The student-run magazine of San Francisco State University

Xpress Magazine

The student-run magazine of San Francisco State University

Xpress Magazine

The student-run magazine of San Francisco State University

Xpress Magazine

Kim Kardashian and the photo that broke the haters

Kim Kardashian's Paper Magazine cover shot by  Jean-Paul Goude
Kim Kardashian’s Paper Magazine cover shot by Jean-Paul Goude cut short

Kim Kardashian’s November Paper cover is getting a lot of attention—and not all of it is positive.

The photos of a nude, oiled Kardashian are being referred to as “the photos that broke the Internet” by fans and news outlets alike, but not everyone is in awe of her behind. With reactions ranging from the heart-eyed emoji, to sexist slurs and comments, the Internet is a firestorm of drama, and both sides are doing their best to prove their points.

They are also keeping this Kardashian relevant. In case you have been living under a rock, Kim’s fame comes at the hands of an oft-mocked sex video with Ray J, followed by a reality TV show, Keeping Up With the Kardashians. Said TV show threw her violently into the spotlight, but at a cost: the lost of respect or anything that remotely resembles mental capability, at least in the public’s mind.

Since then, Kim had kept herself in the news with a short-lived wedding to a basketball player, made equally famous by the expensive wedding and rapid divorce which followed just seventy-nine days after the fact. Then her relationship with fellow self-absorbed celebrity, Kanye West, culminated in an engagement, pregnancy, child and wedding, in that order.

So, she has the odds stacked against her as far as the public eye is concerned. West is known for his ego, arrogance, and spouting off from time to time. That being said, why do so many people care if they hate her? Scrolling through Facebook is a battlefield of Kim fans and haters alike—but the fact of the matter is that both factions are keeping her relevant, the anti-fans more so than her supporters.

You may not love her – you might despise her – but Google those photos, keep reading the articles, and leaving those bitter comments – this does nothing but create more clicks and keeps these sites in business, and Kim’s well-oiled body relevant. Is her ass fake, or her waist Photoshopped? Maybe. But, for someone who does not care, a lot of emotional energy surely goes into making sure the Internet knows just how ugly and how much of a slut one might think she is.

It is 2014, and honestly, the reaction to these photos is both over-the-top and disgusting. When society is shaming one woman for choosing to show her body in a full-color spread, but applauding Keira Knightley for posting her own un-Photoshopped nudes or Alyssa Milano’s breastfeeding selfie in protest and response to these much-hyped, there is a severe problem that needs to be addressed. Comments shaming her for posting these photos “as a mother” are not only harmful, but distasteful as they insinuate that once giving birth, mothers are not allowed to be sexual beings.

There is an undertone of jealousy present in criticism to anything done by the Kardashians, namely in correlation to the Kardashian girls, all being in the limelight. Call them stupid whores, refer to Kris Jenner as their overbearing pimp mother, but keep one thing in mind: this family is capitalizing on the attention showered upon them by the media-consuming public, and profiting from it more than the average person does with whatever supposedly marketable skills they have to offer. 

These “stupid whores” are making more in a month or two than you probably will in five or six years of working forty-hour work weeks, and are generally unaware of your existence, nor of your bitterness and petty comments.

But hey, go ahead and fill your Facebook with vitriol if that makes you feel any better about the life you lead.

*The views expressed in this article do not necessarily reflect the views of the publication.

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The student-run magazine of San Francisco State University
Kim Kardashian and the photo that broke the haters