When I saw the nude selfie Kim took of herself, captioned, “When you’re like I have nothing to wear LOL,” it wasn’t the picture that bothered me, it was the caption that irked me.
In her caption, I feel she displays an ignorance that she doesn’t actually lack, yet pretends to lack for the sake of relevancy, making headlines, and yes, vanity. As many of you know, I’m not a Kardashian hater. I believe these women have capitalized on opportunity after opportunity based off an incident that happened years ago. And while many of us are hating from the other side of the television, they’re still laughing and will continue to laugh all the way to the bank. And many of us would do the same if we had such an opportunity. But I also understand many of us wouldn’t.
I’m not saying anyone needs to like or support the queens of reality T.V., but I would also ask those same people, can you blame the Kardashians for maximizing on such an opportunity? You know my answer, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have a problem with the overtly sexual messages being sent with photos and captions such as the most recent one by Kim.
Because I follow the show, I knew by looking at the picture that it wasn’t recent. The last time I saw Kim in the headlines with blonde hair was a year ago. I chalked it up to her looking through old photos and really feelin’ herself. Maybe she’s not feeling so good about her post baby body and wanted to remind herself and the rest of us that she had the body some women would die for. Ok Kim, we get it.
But that’s not what bothers me. My issue is, if you caption such a bold picture with such flighty words, can you turn around and call it empowerment? If the rest of the world perceived the picture as if Kim really had nothing to wear, and that’s her biggest problem, all while looking like a sexualized bombshell, then YES, the world is going to hate her. And what is even more frustrating is her defensive response.
When she knows the world will react and have something to say, it provides her an opportunity to react as if she’s being shamed for her body. This provides her a moment to pen a letter about empowerment as if the photo was meant to speak on feminism, or women’s rights or liberation. If that photo was meant to translate into empowerment, maybe she should have said that in her caption from the get-go. It’s manipulating at best.
Hours after receiving negative backlash for nude photo #1, she posted nude photo #2, captioned, “#liberated.” Well played, Kim K., well played.
It’s a manipulative and calculated move on her part. To think Kim Kardashian WEST (we must consider who she’s married to) is unaware of her words and the message she’s spreading is absurd. Things like THIS are for publicity. It’s a way to stay relevant. And as many of you would argue this notion, I believe Kim Kardashain is very smart. She’s completely aware of how the world will react to a selfie like that. All it did was provide another opportunity for her to stay relevant and speak on an issue that she’s absolutely contradicting. Especially when she’s using the word “empowerment” to defend a photo she insinuated as, not having any clothes to wear.
Kim, I’m pretty sure if you’re having a problem clothing your beautiful body, your bank account and fashion designer husband can help you out with that.
My problem is the incongruence of the caption and the alleged message. If we’re going to hold Kim’s feet to the fire, let’s do so for the irresponsible caption rather than the arrogant photo.
Feature Photo Credit: Dimitrios Kambouris, Getty Images
Appetite for Honesty 