FUSE TV - Kim Kardashian West & Encouraging Female Expression Instead of Repression

On International Women’s Day, while some showed their appreciation to and for women they admire and respect, some engaged in a recycled, ignorant act of body shaming and slut shaming—of Kim Kardashian West, specifically.

A quick recap: On Monday (March 7) Kim posted an older nude photo of herself, with two black censored strips keeping the post an R and not an NC-17, both on Instagram and Twitter. She was rocking the blonde hair she debuted during Paris’ fashion week last year.  “When you’re like I have nothing to wear LOL,’ she captioned the photo. 

Quickly, celebrities chimed in with their judgments. “If Kim wants us to see a part of her we’ve never seen she’s gonna have to swallow the camera,” Bette Midler tweeted. “I truly hope you realize how important setting goals are for young women, teaching them we have so much more to offer than just our bodies,” Chloe Grace Moretz tweeted. 

Wait, but how is shaming someone something you’d want to teach other women? Whether you’re cool with Kim posting an old, somewhat-nude selfie of herself or not, is judging someone negatively for self-expression what we want to be “teaching” women? 

Kim Kardashian West responded to criticism with such sass that many, including myself, believed it was Kanye West or Khloe Kardashian who was behind her phone, flexing those Twitter fingers. “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,” and “hey @BetteMidler I know it's past your bedtime but if you're still up and reading this send nudes #justkidding.” Damn!