TikTok user Emily Adonna created quite the uproar since posting a video that revealed the hardships she's endured because of her looks.
In her video, which has now been viewed more than 282 thousand times, the model explained:
"Pretty privilege is a thing, I'm not here to deny that, though, too, it comes with disadvantages."
She proceeded to list incidents in which her beauty was a disservice:
"I've never once been in a job where I haven't been harassed. I've rarely been in social situations where I haven't been harassed."
She continued:
"People do not usually take 'no' for an answer with me, because they think I'm something to be possessed."
"People do not ask before touching me in public, I am grabbed regularly. I've been assaulted by a stranger."
Adonna also shared:
"And I was once passed up on for a business opportunity because they thought I was too young and beautiful, and they thought that that would 'be distracting' for other people in the industry."
She also stated when she is dressed in "raggedy clothes," people don't touch her:
"They don't feel entitled to me."
You can watch the full video below.
As you can imagine, viewers had a lot to say.
Some commented her struggles aren't the result of being pretty but of being a woman.
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Some agreed and even shared they've had similar experiences.
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Adonna has also posted some follow-up videos.
In one, she stated that she is "holding [her] ground on this one, and recognizes that she is a "beneficiary of pretty privilege," but is "f**king tired" of it.
She revealed that she got piercings and tattoos "that are culturally designed to destroy beauty."
She also claimed that at 6 years old, a person who worked at her school was sending her notes and "grooming" her, and the school did nothing about it.
"They just said, 'Yeah, he tends to [favor] beautiful girls."
She continued:
"Maybe my experience has been singular, but I don't think it has, because I know a lot of beautiful women who have suffered from people feeling entitled to possessing them."
Adonna finished the video:
"And when the day came that I got sexually assaulted by a stranger, people said, 'Well, you're very beautiful. You have to be careful."
"'Why were you traveling alone?'"
"Because I should be able to! Because regardless of how I look, I should never have to feel that kind of disembodiment."
The follow up video is below.
Adonna posted a final follow-up video and continued to stand strong in her original claim, stating what "people consider 'pretty privilege'" is "not true privilege."
"I would never liken it to my white privilege. My white privilege is inherently beneficial and is by nature free to me."
"Is it right? No, but it costs me nothing."
She continued:
"The opportunities and favors that you may get from being pretty are always transactional."
"They are done with an ulterior motive that someone else can gain access to me or to my body, which also means that it's rooted in an inequitable power dynamic, which is how all oppression starts."
She finished:
"I have benefits, I've had a long and really successful career as a model, and I'm so grateful for that, but as far as opportunities go, it's not a privilege if it's transactional."
People on both sides of this debate made good points.
And the debate continues.
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