Amber Rose doesn't care what haters think about her.
A few years ago, she cried over their sexist insults, tried to defend herself online, or avoided leaving the house. Then something magical happened to the activist and talk show host.
SEE ALSO:Why Zendaya wants to close the digital divide in classrooms across America"I got to a point where I really stopped giving a fuck, and that’s when I truly got enlightened," she says.
"I got to a point where I really stopped giving a f**k, and that’s when I truly got enlightened."
That revelation came after years spent in the public eye as a frequent target of vicious racist and sexist attacks. Her previous relationships with Wiz Khalifa and Kanye West had become fodder in what seemed like a never-ending cycle of abuse.
Then she took a different approach and responded to the harassment, victim-blaming, and double standards with a no-apologies attitude about her sexuality.
In September 2015, she starred in a Funny or Die video called "Walk of No Shame." It begins with her leaving a man's house early in the morning, wearing a sexy dress, and carrying her high heels. She smiles confidently as passers-by congratulate her for having sex and celebrating her body. It feels like an alternate universe, but Rose is doing everything she can to make that scenario a reality.
A few weeks after the Funny or Die video went up, she launched the inaugural Amber Rose SlutWalk in Los Angeles. The festival drew inspiration from a SlutWalk protest event founded in 2011 after a Canadian police officer reportedly said women should stop "dressing like sluts in order not to be victimized."
Women responded by walking through the streets wearing exactly what they wanted as an effort to reclaim the word slut and put an end to rape culture. Rose's third-annual SlutWalk will happen this Sunday in Los Angeles' Pershing Square.
Rose knows that some people think the word slut can't be reclaimed. She gets that some women are embarrassed to be associated with it under any circumstance. That won't make her change the name of her event, though.
Rebranding it now just to appeal to a broader audience would be disingenuous, she says.
"Like I'm going to start with the SlutWalk and then three years later say I’m gonna change it so I can get more people to come?" Rose says. "Eventually you’re gonna come."
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When she attended the Women's March in Los Angeles earlier this year, she saw celebrities who declined her personal invitation to attend past SlutWalks. She saw signs reclaiming the word "pussy" that looked similar to the ones at her event. She knows there's a larger audience for her message, even if some women and men are hesitant to publicly embrace it.
Last year's event ultimately hosted 11,000 people, and ticket sales for this year's SlutWalk are nearing 20,000.
"People are getting more aware," she says. "I kind of just shouted from the rooftops. No radio personalities wanted to talk about it. No celebrities wanted to come. I did this shit myself."
This year's event also includes a new daylong conference called OPENed on Saturday, which is packed with high-profile speakers who will give workshops about activism, sexual health and relationships, entrepreneurship and financial literacy, menstrual policy, and legal rights.
Rose at her inaugural SlutWalk in Los Angeles, in 2015.Credit: Broadimage/REX/ShutterstockRose wants the conference participants to walk away with more confidence than they had before.
"Society has taught women so many things in their life — what they should wear, how they should be with a man," she says. "OPENed conference is teaching you to do whatever you want to do. There’s options."
SEE ALSO:Amber Rose's 'fire ass feminist post' too hot for InstagramRose is also savvy when it comes to educating people about those choices and drawing attention to her causes. In June, she used Instagram and Twitter to post a glam portrait of herself — complete with pubic hair. She hashtagged it #bringbackthebush and linked to the upcoming SlutWalk.
Her pubic hair advocacy is genuine. She says it started one day when she was thinking about the hassle and pain of removing pubic hair.
"Why do I do it? Why have I done it for so many years?" she says. "Because if I don't, guys will think I was gross. This is bullshit. There has to be a reason why we have hair down there."
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So she looked it up and discovered that pubic hair grooming can lead to lacerations, inflammation, and infection. Then she decided on a message delivered via a sexy photo. It went viral and Rose couldn't have been more thrilled. (Instagram deleted the image for violating community guidelines, which drew even more attention to the post.)
"I got everything I wanted," she says. "My website went crazy. People talked shit, which I love, because I’m comfortable with myself."
This anecdote might best sum up what you can learn from the Amber Rose School of Life: There's nothing better than feeling confident when staring down your critics.
TopicsActivismGenderSocial GoodCelebrities
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