The need to discredit someone’s importance or worth has become second nature to many people, especially in regards to celebrities. Casting the first stone has never been as popular as it is right now, and it is in much thanks to the various lucrative businesses that benefit from slander and judgement. There is no line between a private and public life, and many people feel that because someone is famous they’ve signed up to have their lives intruded on and every single action they make scrutinized. Unlike actors or singers who’ve chosen their profession simply out of their desire and ability to perform, Kim Kardashian's entire career is based on showcasing her personal life. She’s a celebrity people either love or hate. I personally have no strong affinity for or against her, and with that approach it becomes easier to see her as a person, and not judge her based on the circus that surrounds her.
Hear me out, but the argument that Kim Kardashian is famous for nothing is at this time completely pointless. She’s here, and she’s not going anywhere. No matter how hard you try and how little you care about her, she is in fact an important cultural figure. All you have to do is examine the rise of the Kardashian empire.
Travel back with me to the early 2000s where we are first introduced to Kim, not through her sex tape, which will be addressed later, but as an assistant to socialite Paris Hilton. We see Kim very briefly featured on the Fox hit show "The Simple Life," but mainly she is seen in the tabloids club hopping with Paris and various other famous youngsters. Kim’s behavior is that of any normal healthy 20 something year old woman living life in a beautiful city.
Fast forward a few months to a year, she has a fall out with Paris and is no longer her assistant, the tabloids love her and she is getting a lot of media attention. Out comes the infamous sex tape.
Now this is where a lot of people’s disdain or dislike for Kim stems: an intimate tape she made with a man she’d been dating exclusively for four years. Not some random tryst she had over a weekend, but something she made privately with a person she cared about. A lot of people don’t know this, or just don’t want to see her as nothing more than a “fame whore.” Honestly, if you even mention this as a reason to dislike her you’re just participating in the worldwide slut-shaming of a young woman.
This is what I take issue with.
Kim Kardashian’s sex tape came out almost a full ten years ago and was actually made in 2003, four years before she was catapulted into the limelight. Yet whenever she is brought up in conversation, and this happens with many people, they immediately bring it up. As if her own personal sexual history defines her entire being. So many celebrities have sex tapes (I had to Google some of this so I’d like to thank VH1 for having compiled a thorough list): Colin Farrell, Pamela Anderson, Tyson Beckford, Dustin Lance Black, Eve, Minka Kelly, Rob Lowe, and a lot of other people including politicians. My point here is that we still see these people as actors, actresses, and singers. Their sexual snafu does not reflect their entire public image, but for Kim it does.
Some may argue that she keeps sexualizing herself and that’s why it keeps rearing its ugly head, when in reality people are just upset with the fact that she has made her “mundane” life into a billion dollar brand. People have this feeling that it’s easy to discredit the modeling, business deals, fashion lines, and other projects she and her family have made for themselves if you call them talentless, but more importantly, if you call her a whore.
Kim Kardashian is more than whatever sexual label you put on her. If she wasn’t she wouldn’t be around this long. You cannot, no matter how hard people try to argue this, build a career off of one sex tape. So how is Kim Kardashian still relevant and how has she become of cultural importance you ask? Well let me direct you to the barrage of things she has done over the last few years.
Reality television really took hold in the 90s, but nothing truly like "Keeping up with the Kardashians" had ever been seen. Taking a well off family that was already somewhat in the media and filming their lavish and ridiculous way of living was genius. It places the Kardashians on TV and essentially into our lives every week. People can talk about how stupid it is and laugh at how many people feel genuinely invested into their lives, but really it’s not far off from any other television show. "The Sopranos," "Seinfeld," "Orange is the New Black," and most popularly "Game of Thrones" all feature people we don’t know, set in countries and places we’ll never visit, throwing around money we will never spend. Don’t shoot the messenger, but it’s true. Television is an escape to another world.
It wasn’t just their wealth that attracted people, but the fact that they looked different than the typical reality star. The Kardashian’s Armenian heritage and the work their father did as a lawyer is featured on the show numerous times. Although they enjoy the wealth they have acquired, working is an actual thing they do. Kim, before the entire world stepped into her life, was in fact an assistant and a stylist.
A lot of people can say that those aren’t real jobs, but for someone in their twenties those are very real stepping stones to something bigger. Maybe for Kim being where she is right now was all a part of her plan, though she like many people could never have predicted the way she would get here.
The real issue is that people refuse to see her as a person. Kim enjoyed her youth as much as anyone else would have, but is somehow held to a higher standard. She's not here to be a role model. Kim just wants to make some coin, take care of her baby, and have fun while doing it. Who can hate on that?
