As we wrote earlier, Kim Kardashian posted a naked selfie to social media earlier this week, and surprisingly, the internet had something to say about it...
Here, we at Grazia Daily battle it out to decide whether Kim's snap was a fitting example of female empowerment (ahead of yesterday's International Women's Day) or whether it was one step too far for the Instagram sensation...
Was it OK that Kim Kardashian posted a naked selfie?
FOR – Grazia Deputy Digital Editor, Holly Rains
Heads up, readers, I work online.
I write words online, I read stuff online and I look at things online. The very fact that I still have a job online is thanks to Kim Kardashian (and her kin).
By way of a rudimentary explanation to that borderline offensive statement, Internet personalities like Kim Kardashian are gold when it comes to website traffic, and without people like her, my online stats would be dry and I would be out of a job.
The thing about online, is that everything can be tracked and quantified. To this day, every time a Kardashian post is published, it is met by a shouty comment stating ‘SHUTUP ABOUT KIM. NO ONE CARES!!!!’… but the stats prove otherwise. Which is, on a very selfish level, a crucial reason why I like Kim.
Point proven when her latest nude Instagram post went viral on social media, and the subsequent fallout was covered real time on just about every platform online and off, including respected broadsheets. Why? Because EVERYONE CARES ABOUT KIM KARDASHIAN. You might not like what she stands for, or even knows what she stands for (tbf, I don’t think even Kim knows), but that’s not the point.
In a world of censorship, online and off, Kim doesn’t care. Naked selfie? Sure, why not. Another naked selfie? Can’t hurt, can it?
The problem lies with people trying to read too much in to what she does. I’ll break it down: IRL, she’s a person. In the media, she’s a heavily managed brand, with a PR machine probably consisting of more people than you’re ‘friends’ with on Facebook. Everything is curated, nothing is organic, and everything is done for our viewing pleasure/pain. Now let’s all make peace with that. Or don’t. I really don’t think she cares.
AGAINST – Grazia Contributor, Edwina Langley
I am aware of the potential backlash I might receive for stating plainly, Kim Kardashian's naked selfie was not OK.
Let me start by saying I have absolutely NO problem with nakedness. Women can post pictures of their naked bodies all day if they want to. As an example, look at this more recent picture of Kim:
It's great! She's naked but it's tasteful. Like the pregnant Demi Moore on the front cover of Vanity Fair, this is about the beauty of Kim's female form, not about a reality TV star trying to make headlines.
Contrast this with the one in question and I defy anyone not to see a difference. There is nothing 'empowering' about Kim Kardashian's 'When you're like I have nothing to wear LOL' post. It's not about getting women to love their bodies. It's about attention seeking, invented to create the global column inches it invariably did – pure PR.
But it's not even that it's a PR stunt that bothers me; what bothers me is it isn't labelled as one.
Days later, Kim tagged it onto International Women's Day, it was a preconceived feminist statement... But of course it had nothing to do with the cause of women and all do to with the cause of Kim Kardashian.
So yes, what irks me about this media storm isn't the picture itself. It's the 'explanation' for it, one now set out in full on Kim's website:
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. And I hope that through this platform I have been given, I can encourage the same empowerment for girls and women all over the world.
What exactly is she saying? 'GIRLS and women, get naked'? Are we to expect pictures of naked teeangers flooding Twitter to show solidarity now?
Most ironic of all, minutes after she posted the 'Nothing to wear LOL' post, she then tweeted this:
Now, if she was so empowered by her body – as she claimed to be – why not post a recent snap? Probably because she may not feel so empowered right now, months after giving birth to her son Saint West. And you know what, that's TOTALLY OK. No one asks, expects or needs her to be.
With that in mind, all Kim Kardashian really needed to do to get her message across was tweet this:
After two children I STILL love my body. #IHeartStretchMarks
Now that would be empowering.
Have your say here...