As the scandal involving Maroon 5 frontman Adam Levine's affair with Instagram model Sumner Stroh has intensified, a backlash has begun to spring up. But instead of Levine being the subject of people's ire, many are angry with Stroh.
Many have suggested that Stroh's claims of feeling "manipulated" during her affair with Levine are disingenuous, and have pointed to her going public as evidence that the entire goal of her dalliance with Levine was to gain notoriety.
Model Emily Ratajkowkski would like a word with people who feel this way.
In a series of TikToks, Ratajkowski called such takes on the Stroh-Levine affair "classic misogyny," and called for people to stop giving men passes for bad behavior.
WARNING: NSFW language
@emrata #stitch with @sarasadmomfoster
In her TikTok, Ratajkowksi used part of a video by another woman who chided Stroh saying, "We don't feel sorry for you. You knew this man was married."
Ratajkowksi responded to this sentiment by saying:
“I don’t understand why we continue to blame women for men’s mistakes. Especially when you’re talking about 20-something-year-old women dealing with men in positions of power who are twice their age."
"The power dynamic is so skewed, it’s ridiculous. It’s predatory, it’s manipulative, I can’t imagine.”
She went on to say:
"If you're the one in a relationship, you're the one obligated to be loyal."
In another TikTok, Ratajkowski called for our culture to hold men accountable for their actions rather than attacking the women they cheat with.
@emrata #stitch with @sarasadmomfoster maybe we just hold men accountable instead of just accepting them as terrible, asking them to do 0 work, and then blaming other women? ok gn.
She said:
"I think a huge problem in our culture right now is that we just say, 'Oh men are monsters, they're terrible, they're horrible.'"
"We don't hold them accountable and then we blame other women. We ask women to adjust their behavior, instead of just saying men need to change their behavior."
"It’s classic misogyny.”
Many on social media applauded Ratajkowski's take on the scandal.
But many others disagreed with her take entirely.
Since Stroh went public with her affair with Levine, three other women have come forward about inappropriate conversations they had with Levine while he was married to his wife, Victoria's Secret model Behati Prinsloo.
