On March 7th Kim Kardashian gave us a peep show of her naked body. This is a body that we have seen naked so many times that it was almost hard to believe that people made such a big deal about it. With censor bars covering only her most private parts, she captioned this naked photo “When you’re like I have nothing to wear LOL.” This picture was sure to bring thousands of hilarious edits and copycat pictures, but also some controversy amongst other female celebrities.
As if she didn’t get enough publicity from this nude on Monday, she decided to post another on Tuesday. Tuesday was known as International Women’s Day. Kim posted this picture with no censor bars, only her arms and hands covering what the good Lord, skilled plastic surgeons and the pain of a waist trainer have given her. This picture held the caption “#liberated.” Ironically, since it was International Women’s Day, women all over the country began to bash Kim Kardashian for her "liberation." Kim’s nudes received nasty remarks from Bette Midler, Chloe Grace Moretz and Piers Morgan. Despite these comments, Kim got support from other women across the country, such as Demi Lovato and Miley Cyrus. KK’s reaction to these online spats was a letter asking for women everywhere to put an end to "slut-shaming."
“I am empowered by my body. I am empowered by my sexuality. I am empowered by feeling comfortable in my skin. I am empowered by showing the world my flaws and not being afraid of what anyone is going to say about me. I am empowered by my husband, who is accepting and supportive and who has given me a newfound confidence in myself. He allows me to be me and loves me unconditionally. I feel so lucky to have grown up surrounded by strong, driven, independent women. The life lessons I have learned from my sisters, my mother and my grandmother, I will pass along to my daughter. I want her to be proud of who she is. I want her to be comfortable in her body. It’s 2016. The body-shaming and slut-shaming--- it’s like, enough is enough. I will not live my life dictated by the issues that you have with my sexuality. You be you and let me be me. I am a mother. I am a wife, a sister, a daughter, and entrepreneur and I am allowed to be sexy.”
Kim Kardashian, I am nothing more than an average girl with a less than average body. I work hard to keep my body healthy and because of this, I am proud of it. I too am empowered by my sexuality. I too am more than proud to be a woman. I think it is wonderful of you to teach your little girl and other little girls around the world to embrace who they are and the body that they have been given.
I respect you for sharing with us what makes you feel empowered. You, Kim Kardashian, are a highly respected woman by many people other than myself. I believe that it is important to love your body, but as the highly respected woman that you are, I think you could teach us so much more than just "look at me, I’m sexy despite my flaws." Although, I agree that this is so important. Teach these girls the importance of independence. Teach them that the smiles on their pretty faces are just as empowering as the curves on their naked bodies. Teach them that yes, they are allowed to be sexy, but that the world does not have to revolve around their sex appeal.
Teach them how to find "liberation" in education. Teach them to chase even the craziest of dreams. Teach them to talk to people about the thoughts that they think late at night when everyone else is asleep. Teach them to find freedom in music rather than nudity. Teach them to write rather than undress when they need to express themselves. Teach them that they are just as strong, powerful and beautiful when they are wearing their favorite t-shirt as they are when they are wearing nothing at all. Body-shaming, I agree, is a problem that all young women are having to deal with. Teaching women to love their bodies will help fix this problem, but I believe that teaching them to love so much more about themselves than just their bodies will diminish it even more.
