The Danish model-actress Klara Kristin who appears in a controversial shot from Calvin Klein’s latest ‘I ______ in my Calvins’ campaign has taken to Instagram to defend the upskirt photo.
Calvin Klien’s Spring 2016 campaign “Erotica” features some other sexualised images of Kendall Jenner holding half of a grapefruit and a model with her hands in her underwear.
The shot of the 22-year model Klara Kristin has been accused of glamorising sexual embarrassment, especially the recent issue of men taking photos up women’s skirts using their mobile phones.
Kristin said the photo was #girlpower and “all this discussion about it makes me think about how alienated and scared some people are to the female human body”.
Executive director of The National Center on Sexual Exploitation said in a statement: ““Up-skirting is a growing trend of sexual harassment where pictures are taken up a woman’s skirt without her knowledge, or without her consent.
“By normalising and glamorising this sexual harassment, Calvin Klein is sending a message that the experiences of real-life victims don’t matter, and that it is okay for men to treat the woman standing next to them on the metro as available pornography whenever they so choose.”
Kristin has talked about female objectification in the media during an interview with Dazed about her role in Gaspar Noe’s film Love.
“One reason I did the film is because I could. Because I don’t have a father who would kill me if I did. I have the freedom to choose what I do with my body. The fact that I use it like this, a lot of people would say…” That you’re allowing yourself to be objectified? “Yes, exactly! But I’m still in control, I have the power and I’ve done it to help other girls out there.”
