Kim Kardashian and Kendall Jenner, being part of the Kardashian-Jenners, are known for being particularly protective over their image. That could be part of the reason why they’ve got their lawyers to send artist aleXsandro Palombo a warning after he Photoshopped images of them to make it look like they had been beaten up.
The images were published as part of the artist’s No Woman Is Immune From Domestic Violence project, which is basically him drawing up images of famous women – and female Disney characters – getting beaten up/being beaten up. He said: 'Domestic violence is a social cancer that knows no boundaries nor social status, it can affect anyone, whether you're an ordinary person or a celebrity.'
FYI, this is a guy who’s drawn what Disney princesses would look like if they were amputees, and done a cartoon of Asterix and Obelix boiling an Isis fighter alive.
After seeing the images, which feature Madonna, Angelina Jolie, Emma Watson, Miley Cyrus and various other female celebrities, maybe Kendall and Kim took legal action against Palombo because of any of the following:
1. Domestic violence is bad and we know that with or without Photoshopped celebrities
If we really do need a celebrity to draw attention to a cause, it should be in a way that said celebrity – working in conjunction with relevant charities – sees fit. We’ve seen Keira Knightley playing a victim of domestic violence, but she was complicit in her involvement, and being professionally done, the video doesn’t look like a stupid joke.
2. We’ve already seen celebrities beaten up, in real life
The world saw leaked photos of Rihanna bruised, bleeding, sporting a split lip after her then-boyfriend Chris Brown beat her up in 2009. And in the five years since, we’ve seen Chris awarded a Grammy, his career go from strength to strength, and Rihanna blamed for daring to get back with the man she once loved. If we can do any learning from a celebrities and domestic violence, it's the disgraceful way Chris has wheedled his way back into his young fans' hearts, despite showing very little remorse.
3. What are we meant to DO with this?
The photos come alongside messages like: ‘Life can be a fairytale/ If you break the silence,’ but how does that help? Is that just putting extra pressure on victims to speak out in case they end up looking like these supposedly beaten-up celebrities? Or is it meant to make us realise: ‘Oh NOW that I’ve seen Miley with a busted lip, I finally know that domestic violence is shit!’ The pictures have left us feeling a bit like we can’t do anything to help. To stir this feeling up without offering a solution – or at least somewhere to divert our anger – is scaremongering at best.
4. It hypes up stereotypes of domestic violence
Domestic violence is sadly committed in so many different ways, meaning that it’s not always visible. Though the campaign has good intentions, by making out that domestic violence can be encapsulated in one type of image of an injured woman – when actually, domestic violence has one sure commonality which is an angry perpetrator – it creates a dangerous stereotype.
5. It's creepy
Did you know that Madonna was allegedly beaten up by then-husband Sean Penn with a baseball bat? How would it make her feel that her image is being painted up to be all bloody and bruised to… to further this artist’s notoriety?
Maybe celebrities can take a bit of this sort of thing, they’re rich and famous after all. But if Madonna does want to work alongside a domestic violence cause, shouldn’t it happen with her consent in a slightly more sensitive setting? A shoddy daubing of bruises on to women who probably don’t want to or deserve to be painted as victims so publicly might get us talking, but it's hardly changing people’s attitudes for the better.
We await what happens between Palombo and the Kardashian-Jenners’ lawyer.
Contact Women's Aid here or call on 0808 2000 247
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.