So this week (or was it last week? Who knows) Kim K tried to "break the Internet". That's a pretty bold move by Paper magazine, cos it's always awkward when you publicly set your aims ridiculously high and then, well, don't match them. At all. I mean, obviously they didn't expect to actually "break the Internet", but I'd say in terms of "going viral", the Internet is pretty unscathed by this. Yeah, sure, quite a few people are talking about it on your news feed, but it's not exactly Gangnam Style is it? I mean, a naked woman on the Internet? What a fresh concept!
Right, now, down to the ranty feminist part (the BEST part).
I've had mixed feelings about this. Part of me is like hell yea Kim you're fucking sexy you do your thang, fuck anyone who says you need to put your clothes on because "you're a mother!" Pah! You agreed to do this, you are consensually showing your beautiful body, well yeah, go on then. Go you.
And I have to say in some way I kind of applaud Kim K for turning a horrible situation into stardom. Yeah, she's famous for a sex tape, but she's also famous for reporting a sex crime. Somebody leaked that against her will, which, as we have learned from the J-Law incident, is a fucking crime, and is not OK. So what does Kim do? She sues them, becomes a millionaire, and launches herself into celeb-dom. Talk about making the best out of a bad situation.
But then I'm kinda like.... ehhh, is this anything new? A woman getting naked? Is a man ever going to do this? As Jameela Jamil said in her blog post on the subject:
"Kanye was there at the shoot, so WHY DIDN’T HE JOIN IN AND GET HIS DICK OUT? Why have I still not seen Kanye’s penis?! I feel as though he OWES us a glimpse of his bell end. We have been treated to more of his wife of late, than we have since we first met her with a mouthful of Ray Jay. Where is the equality here? If it’s art, why not partake in the picture, in the moment?" (read the rest of the blog post here)
Although lots of people see this sort of thing as empowering and great, lots of people, well, don't. OK - so who really cares about the bitchy women in Costa? Not me. If you wanna label her a "slut" then, well, get with the times really. You're irrelevant. But I do care about the effect it has on men. I can just *hear* the groups of lads getting together and showing each other the picture and talking about the stuff they'd want to do to her like she's a piece of meat. So has she hung herself up for the slaughter, or is this just an unpleasant side-effect to an empowering image?
I think the way to tackle this issue is in the nature of the photo. Consensual nudity can be a wonderful thing, to say you're proud of your body and feel confident. But when you're glazed up like a doughnut, seductively stripping out of some long black gown... I don't know. It feels like you're doing it for a man. Maybe if there wasn't so much Photoshop, and she was just stood there like "wahey! Look at me, I'm awesome!" just plain and simple, without all this glazing and shit, it might seem a bit more tasteful, and therefore, empowering. As well as, as Jameela said, with Kanye getting his dick out too. That would add to the equality aspect of things.
BUT THEN, I saw this article explaining how Kim is actually kind of representing an old racist joke...
Sarah Bartmaan was exhibited as a freak show attraction back in the 1800s. People poked fun at her for her massively curved behind, saying she was a "wild or savage female". She was paraded around Great Britain and France as part of a goddamn circus act, and here's Kim K, alluding to that lovely time. You can read the Wikipedia article about Sarah Bartmaan *here*.
OK, so maybe Kim didn't know about this. I don't know - did she? Kim probably just thought she was gonna take her clothes off and look sexy for a photographer. But dayum, referencing a poor woman's strife in a freak show is kind of an extremely disrespectful thing to do. I don't know whose idea that was, but they should be fucking ashamed.
What I would say now is, Kim, we've seen your naked body. We've seen a LOT of women's naked bodies. We've seen Nicki Minaj in a G string. We've seen it all before. Now, how about showing us your brain? Maybe the next photoshoot you do could involve you in a pantsuit talking about equality. Maybe you could do something for charity. We all know you're sexy, but if you want us to take you even MORE seriously... step up the ol' brain game and be a REAL role model.
What do you guys think?
Tegan xo
1 comment:
great piece of writing, i completely agree
Post a Comment