Paulina Porizkova, #SexyHasNoExpiration
for Vogue.com
February 3, 2021
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“There was a period of time where I could—and did—appear in bikinis without much reaction,” Paulina Porizkova tells Vogue over the phone from her home in New York City. “And then comes a time when people actually actively try to destroy you for it.” Just yesterday, the 55-year-old Czech model made headlines with a nearly bare Instagram post. She posed in a sun-drenched room, nude but with her hand covering her chest and a portion of a bed frame covering her lower half.
While Porizkova has posted similar images before, this one came with a strong message. She had published the full-body reveal in response to the backlash that Elizabeth Hurley received for posting a bikini selfie last week. Hurley had been a target of critics including talk show host Piers Morgan, who said that the actress’s Instagram photo was “thirsty and creepy.” Porizkova’s own Instagram picture came with a lengthy message that tapped into views of sexuality and aging, and included the home-hitting sentence: “Why is sexiness and nudity applauded in a woman’s youth and reviled in her maturity?” She ended the caption with the hashtag #SexyHasNoExpirationDate.
Porizkova is no stranger to showing off her body. After all, she has spent years posing in bikinis and was a staple within the pages of Sports Illustrated during the ’80s and ’90s. In her caption, she notes that the public’s perception of her “sexiness” changed as she reached her 40s. “When I was in my 20s and 30s, the less I wore—the more popular I was,” she writes. “In my 40s, I could walk around practically naked and illicit nothing more than a ticket for public indecency.” When Porizkova reached her 50s, she noticed a jarring shift in people’s reactions. “At 50, I am reviled for it. ‘Put on your clothes, grandma. Hungry for attention, are you? A little desperate here? You’re pathetic.’”
Porizkova often gets criticism from both men and women whenever she posts a revealing image on Instagram. “What I find the saddest part is that, sure, the comments from men are predictable, but it’s the judging from other women,” she says. “The women my age are the ones that always surprise me the most because it is like, ‘Hey, I’m fighting for you. I’m fighting for us.’”
Porizkova also notes that often when older women are celebrated for being sexy, it is because they appear much younger than their actual age. “In my case, I look my age and I’m happy to look my age,” she says. “I’m very comfortable with the way I look.” Yet she’s criticized for that too. “It’s like, ‘You should not dare to be sexy if you are basically post-menopausal—eliminate yourself from the sex game.’”
She hopes her posts, and statements, will make an impact on the intersection of sexism and ageism. “Every human being’s primary goal is to be heard, and you can’t be heard if you are invisible. For us to lose visibility, it is as if we don’t exist,” she says. “And yet we do and we become ghosts. Who wants to be a ghost?” As she gets older, she’ll keep fighting to be seen. “Ageism is still as ingrained as it ever was,” she says. “That’s the next frontier.”
