Model, author, businesswoman, feminist. However you know her, Amber Rose seems to be everywhere right now. From her forthcoming book, How to Be a Bad Bitch, to her FunnyOrDie video taking down double standards about casual sex, to her SlutWalk on Saturday in Los Angeles, Rose is unabashed in her feminist activism.
On Friday, she hosted an intimate press conference in L.A. leading up to her SlutWalk, and shared the harrowing story of her first time being slut-shamed. It prompted audible gasps from journalists in the room, so prepare to be appalled.
My earliest memory of slut-shaming was when I was 14 years old. I was still a virgin. I made out with this boy, Donnell, and it was at the time when all of my girlfriends and boys in school [started] doing “seven minutes in heaven” and kissing in the closet. I was in the closet with this boy, and we’d had our first kiss, and he asked me to get down on my knees. I was like, “Why?” I guess I kind of knew what oral sex was but I never thought I’d ever do it at that time, and [didn’t even think he was] insinuating that. And he was like, “No, just get down on your knees.” And I’m like, “OK.” I get down on my knees and he opens the door, and all of our friends are out there—all the boys, all my girlfriends from school, everyone. I’m on my knees and I’m looking and everyone’s laughing at me. He has his penis out; I didn’t know.
I went to school, and of course they said that I was sucking dick in the closet at 14 years old—and I wasn’t. That was really difficult for me because I was still a virgin, let alone performing oral sex in a closet; at such a young age, I didn’t quite understand it. I wanted to switch schools, I thought it was the end of the world. … As I got older I realized that things like that were just out of my hands, I couldn’t help it.
If you’re in L.A., you can attend Amber Rose SlutWalk on Saturday Oct. 3, starting at 10am in Pershing Square. Following the walk, there will be a panel of speakers, poetry slam, comedy show and musical acts.
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