole book emily discusses the complicated relationship she has with the industry because of what it has given her but also what it has taken. she is fully aware of the complexities of her position, so i really don’t get where those people are coming from. although from what i’ve seen, they seem to be the type who believe women displaying their bodies are unfeminist and it seems like a lot of their negativity towards the book stems from that so i wouldn’t trust their opinion anyway lmao

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Rape and Sexual assault

Minor: Mental illness