You know feminism is turning into big business when even Kim Kardashian announces she's giving a lecture on the objectification of women.
That, apparently is the pull for an event Kardashian has scheduled Tuesday night at Paramount Theatre in Oakland, California. She's calling it "Kim Kardashian West Live!"
Kardashian is nothing if not incredibly skillful at keeping her name on the public's lips and her picture in a magazine, so it's unsurprising that she'd hop on the feminism train when stars like Beyoncé, Taylor Swift and even Ariana Grande have found ways to profit from declaring themselves feminists.
America, we don't need Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie or her silly little TED Talk.
We've got reality television star Kim Kardashian to sell us feminism (or, at the very least, a topic that is feminism-adjacent), just like she sold us "Kim Kardashian: Hollywood."
Never underestimate Kardashian's capacity for trolling. She's extremely self-aware of her image. See: Kardashian's 2015 Super Bowl ad for T-Mobile.
So, just what will Kardashian have to say about the objectification of women in media? Here are our best guesses.
It's inevitable
Don't be surprised if Kardashian decides to argue that we're surrounded by millions of images that objectify women and that it's impossible to escape them. If the world's biggest and most profitable magazines, beauty companies, and the fashion and luxury goods industries are all using images that reduce women to sex objects in order to sell products, the objectification of women is inevitable.
It was here before we were born, and it will be here long after we depart.
This is useful for Kardashian because it's basically a set-up for defending her complicity in her own objectification.
Don't hate, get paid
When Kim Kardashian and Paper magazine decided they wanted to "break the Internet," they decided to do it by using Kardashian's nude, oiled-up body, and then class it up a bit and make the photos "arty" by paying homage to the work of Jean-Paul Goude.
They knew it would work, despite the fact that people have already seen Kardashian naked in the pages of W, Playboy, Love and GQ magazines. Kardashian has a long history of catering to the male gaze for magazine spreads and even paparazzi photos.
She courts attention, especially when that attention centers on her sexuality, and she's parlayed that media focus — whether it be on her chest, butt or any and everything in between — into money. Lots and lots and lots of money. Expect Kardashian to say something along these lines: It's perfectly OK for her to do this because she's exploiting the male gaze for her own financial gain and because she's an adult woman who's made the choice to do it.
The woman has found a way to monetize narcissism and vapidity with the publication of "Selfish," a coffee table book comprised of nine years' worth of selfies. It's what people want, and she's just giving it to them and getting paid in the process. What's the harm in that?
- You shouldn't hate on her for exploiting patriarchy for her own gain because feminism is about "choice."
You could argue that Kardashian, by shilling diet pills that don't work, by exercising a total and complete focus on her looks and her looks alone, and by advocating the use of waist trainers, is reinforcing and justifying the existence of the Insecurity Industrial Complex. She probably is.
And you know what she'll probably say? It's all about choice.
Kardashian exercises her choice to make her money this way, and it's gotten her pretty dang far — all the way from tending to Paris Hilton's closet to allowing Kanye West to pick her clothes.
And just like she has the choice to share another selfie, or tweet an endorsement of some product she doesn't even use, or accept payment in return for attending a party, you have a choice, too.
You have a choice to ignore her, to not buy the products she endorses, to not buy her book, to not watch her television show. Everyone has freedom of choice, and millions of dollars say people choose Kim.
There you have it. The objectification of women in media isn't bad as long as women are profiting from it. The end.
The Washington Post
Wed Jul 01 2015
Kardashian exercises her choice to make her money this way, and it's gotten her pretty dang far all the way from tending to Paris Hilton's closet to allowing Kanye West to pick her clothes. - File Photo
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