As women and men around the world celebrated International Women’s Day, celebrities argued about Kim Kardashian and her body.
On Monday March 7, Kardashian took to Instagram and Twitter and posted a nude photo, censored with black bars along with the caption, “When you’re like I have nothing to wear LOL.”
Naturally, as anything Kardashian-related seems to do, people reacted strongly about the picture. Piers Morgan sent out a tweet suggesting that Kardashian needs someone to buy her clothes since her husband Kanye West is apparently $53 million in debt. Bette Midler wrote, “[…] If Kim wants us to see a part of her we’ve never seen, she’s gonna have to swallow the camera.” Actress Chloe Grace Moretz also joined in by retweeting Midler and sharing her own opinion, tweeting, “@KimKardashian 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.”
Kardashian didn’t let her haters get the final word. Following the criticism on Monday she posted a picture of her laughing with her sister Kylie Jenner, along with the caption “Reading my comments like…LOL.” Then a few hours later she tweeted, “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 .”
She didn’t stop there, though. Kardashian also responded individually to Morgan, Midler and Moretz (embed tweets) and concluded the day with another naked photo captioned “#liberated.”
Although Kardashian doesn’t typically ignore her critics, the tweets were a bit out of character for her. Some even questioned whether her sister Khloe or West took over her account, since she was more unguarded and blunt than usual.
Before long, two sides formed in regards to Kardashian’s risky posts: those who thought she needed to put clothes on, and those who accused the critics of slut-shaming her.
On Tuesday, Twitter Moments included a long form about the controversy, posting a series of tweets from Elizabeth Sampat, a game designer and activist, explaining why Kim Kardashian is a feminist. “Call her appropriative, call her privileged, don’t call her lazy or dumb or ugly or slutty or [sic],” was just one of many tweets by Sampat.
Other famous females also gave their input. Miley Cyrus posted a Kimoji butt on Instagram, urging fortunate women to come together to support less privileged women rather than fighting. Demi Lovato also used Instagram to share an illustration of a nude woman and a woman in a hijab with the message, “different things empower different women and it’s not your place to tell her which one it is.”
Model Emily Ratajkowski joined in on Twitter to share her thoughts. In one of her tweets about the issue, she pointed out the double standards when women speak up for themselves. She wrote, “Also love that when a woman stands up for herself everyone thinks it must be her dude speaking for her. @KimKardashian.”
Despite all of the backlash, Kardashian may have finally put an end to the uproar around her body. On Tuesday night, as International Women’s Day dwindled down, she shared a blog post on her website aptly titled, “#HappyInternationalWomensDay.” In her essay, she shared that she is tired of being shamed for her body and that after 13 years, people need to move on from her sex tape and stop using it against her. “It’s 2016. The body-shaming and slut-shaming—it’s like, enough is enough,” she wrote. “I will not live my life dictated by the issues you have with my sexuality. You be you and let me be me.”
Feature Image: Beacon Photo, Courtesy of Flickr URL
