Emily Ratajkowski Feels ‘Incredibly Protective’ of Her Son Due to ‘Toxic Masculinity’ Culture
Model Emily Ratajkowski rose to fame in 2013 as a model in Robin Thicke’s “Blurred Lines” music video.
Nowadays, Ratajkowski is a mom to a young son. Like many parents, Ratajkowski is trying to protect her child from things she feels are negative in the world. For example, Ratajkowski does not want her son to be affected by “toxic masculinity” culture.
Emily Ratajkowski gave birth to her son in March 2021
In 2018, Ratajkowski married actor and producer Sebastian Bear-McClard.
In 2020, Ratajkowski announced her pregnancy. She also shared that she and Bear-McClard did not want to discuss their child’s gender.
“When my husband and I tell friends that I’m pregnant, their first question after ‘Congratulations’ is almost always ‘Do you know what you want?’” Ratajkowski told Vogue. “We like to respond that we won’t know the gender until our child is 18 and that they’ll let us know then.”
However, after Ratajkowski gave birth in March 2021, she shared with the world that she had welcomed a “beautiful boy” named Sylvester.
Emily Ratajkowski wants to protect her son from ‘toxic masculinity’ culture
Ratajkowski is putting a lot of thought into how she is raising Sylvester. In a talk with philosopher Amia Srinivasan for Interview Magazine, Ratajkowski said that babies have a “genderless quality” to them. However, she still has to consider what her son has to grow up with.
“Actually, I noticed that as soon as people know that he’s a boy, the way that they interact with him is different than they would have with a baby girl,” Ratajkowski said. “Sometimes I feel frustrated by that because I think there’s even a tendency to throw a little boy in the air, be a little bit rougher with them than you would a little girl. That stuff already bothers me because I can see where it’s leading.”
Ratajkowski shared she wants to teach her son about the “power dynamics” between men and women.
“The best I can do is teach him compassion, and about these power dynamics that men don’t have to inspect in the way that women do, and make him aware of them and make him care about them,” she said. “How’s that going to happen? I’m not entirely sure. I also think that this culture that I’m writing about in the book [My Body], is very bad for men. There are books about how bad it is for men.”
Ratajkowski added, “I see it in my life, the ways that it limits men, and how depressing their existence and their lives can be when they have to adopt this toxic masculinity. So I also feel incredibly protective of him in the same way I would with a daughter, from this culture.”
Emily Ratajkowski was ‘relieved’ to have a son instead of a daughter
Raising kids is a challenging task regardless of gender, but Ratajkowski admitted in early November that she was “relieved” when she found out she would have a son.
“I wanted a daughter initially, but when I found out I was having a son, I was so relieved,” she told Elle. “Because I think that it would bring up—I want more children, so it might be something I deal with later—being sexualized way before puberty and being aware of it.”
Ratajkowski continued, “I have a memory: I did a sexy move down the wall of my parents’ kitchen. I was probably in first grade and my parents were like, ‘Where did you learn that?’ I was like, ‘I fricking learned it. That’s what women do.’”
