Paulina Porizkova goes unfiltered on objectification of women's bodies

Paulina Porizkova is opening up on her sense of freedom that developed over the decades since her modeling debut.

In the new documentary Beyond the Gaze: Jule Campbell's Swimsuit Issue, Porizkova recalls the impact Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Issue and its founding editor, Jule Campbell, had on her career. 

Porizkova, who appeared in six more issues and graced back-to-back covers in 1984 and 1985 following her 1982 debut at age 17, remarked on how the magazine's approach has evolved ever since.

“It’s so funny because the shots are so much less overt," she said while flipping through the Swimsuit Issue’s 1986 calendar. "They're so much less sexually explicit or whatever it is these days."

“But this is where we get to how times have changed. We have, I think, evolved as a society,” she added. “Things that were absolutely normal and acceptable 40 years ago no longer are.”

The supermodel also recalled her own experience earlier on in the industry. “When I felt objectified, it was because I didn't have a say in how I was portrayed.”

“Now, when I put myself out in a bikini or nothing, that's my choice,” she said. “To me, it's objectification or celebration. Can it be both at the same time? I don't see why not.”

"We have been taught that our bodies are valuable if they're pretty," she explained, adding, “So then if you exhibit that body, you are ‘technically’ objectifying yourself. But you're also celebrating yourself.” 

“We, as women, this is what we have been given as our powers, and then we are shamed for using them,” Porizkova remarked at another point in the documentary, adding, “Women will be shamed for everything, won’t they?”

The documentary, which premiered November 17 at the DOC NYC film festival, mainly details Campbell’s work for the outlet and how the late editor, who died in 2022, helped cultivate the careers of several young models, including Cheryl Tiegs, Tyra Banks, Christie Brinkley, Elle Macpherson and Porizkova, 59.

“This is what Jule taught me, when you have a bikini on, all you have to do is embrace your body and who you are,” she said. “There’s such a sense of freedom to that.”