Why Emily Ratajkowski Is Totally Cool With Nudity

No clothes? No big deal. In an interview with The Cut at a Harper's Bazaar event, Emily Ratajkowski explained why being naked is normal, and how everyone can learn to rock their birthday suit with as much mind-blowing confidence as she does. And considering her rise to superstardom in Robin Thicke's "Blurred Lines" video, she knows a thing or two about owning your nudity.

"Go to Europe. Travel," she says. "If you spend any time there you notice it right away — their comfort level is different.... You see it on the beaches, daughters with their mothers. It's not a big deal to see your mom naked. It's actually quite normal."

And she's totally right. I can attest to this, having just returned from a summer in Barcelona. While a visitor might mistake their sandy shores as nude beaches, they're just... beaches. Old, young, thin, curvy — doesn't matter. Women with their tops off really is NBD, and I gotta say, one of the most freeing things I've ever done was joining the ranks of the tan line-less.

"You see more women being openly sexual like it's not a big deal, without them having to be oversexualized," she said. "They are celebrated."

She added her thoughts on the difference between Europe and the US of A, saying, "It's more about the constant sexualizing [of] women without actually celebrating women. I think it's more a misdirection of values and femininity rather than the country being frigid."

She makes an excellent point — nudity isn't quite taboo here, but we view it in a far more speculative, sensational way. And sure, there's no quick fix to that, but I think we could all take a page from our European buddies.

Ratajkowski isn't shy when it comes to being in the buff, and she's not shy about talking about it, either. "I’m comfortable with myself naked. I like my body," she told Maxim in August. "Since I was a young person, I haven’t thought that nudity was something that should be ashamed of or my body that happens to be sexual should be something I’m ashamed of."

And even though she is undeniably sexy, that's not the goal: “In the way that I own my own body and don’t let anyone else take possession, I’m not trying to act sexual or sexy. I’m letting myself be natural, and if that happens to be sexy then I’m not embarrassed of that.”

Couldn't have said it better. Props, Em, for doing you.