Amber Rose Recalls The Moment She Was Sexually Assaulted In Middle School: The Principal ‘Blamed Me’ in an exclusive interview with MTV

Amber Rose explains why 2015 was the year of her feminist awakening.

Amber Rose likes to make people uncomfortable. She thrives off it. More so, she’s empowered by it. But she’s more than just an unabashed provocateur — she’s a model, an author, a mother, an actress, an entrepreneur, a self-described slut, and most importantly, a champion of modern feminism.

This year, the 32-year-old celebrated her feminist awakening. She called out slut shamers on the MTV VMAs red carpet, organized her very own SlutWalk in downtown Los Angeles, and released her first book, “ How To Be A Bad Bitch.” And she’s only just getting started.

MTV News chatted with Rose after the release of her book, and her bold brand of feminism isn’t a so-called hobby, it’s a movement — a powerful one at that. Rose isn’t afraid to call out the patriarchy that shames women for embracing their sexuality. In fact, she’s inspiring women from all walks of life to do the same.

MTV News: You’ve been really candid about not understanding feminism in the past. You even called yourself a former slut shamer . When was your feminist awakening?

Amber Rose: I always wanted to promote girl power, even when I was younger, but at that time, I didn’t have a voice. Growing up in my neighborhood, I was raised to be a slut shamer. I didn’t know any better.

But then I started to put myself in their shoes — that’s something we don’t do as women. We’ll be quick to call a woman a ho but not think about what we did last week, or what we did with our last boyfriend. Or we criticize what she has on because we feel self-conscious about our bodies.

This year, I feel like I found my voice. I was constantly defending myself, like, “No, I didn’t sleep with that guy. No, I’m not a whore. Don’t look at me like that.” And one day, I woke up and I was like, “Maybe I am — and that’s cool.” If you want to look at me and call me a whore because I’m single and I’m dating, fine! Then I’ll be a slut. It’s cool. I’m actually cool with that. Once I came to that realization, I was so happy. I’m 32. I’m single. I’m a mom. Yes, I’m going to date. I’m going to live my life and do whatever I want.

MTV: Was there one comment in particular that set you off?

Rose: Going through a divorce, I really saw the double standards. Wiz would be with a different girl every day and get photographed out with girls at the club. I would be on one date with a guy, and it was like, “You’re a horrible mother! You’re a f–ked up person! You’re a whore! That’s why Wiz left you, you f–king slut.” And I was just like, damn, am I not allowed to live? Am I not allowed to be sexy anymore because I’m a mom? Do I have to dress like a nun because I had a baby? I just started to see all of those comments while I was going through my divorce, and it just wasn’t right. I have an opportunity to be a voice for women to say that it’s not cool.

MTV: This year, we’ve seen a lot of stories about students being taken out of class or sent home from prom for
dress code violations. Most of those students are girls. Do you think that’s sexist?

Rose: Abso-frickin’-lutely, girl. I was sexually assaulted in the seventh grade. This boy stuck his hand all the way up my skirt. I was sitting on the edge of the stage in the auditorium, and he sat down next to me and put his hand up my skirt… I went to principal, and I told her that I felt extremely violated. I couldn’t believe that he had touched me like that. And she blamed me. She said, “You shouldn’t even be wearing a skirt like that.” Obviously, in the seventh grade, my skirt was not that short — but even if it was, that didn’t give him the right to shove his hand up my skirt.

I grew up in a very poor neighborhood [in South Philadelphia], and went to a very poor school, and she made me feel like I didn’t matter. That’s another thing I talk about in my book — classism. There are Victoria’s Secret models who wear lingerie constantly, and no one calls them a ho. But if an Instagram model posts a picture of her in lingerie because she’s confident and she’s sexy and she’s happy with her body, she’s labeled a ho.

MTV: In many ways, it’s been a game-changing year for feminism and women in Hollywood, but for the most part, intersectional feminism has been largely ignored. Why do you think that is?

Rose: I think it makes people uncomfortable, but I like to make people uncomfortable. I think it brings awareness. That’s why I refer to myself as a slut and why I embrace my ho-ism. Regardless of what I do, even when I was married or when I first came onto the scene and I was with one boyfriend, they called me a whore because I was a dancer. In our society, dancers are hoes. But strippers are not looking at guys in a sexual way; they see dollar signs. When they’re at work, they’re there to make money. It has nothing to do with sex. We are who we are, and we do what we do, but that doesn’t mean we’re not capable of love.

Check out the rest of the full interview on mtv.com

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