Whether she's 'raising her son as a feminist', arranging a slut-walk or taking on sexist talk show hosts, Amber Rose and feminism means a lot of good things for all of us...
Amber Rose isn't afraid to make a statement. Whether it's through her eye-catching personal style (boldly beautiful and defined by her signature buzz-cut) or her no-nonsense business acumen (she dishes out financial advice in her new book How To Be A Bad Bitch) Rose has carved out a career for herself as an outspoken feminist entrepreneur, with her strategically placed fingers (ahem) in a number of proverbial pies (acting, modelling, writing and campaigning to name a few).
On her ascent to the top, Rose has been brave and honest enough to discuss the media's stereotyping of women like her - and how in turn, it affects all of us. She's pioneering a brand of feminism that embraces female sexual expression and shuns derogatory archetypes. She's organising marches to encourage victims of sexual assault to speak out. She's unwilling to accept that female sexuality instantly equates to female objectification, and her feminist movement is multi-faceted, and wholly intersectional.
Here are 10 times Amber Rose and feminism were fierce and fist-pumpingly excellent: 1. When she openly called out gender stereotyping in Hollywood Amber's interview with The Daily Beast this week was all kinds of amazing, not least because she makes a societal point about how men and women are treated differently for doing the same damn thing - in this case, stripping. She said: 'No one gives a fuck that Channing Tatum was a stripper. He’s an established actor who’s at the Vanity Fair parties and the Oscars, but for me, no matter how far I go in my life, I see these stories that keep referring to me as a ‘former stripper.’ No one says ‘former stripper’ about Channing Tatum, or ‘former McDonald’s worker’ about Brad Pitt. No one does that to men.' PREACH.
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2. Did you hear about the time Amber guest-hosted a panel on sexual assault? In October 2015, Rose chaired a show with sexual health specialist Dr. Jennifer Berman, OITNB actor Matt McGorry and singer Frenchie Davis. They discussed sexual assault, gender stereotyping, slut-shaming, consent, and why it's so important to teach young men about women's rights, with Rose declaring: 'I’m raising my son to be a feminist.'
3. Oh and she's started her own charity too, folks... The Amber Rose Foundation is a non-profit organisation, established by Rose to 'promote discussion about women’s rights and equality issues. The foundation is specifically geared towards women empowerment and fighting against victim blaming.'
4. She stuck up for Kim Kardashian recently... So Kim and Amber aren't known for being bosom-buddies as Kim's now hitched to Kanye West - who is Amber's ex and very recently tried to slut-shame her. But when Kim posted that naked selfie and a received considerable backlash from other celebs, Rose was first to rush to her defence and preach on the power of sisterhood.
5. When she shunned designer dresses at the 2015 Video Music Awards... ...in favour of these eye-catching ensembles that sought to reclaim derogatory, slut-shaming terminology like 'whore', 'gold-digger' and 'slut'. What a way to make a statement guys.
6. When she shut down idiots who didn't get the idea of consent Amber's modelled in her undies on more than one occasion but recently had to explain on US TV why that doesn't give strangers the right to publicly paw in person - including the (male) hosts themselves.
'When I walk down the street, people think because I'm famous or I'm cool and I'm taking pictures, that they can just grab my ass or put their hand under my skirt', she said, to which hosts Rev Run and Tyreese Gibson responded that it was Amber's fault for projecting an image that 'creates that type of response'. (WTF?!)
Rose quite rightly quipped: 'No, no - if I'm laying down with a man butt-naked and his condom is on and I say, ‘You know what? No. I don't wanna do this. I changed my mind,' that means no. It doesn't matter how far I take it or what I have on, when I say no, it means no.'
7. She arranged an epic slut-walk walk - and opened up to the world Slut-walks were organised en masse across the world in 2011 after a Toronto police officer was overheard victim-blaming students who had fallen victim to sexual assault on campus, and at Amber's own walk last year, she emotionally discussed how slut-shaming from her exes Kanye and Wiz affected her. She also ensured marginalised women from *all* walks of life were included in her debate and said: '[W]e recognise that shaming, oppression, assault and violence have disproportionately impacted marginalised groups including women of colour, transgender people and sex workers'.
8. When she explained the link between slut-shaming and body-shaming...
Amber Rose and feminism = totally body-pos, as she knows that having a body that is curvy *and* which she celebrates for being so, kind of means that she's doubly-shamed.
'People constantly judge me because I'm sexy and confident in my body' she said on BigBoyTV. 'If I want to twerk in an uber with my friend Chyna, that doesn't make me a bad Mother, and that doesn't mean that I want to home and have sex or I'm into orgies...I'm just a normal girl. If my body was maybe shaped in a different way, maybe I wouldn't get slut-shamed as much.'
9. Amber + this hilarious 'Walk Of No Shame' vid = a perfectly gendered utopia 'It looks to me like you had sex last night..' 'I sure did!' 'Sounds to me like you're living your best life!'
10. Amber's feminist-themed shoot was amazing Her pro-gender statements are always loud and proud, so it was only fitting that her shoot for Paper mag featured Amber dressed as the world's most iconic feminists (Rosie the Reverter, Gloria Steinem and a member of Pussy Riot to name a few). Is anyone still in doubt as to where Amber stands on gender equality? Nah, didn't think so.
Amber, we're most definitely on your team...
