Kim Kardashian is nothing if not fascinating in the truest sense of the word. Love her or hate her, people don’t seem to stop talking about her, even as they complain that no one stops talking about her. She’s also a woman, one of several in a business empire led by women, which means that she’s going to be scrutinized more than a man in her position would be even if she posted photos of herself in business suits all day.
She posted the above “throwback” photo on Instagram a couple of days ago. Keep in mind that she recently gave birth to her second child, and is probably actually sitting around in sweatpants (albeit really fancy designer sweatpants). It was a throwaway joke post that she threw her own black bars over so that it would comply with Instagram’s current policies.
But apparently, the #FreeTheNipple fight is only for women who post pictures of their bare breasts for artsy or political reasons – you know, real reasons – not for “attention-seekers” (“attention whores?”) like Kardashian.
Because as we all know – the worst thing a woman can do in the world is seek attention. No one likes a woman who wants to be seen.
Inevitably the negative comments started piling up on the photo. At first, Kardashian took them in stride:
Reading my comments like….LOL pic.twitter.com/hQ4fVu9Aq6
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) March 8, 2016
I’m flattered some of u guys thought my post earlier was a recent pic! That was my blonde moment a year ago & 25lbs less! #MondayMotivation
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) March 8, 2016
So basically, this is a woman who’s just given birth trying to make herself feel sexy (because society tends to make women feel like crap if they don’t look a certain way) by posting a motivating picture of herself. That’s actually pretty impressive. When lots of women have #fitnessgoals, they often seek “thinspiration” outside themselves. Kim Kardashian just be like I wanna get back to Me a Year Ago!
But then other celebrities started depositing their two cents on her photo, so what was basically a #TBT not on a Thursday ended up being “news.”
Kim Kardashian tweeted a nude selfie today. If Kim wants us to see a part of her we’ve never seen,
she’s gonna have to swallow the camera.— Bette Midler (@BetteMidler) March 7, 2016
Really Bette? Really? No, the entire point is that she’s showing us exactly what she wants us to see – no more, no less. And yes, she’s taken nudes before, so it seems weird that Midler is pouncing on this one. And why did she feel the snide comment about “swallowing the camera” was necessary?
@KimKardashian I truly hope you realize how important setting goals are for young women, teaching them we have so much more to offer than-
— Chloë Grace Moretz (@ChloeGMoretz) March 7, 2016
@KimKardashian – just our bodies.
— Chloë Grace Moretz (@ChloeGMoretz) March 7, 2016
This tweet from Chloe Moretz is at least a well-meaning, thoughtful argument about feminism. And yet, she seems to be missing the fact that, by making this comment, she’s feeding into the very environment she’s criticizing. Yes, women are more than just their bodies, but that doesn’t mean they’re separate from them, nor does it mean that they shouldn’t present that body any way they like in public without being shamed for it. What’s more, re: “setting goals” – uh, Moretz realizes that Kardashian also runs or co-runs several multi-million dollar businesses, right? She also happens to be a wife and a mom to two kids.
Yes, there is more to Kardashian than just her body – yet her body is the only thing anyone seems to comment on.
Oh, and then there’s this asshole:
I know the old man’s $50 million in debt, Kim – but this is absurd.
Want me to buy you some clothes? https://t.co/hEA9osB2QF— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) March 7, 2016
Well, it’s good to know that he doesn’t just reserve his contempt for the breasts of older women. He wants younger women to cover up, too. When will Morgan realize that no one cares about how he thinks women should present themselves?
After a while, Kardashian started firing back in ways that were often hilarious:
sorry I’m late to the party guys I was busy cashing my 80 million video game check & transferring 53 million into our joint account
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) March 8, 2016
hey @piersmorgan never offer to buy a married woman clothes. thats on some ashley madison type shit #forresearch
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) March 8, 2016
hey @BetteMidler I know it’s past your bedtime but if you’re still up and reading this send nudes #justkidding
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) March 8, 2016
hey @BetteMidler I really didn’t want to bring up how you sent me a gift awhile back trying to be a fake friend then come at me #dejavu
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) March 8, 2016
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) March 8, 2016
let’s all welcome @ChloeGMoretz to twitter, since no one knows who she is. your nylon cover is cute boo
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) March 8, 2016
OK, that swipe at Moretz was totally unnecessary given what Moretz was trying to say. Also, there are plenty of people who don’t know who Kim Kardashian is, or why she’s famous. Just because you haven’t heard of someone doesn’t mean no one has, and if I’m going to talk about women tearing down other women, I’ve got to point this out, too.
Except that later, Moretz tweeted:
There’s a huge difference in respecting the platform that you’re given as a celebrity and “slut shaming” something I never have done and –
— Chloë Grace Moretz (@ChloeGMoretz) March 8, 2016
– would never do
— Chloë Grace Moretz (@ChloeGMoretz) March 8, 2016
Except…that’s kinda what she just did by using a throwaway photo Kardashian posted as an opportunity to preach about how, by being nude, she’s undermining everything else she’s done. By equating “respecting the platform that you’re given as a celebrity” with whether or not a woman is clothed, or how much she’s clothed. By reinforcing the idea that a woman naked automatically means she’s taken less seriously, but not taking men any less seriously when we see topless or sexily-posed photos of them.
#liberated pic.twitter.com/5UVNrokpBc
— Kim Kardashian West (@KimKardashian) March 8, 2016
In the case of Midler and Morgan, it’s clear that their only intent was to take cheap pot-shots and insert themselves into a national conversation. In the case of Moretz, it’s more complicated. She’s a young feminist with a platform who’s trying to do good when expressing herself, and the pot-shot was on Kardashian’s part. I wish Kardashian would’ve taken that moment to tell Moretz that her nudity shouldn’t distract young girls from the fact that she’s an entrepreneur in a family of female entrepreneurs. That women are multi-faceted and shouldn’t have to “pick a side” of themselves in order to play into respectability politics.
But look, that’s a lot for 140 characters.
As individual women, we may or may not choose to use our bodies or our sexuality as a mode of empowerment. As individual women, we may not even understand how another woman could ever even see it that way, and so it’s easier to look at a naked woman and write her off as “feeding into the male gaze.” But if feminism is about every woman having the choice to move freely through the world and designing her own life free from gender-based bias, then we have to respect other women’s choices, even if we don’t agree with them, as long as those choices don’t interfere with another’s right to choose.
#FreetheNipple is for all of us, kids.
(via The Daily Dot, featured image via Instagram)
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