More than a sex symbol, Pamela Anderson is a survivor and a true feminist icon

All those recollections and feelings about trying to understand and claim one’s own womanhood came flooding back as I watched the new Pamela Anderson documentary on Netflix. In Pamela, A Love Story, we see the actress, model and philanthropist – who was judged and condemned in the public eye for years – relate the story of her life and career in her own words.

One of the most interesting aspects of the documentary is when Pamela talks about how modelling for Playboy gave her an income and freedom she had never experienced before. The work gave her confidence and a sense of empowerment. She never felt exploited, but rather the opposite.

Later in her career, when she became more invested in activism, she modelled in provocative ads for Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), using her body to provoke a conversation about animal rights.

She should have been held up as an icon for feminism, dominating the modelling industry and owning her image.

However, when it came to the infamous sex tape, she was stripped of her humanity and that sense of liberation and control. Because she had posed nude in the past, her body was “up for grabs”, according to the public.

When the tape was stolen from Pamela and her ex-husband Tommy Lee’s house (it was locked in a safe containing Tommy’s guns and private home videos), people saw the incident as attention-seeking and a publicity stunt.

Pamela “deserved it” for being rich and famous and for having her body so brazenly displayed before.

Where Tommy was unaffected by the scandal, Pamela’s acting career (which was only just starting to take off after Baywatch) was left in tatters. The only roles she could get were highly sexualised and made her the object of ridicule.

She and Tommy never made money from the tape. Moreover, she says that the tape was made by taking clips from various videos and editing them together.

This again emphasised the lack of control she had and the level of manipulation she was subjected to.

Pamela’s body went from a symbol of self-possession and freedom to something seedy and tainted. It was exploited for entertainment. The impact of the tape was even felt by her children, Dylan and Brandon, who were picked on in school about their parents’ “dirty secret”.

It is outrageous and horrifying to think that there were no laws in place to protect Pamela from what happened. If something that invasive and cruel were to happen to someone today, it would be completely unacceptable.

The documentary provides a thought-provoking perspective on how far we’ve come in terms of how we treat women and their sexuality and what was once (horrifyingly) permitted.

At the same time, it can feel like we still have far to go. The guidelines should be very simple: if women want to cover up, let them cover up, and if they want to show their bodies, let them do that too.

Somehow, the message still hasn’t fully gone through that women can do what they want, dress how they like, and work in whatever career they want. None of this is anyone’s business but their own.

A woman’s body being on display doesn’t make it yours for the taking. Times have improved somewhat, but the law and the court of public opinion still have some catching up to do. Furthermore, let’s revise Pamela’s story, which has for so long been viewed as a cautionary tale for women to watch their back and not put “too much of yourself” out there.

It’s time she is embraced as an icon for women, not a sex object for men.