Mayim Bialik has a message for girls and young women about taking off their clothes for the camera.
"Getting naked is not the only way to feel empowered as a beautiful person," the 41-year-old actress says in her new YouTube video she shared on Thursday.
"Anyone else having issues with celebs disrobing in the name of empowerment? I'm sure you're not surprised that I do and I think you should, too!" the Big Bang Theory star wrote in the video's description, adding, "Is the way to inspire young girls' confidence to equate nakedness with empowerment?"
Bialik begins by saying that she is not a prude or trying to fat-shame, and understands that we live in a culture that embraces sexuality.
"I'm not going to lie, I have spent some of my life wishing I was pretty and skinny like other women," she adds. "But I'm not constitutionally jealous of women."
"I think the trap that we're falling into is that we start to equate empowerment, not with strength or intelligence or confidence, but with sexiness," Bialik expresses. "The message that we are sending, especially to young girls is, above all else: Be sexy. And no matter what you accomplish or achieve or stand for, what really matters most is to be featured on the pages of a magazine that typically displays women who are paid to maintain a sexy appearance. The message is: I should be celebrated, and the way that I do that is by presenting myself as a sexualized object."
So what is her solution? To continue to encourage girls to not fear their bodies or their sexuality, to tell girls that their bodies are special and that "while there is nothing wrong with beauty and sexiness, getting naked is not the only way to feel empowered as a beautiful person."
"True empowerment comes from women being seen as equal partners in a creative and productive culture," Bialik shares.