It’s hard, if not impossible, not to have an opinion on the Kardashian-Jenner family these days. Between the polarizing opinions on Caitlyn Jenner’s Woman of the Year Award to the recent “In a world of Kardashians, be a Diana” meme, controversy is everywhere.
When Kim Kardashian released a nude selfie—strategically censored for the Internet, of course—all hell broke loose. Because a woman can’t share a photo of her naked body without receiving backlash, then support, then backlash for that support, in a vicious cycle.
Kim is already well-known as a woman who has a sex tape out there. I can’t count how many times I’ve overheard someone saying, “Well, Kim’s just famous for that sex tape. She has no talent, just that sex tape.”
After the Internet went nuts, Kim defended her selfie. I’ll admit it—I’ve never been much of a Kim K. fan. I don’t, and have never, watched Keeping Up or anything else involving her. I simply don’t enjoy reality television (I know, I know, I’m severely missing out on The Bachelor, everyone assures me). But in that moment, when Kim defended her rights to her body and her choices, I became a Kim fan.
In her open letter to the world, Kim says, “I’m a bad role model for being proud of my body?” I’m with you on this one, Kim. What is wrong with Kim posting a naked selfie? If your reasoning is that it isn’t appropriate for the Internet, then you have not been spending a lot of time online, have you? The Internet is basically a mecca for the worst and most deplorable things imaginable, including the illegal and morally incomprehensible underaged porn industry. And you’re worried about an adult woman’s consensual choice to share her body?
Isn’t it ironic that we think it’s okay to show a woman’s naked body when it’s for advertising or the male gaze, but when a woman does it herself, then it isn’t acceptable? Women’s naked and near-naked bodies are literally everywhere. They’re used to titillate people in movies, on television shows, in magazines, in advertisements. Women are frequently reduced to their bodies when it isn’t their choice. So why are people so upset that Kim made a conscious decision to share hers?
Slut shaming is real and it is a serious problem. Our society has a really backwards, hypocritical thought process when it comes to this. We show women being sexualized in every form of media, but when a woman chooses to show her own body, reclaim her sexuality or reclaim her consent, this is considered “slutty” and inappropriate. Even breastfeeding in public is taboo to many people, despite the fact that for many mothers, this is a necessary part of child-rearing.
I’ve never posted a nude selfie. To be honest, even if I wanted to post one, I’d be afraid to. Because that’s what we teach women to think: that we have to be sexy and attractive for the male gaze, but when it’s for ourselves, on our own terms, it’s not okay. I’ve definitely been socialized to believe that showing my body in its natural form, whether I’m doing so with sexual intentions or not, is wrong and something I shouldn’t do.
Other women (including Chloë Grace Moretz) have spoken out about Kim’s selfie to say that by taking such a photo, Kim is reducing a woman’s worth to her body, and that Kim should be proud of more than her body.
I get where Chloë’s coming from. A woman’s worth shouldn’t be just her body. But that isn’t what Kim was trying to do. All she did was take a photo and share it.
When a consenting woman chooses, of her own accord, to show her body in any way, that isn’t her way of saying her body is all she is. It’s her way of saying her body is part of who she is, and reclaiming the “slut” label to say, yes, here I am, and proud of my body. It’s the media that tends to make women into nothing more than their bodies, and women are just simply taking their bodies back.
— Rowan Blanchard (@rowblanchard) March 8, 2016
As usual, Rowan Blanchard slayed by saying everything I’m thinking in my head to a much larger platform. I’m seriously following her through the years, because she’s turning into a kickass young feminist.
Basically, Kim’s body is her own. None of us have any say in what she does with it. Full stop.