A Woman’s Perspective On Kim K’s Feminism

A follow-up to 'Ayesha Curry and All Of Your Fucking Goals'

A follow-up to ‘Ayesha Curry and All Of Your Fucking Goals

Several weeks ago, I wrote about Twitter’s roundtable conference about the ideal female partner featuring #1 bae Ayesha Curry and Kim Kardashian-West.

As part of an attempt to make the discussion less black-and-white, I launched into a defense of Kim Kardashian’s character and social impact in my Ayesha Curry article.

In the Twitter-wide debate, the two women were being used as validations for the good girl and ho-to-housewife archetypes. To place women in either one of the two molds is to refuse viewing women as individuals. It makes it okay to place verdicts on women based on their public presentation or romantic history. For this reason, arguing for the view of Kim K as an opportunistic victim of America’s celebrity obsession was necessary.

However, I didn’t acknowledge the criticisms her brand of feminism has received.

In an article by Jacqueline Lunn on Australian news and entertainment site MamaMia, Kim Kardashian’s “empowerment” rhetoric is torn all the way down.

Among other counters to Kim Kardashian’s feminism, Lunn accuses Kim K’s nude selfies to be more about promoting the Kardashians than feminism.

Lunn also takes issue with the fact that Kardashian-West’s confidence is in a body that allegedly has had considerable work done on it.

I was uncomfortable with the certainty in Lunn’s assertion about Kim’s plastic surgery. But considering all of the before and after pics floating around, and speculation from some of the world’s leading plastic surgeons, saying Kim hasn’t had work done is like saying we’re unsure if Barry Bonds took steroids.

“Aaaah! You goofy for that one!” (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

But why does any of that shit matter? What’s wrong with if she feels confident in her body? Should we really judge her for however it may have been achieved?

The answer is no, but yes in this case. Kim K’s status as a sex symbol makes her hyperexposure another extreme standard of beauty that, according to Lunn, only serves to make women and girls insecure. They can’t help but to see Kardashian’s images everywhere, and this omnipotence seems more about the Kardashian brand than it does about feminism.

And depending on what you think about that, responses to criticism such as Bette Midler’s might rub you the wrong way.

Though I continue to think Kim Kardashian is simply making the best out of the attention she gets, her relationship with popular culture is not a one-sided exchange like I made it seem in the previous article.

We can’t tell Kim Kardashian to live her life a different way, but we can say that her feminism is fair game for criticism.

But y’all can’t go around calling her the opposite of an “Ayesha Curry type”. These opinions, believe it or not, can coexist with the more positive ones expressed in the Ayesha Curry article. You can say her nude selfie campaign is selfish without believing hoeness is at the core of her, or any woman’s, existence.

Speaking of the concept of hoeness, is it really a thing? If so, can it get deleted?

Maybe Draya was on to something

Find out next time on Across The Culture!

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