If you're going to have someone defend you, you could do a whole lot worse than Emily Ratajkowski. The model, who has long been outspoken about women's issues and sexuality (remember when she posed topless with Kim Kardashian on Instagram and captioned the pic, "We are more than just our bodies, but that doesn't mean we have to be shamed for them or our sexuality") has gone into bat for Melania Trump. Yes, politics is entering spaces we had never really thought imaginable.
The crux of the matter is this: Emily Ratajkowski sat next to a journalist from The New York Times at a fashion week party in New York. Conversation led to topics like 'do you think Donald Trump's presidency is going to spell the end of civilisation' etc, as polite chit chat with your seat neighbour tends to go these days, then apparently the journalist called Melania a "hooker."
Emily Ratajkowski has since fired off several tweets in defence of the First Lady and standing up against slut shaming.
Sat next to a journalist from the NYT last night who told me "Melania is a hooker." Whatever your politics it's crucial to call this out for
— Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata) February 13, 2017
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what it is: slut shaming. I don't care about her nudes or sexual history and no one should.
— Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata) February 13, 2017
Gender specific attacks are disgusting sexist bullshit.
— Emily Ratajkowski (@emrata) February 13, 2017
The New York Times has come out with a statement on the comments.
"At a party last night, a Times reporter who does not cover Washington or politics, referred to an unfounded rumour regarding Melania Trump," the newspaper said in a statement. "The comment was not intended to be public, but it was nonetheless completely inappropriate and should not have occurred. Editors have talked to the reporter in question about the lapse."
The rumour in question is that Melania Trump was once a high-class escort (an allegation that has landed the Daily Mail in court because apparently it cost Mrs Trump some very important business dealings).
Firstly, this is a lesson in not saying out loud every awful opinion you've ever had, as Emily Ratajkowski might be listening. But mostly, it's a lesson on not casually demeaning women, and also, not using sex work as an insult. "Hooker" and "prostitute" are outdated terms that are offensive to sex workers.
As has been discussed, Melania Trump probably doesn't need or deserve our sympathy (no matter how many grimaces she pulls when in proximity to her husband, or times that she is left holding a Tiffany box that nobody knows what to do with). But Ratajkowski's point is about all women who are stereotyped, sexualised or summed up by their history (whether true, made-up or projected).
As Ratajkowski said to Glamour magazine in an interview last year on sexuality and 'attention seeking,' "It's not our responsibility to change the way we are seen – it's society's responsibility to change the way it sees us."