I stand with a Kardashian

Unless you've been living underneath a rock, you were atleast semi aware of the controversy stirred up last week by none other than the queen of infamy herself, Kim Kardashian. Kim tweeted a nude photo of herself with two black bars censoring her bits, with the caption "when you have nothing to wear". Now, OBVIOUSLY, this was for attention. Clearly, we all know this. But, really, posting a selfie of your face is for attention. Posting a picture of anything to do with your life, is for attention - unless every single one of your social media platforms is private - it's for attention in some way or the other. This is not what I'm standing up for. And hey, Kim leaves us no shortage of other things to make fun of her for, I won't deny this. And goodness me, never did I think I'd be standing up for a Kardashian's right to post a nude selfie, yet here I am, and here I go.

What I am standing up for, is the blatant double standard, and the blatant body policing of a grown woman. This has to stop. The constant, incessant criticism of women and their bodies needs to be over and done with. Why? Well, because how a woman feels about her body, and how she so chooses to express that feeling is none of our fucking business, to be blunt.

Let's say that last week, the poster of this photo was Ryan Reynolds. Do you think that for a second, he would have been slut-shamed as hard as she was? Would he have been told he should be ashamed of himself, to have some self-respect, to put on some clothes because he's a father? Of course not, he would most likely have been praised in some capacity and the headlines and comments would have echoed the statements of  "He's so hot/sexy!", "Check out this dad-bod", "What workout gave Ryan those washboard abs!" etc. So tell me, in a day and age when so much light and attention and encouragement has been brought to feminism, to loving ourselves without question and conditions, equality, why does it seem that body-policing and body-shaming of women has never been so high? A woman comfortable in her own skin has never been so critiqued, as though we have the right to do so. Too skinny, too muscular, too curvy, too thick, too much skin, too this too that. It's no wonder we constantly feel inadequate or not good enough.

Kim looks damn hot. She looks good, and yes it was an old picture, but it was one where she was owning her body, and was proud of her body and comfortable in her skin. She is a woman in her 30's, she is not a 16 year old girl, and she is comfortable in her skin. Now, you can have your opinions on whether or not that needed to be posted, of course you can! But the influx of making her feel belittled or stupid, reminding everyone that she got famous from a sex tape, telling her she should be ashamed, that she shouldn't feel empowered or feminine? That's just ridiculous. She said it made her feel empowered, so who the f-ck are you to tell her that that's wrong? She didn't say she did it to make someone else feel empowered, she did it for her. In a society where your stock as a woman is oftentimes dependent on your waist size, seeing someone who is a not a size 2 absolutely owning the shit out of her body is empowering, and it is no one's place to say it isn't. If your concern is that underage girls are looking at this picture and thinking this is the only way they can also feel empowered, that is not on Kim Kardashian - or ANY woman - to tell her otherwise, that is on the parent to let them know that being smart, being a good person, and feeling good about her body to the point where she can feel sexy (when it is appropriate AND if she so chooses) are not things you need only choose one of. They are not mutually exclusive and I refuse to be told otherwise.

"Nudity empowers some, Modesty empowers some. Different things empower different women and it is not your place to tell her which one it is"

So, give it a rest. If you don't like what you're seeing, look away. But don't you dare help contribute to a society obsessed with telling a woman that somehow loving her own body is wrong.