QWhat do the Kardashian-Jenner sisters, Hailey Bieber, Paris Hilton and Gigi and Bella Hadid have in common? Apart from the fact that each is an undisputed fashion icon, they would all have been « yacht girls ». A less glamorous activity than what these images of celebrities sailing in luxury swimsuits on businessmen’s boats might suggest.
The behind the scenes story was perfectly described in the film An easy girl (2019). In this cruel tale about the fascination of wealth, directed by Rebecca Zlotowski, Zahia Dehar – ex-call girl whose services four players from the French football team had used in 2009-2010 when she was still a minor – plays the character of Sofia. This young girl with liberated sexuality takes advantage of her charms to go yachting, which will allow her, she believes, to escape her original condition. She drags her teenage cousin Naïma (Mina Farid), the daughter of a housekeeper, into this illusory universe, where the body serves as currency.
The term « yachting » appeared in 2013, in an investigation by Hollywood Reporter on the Cannes Film Festival. It refers, in addition to pleasure boating, to recruiting escorts – beginner models, fallen reality TV stars, or night owls flushed out on the networks – to come and celebrate (and more if they like) on the mega-yacht. of a mature man, full of money. In this discreet industry, some top model agencies themselves supply these young women attracted by luxury as much as by the feeling of exclusivity and networking opportunities, and who will end up in a bikini on the back deck of a huge boat, stuck between an Emirati and a champagne bucket.
Invitation for a “poker game”
In his book My Body (Seuil, 2022), in which she questions theempowerment of women through their bodies, Emily Ratajkowski, American model and actress, has broken the silence on this “activity” that she herself carried out. Since the age of 19, “EmRata” (29.8 million subscribers on Instagram) has regularly participated in events orchestrated by promoters responsible for recruiting trophy women for his wealthy clients. The Internet is still full of snapshots of these drunken evenings, where we see her dancing, somewhat tipsy, with her model friends Gigi Hadid and Hailey Baldwin, on a Cannes yacht in 2017. A ” rewarding experience “ at the beginning, she testifies, before she understood the not really feminist workings and became aware of the responsibility she had towards young girls who might be tempted to imitate her.
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