Whether or not Kim Kardashian calls herself a feminist has been a hotly debated topic for a long time now. Half of the people commenting online are frustrated that she refuses to actively say 'I am a feminist' and the other half are confused as to why those people care so much. It seems to me like a lot of them are entirely missing the point, I do find myself getting irritated by powerful women who avoid the term but then I stop to think it's not up to me to push people out of their comfort zone and label themselves. To be honest can you really blame them with all of the false negative connotations the movement has become shrouded in?
When someone does choose to call themselves a feminist it acts as a tiny step towards removing those connotations. However when a person of a marginalised gender demands equality with men (even if they still refuse to refer to themselves as a feminist) it is a step towards smashing the patriarchy. This is what stands out most to me, the first is positive but the second is more important. If feminism continues to be stereotyped and criticised but also continues to (however slowly) break down patriarchal standards, it's still achieving its goal.
Six months ago, I would never imagine I'd be able to tie these ideals to Kim Kardashian, I was just as judgemental as the next person and firmly believed she was simply superficial and irrelevant, but when my sister persuaded me to watch her TV show I found my views began to change.
Kim is the perfect example of a figure with an enormous amount of power, possibly the most influential celebrity of our generation, who doesn't necessarily identify as a feminist but is definitely a good influence for the movement.
What many people don't realise or refuse to say in such frank terms is that Kim Kardashian is a victim of revenge porn. Her sex tape was posted online without her consent and she had to deal with that situation and the associated trauma in exactly the same way other victims have. Overcoming this violation and finding the confidence to move forward with your life is incredibly impressive in its own right, so turning it around completely and using the unwanted attention to help you create a multi-million dollar empire is mind-blowing.
Kim is now one of the most successful business women on the earth with two clothing lines, nine seasons of a television series, a book, a chain of boutique stores, her own mobile game and a hair-care range, amongst other achievements.
When the Kardashians are branded superficial and self absorbed, they're also 'blamed' for the rise of the 'selfie' which people believe perpetuates a 'self absorbed generation' of teens and young people. Let's be honest it's easy to see that Kim Kardashian can be held mostly responsible for encouraging more people to take up a habit of photographing themselves. But the question is, how negative is this trend really, in its influence on society?
When people take a photo of themselves and post it online, they are deciding how they want to be seen or perceived as well as who they want to see it and when, therefore maintaining personal control. This is the exact opposite of having images or video material uploaded against your will that allows the world to judge you. It's not just fighting back against the specific case of revenge porn that Kim faced, but against slut-shaming or superficial judgement in general. People seem desperate to tell you that liking how you look, being confident about your body and enjoying sharing that are bad things and vanity is a problem. But how much is really wrong with being content and confident?
Through taking 'selfies' people can reject the idea that being vain or loving your appearance is a negative thing and move away from the fact that society expects women to be filled with self loathing and constantly striving to improve their appearance.
The women of the Kardashian/Jenner family not only promote confidence and happiness but also through supporting each other promote an ideal unity. This has only become clearer through their unified encouragement of Caitlyn Jenner. Their mother acts as their manager, allowing more trust and personal support than most client/manager relationships and they survive the criticism they face by being there for each other as successful women. When each of the sisters were disrespected by their partners at various points, the others were there to respect their decisions but protect them.
As some of the most influential people in our culture, whether we like it or not, these women are powerful and automatically become role models for the teenage girls of our generation. Considering that Kim is the most followed woman on Instagram and she and her family have monopolised the media so enormously, shouldn't we be glad that of all the people to achieve this, these are the messages young people are receiving from the Kardashians?
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