Emily Ratajkowski on feminism, being judged on looks, and sexuality

Emily Ratajkowski is much more than just a pretty face. Photo / Getty Images

Emily Ratajkowski has spoken out about being judged for her looks, saying it's hard to be a "sexy actress".

Speaking to the Evening Standard, Ratajkowski says it's "an interesting paradox"; if you're sexy, it's hard to get "serious roles".

"You get offered the same thing that they've seen you in. People are like sheep and they're like 'Oh, that's what she does well'. What's so dumb is that women are 50 per cent of the population and they want to spend money to see movies where they're portrayed as three-dimensional characters," says Ratajkowski.

The model and actress shot to stardom when she starred in Robin Thicke's Blurred Lines video, and more recently made headlines when she posed nude with Kim Kardashian on Instagram.

The video featured her and two other models wearing only thongs and dancing around Robin Thicke and Pharrell Williams, drawing criticism for the clip's sexist nature.

Ratajkowski stands by it, saying "like any art, there's a million ways to interpret it. All I can say is that when a woman is naked, that's not immediately anti-feminist. I have no apologies for it, and I'm not ashamed at all".

It's the same reason she posed with Kim K, she says: "I tweeted about what the idea was behind how women need to have a space to be sexual".

When she was growing up, people would remark that Ratajkowski could be a model, to which her mother insisted she would become a brain surgeon.

"Because she didn't like the idea that I would think that [my appearance] was the only thing that I was going to be valued for," Ratajkowski told the Evening Standard.

However, she adds: "She always told me never to feel sorry or apologetic or embarrassed by my body, to never apologise for my sexuality."