Kim Kardashian is not who you instantly think of when you hear the word feminist. She has spent more of her career in a makeup chair talking about her Botox injections than she has discussing gender equality.
Indeed, Kim Kardashian is not the perfect role model for little girls, but anyone who can turn a leaked sex tape into an $83 million fortune embodies, at least a little, girl power.
In the July 2015 issue of Rolling Stone, Kardashian “came out” as a feminist.
“But yeah, I think you would call me a feminist,” Kardashian said.
Although the feminist community brushed off this quote quickly, I would argue that Kim Kardashian is someone we all need to take more seriously.
There are many reasons people do not take Kim seriously, such as her 72-day marriage to basketball star Kris Humphries and her naked “Break the Internet” photo shoot in Paper magazine, to name a few.
However, these are not the most ridiculous things she has done.
My personal favorite Kim Kardashian moments were when she cried nonstop after losing a $75,000 earring in Bora Bora in 2011, and when she took 1,200 selfies to make a book for her husband, Kanye West, as a gift.
It is easy to dismiss Kim Kardashian and her family because of their absurd behavior, but anyone who has worked with Kim says that she is incredibly driven and business-savvy. It appears that she knows she is famous just for being herself, so in order to remain relevant, she must honor commitments, be on time and be courteous to others.
Oprah Winfrey said of the Kardashians in 2014, “I interviewed the Kardashians two years ago, and I can’t believe how hard they work. People don’t understand that; people think, ‘Oh, if a television camera’s just following you, then that’s just easy.’”
Kim Kardashian is an important woman in this movement, because she is different from other celebrities who have recently made mainstream feminism popular (Taylor Swift, Lena Dunham, Lorde, etc.).
Kim Kardashian is a plus-sized woman.
Now, curves are nothing new. Marilyn Monroe liberated the sensuous figure back in the 1950s. But then Twiggy came in the ‘60s, and Kate Moss in the ‘90s, which set the standard and caused curvy women in the 2000s to be largely marginalized and ignored by designers.
Recently, however, we have entered into a curvy-women revival, thanks to plus-sized bloggers, fashionable plus-sized lines and, you guessed it, Kim Kardashian. Business Insider reported in 2012 that there were 100 million plus-sized women in America, and just recently fashion started changing its focus. Forbes Magazine reported that plus-sized clothing generated $16.2 billion in sales in 2013.
Kim Kardashian has expressed her excitement about this new change in fashion.
“My body type is not your typical model body type,” Kardashian told CNN Style in October 2015. “It’s exciting that designers are seeing different body shapes and styles and [are] willing to take that risk.”
Was Kim Kardashian the catalyst for a movement that has reduced years of female oppression? She certainly didn’t stop it.
She is mixed-raced.
Kim’s mother, Kris Jenner, is of Dutch, Irish and English heritage. However, her father, Robert Kardashian, was a third-generation Armenian-American. Kim doesn’t try to ignore her Armenian heritage; she discusses it freely.
In 2015, she wrote an essay for TIME magazine about growing up Armenian and the importance of the American population not acknowledging the Armenian genocide. She even called on President Obama to use the word ‘genocide’ when referring to the incident, because he had not yet done so during his presidency.
Kim has also discussed the racism that she’s experienced regarding her interracial marriage with her husband, or toward her daughter, who is biracial.
Because Kim Kardashian is discussing it, the mainstream media can’t ignore it.
She balances a family and a career.
When asked by CNBC after giving birth to her daughter, North, whether she thought she could maintain her demanding career as well as her family, Kim said, “My mom taught us that we could have it all. It’s just all about prioritizing…After I’ve had a baby, there are so many times when I don’t want to get up, and I want to be home with my baby, but for me—I think I can speak for my sisters—it makes us feel good when we can provide something for our friends, and products that we can’t find [but] we really want.”
Although Kim’s career as a reality star is obviously different from the average mom’s, by starting the conversation and urging women to “try to have it all,” she is providing women with another perspective. She has become a voice that lifts up fellow females as they struggle to balance a career and a home life.
In her gaming app, “Kim Kardashian: Hollywood,” the premise, at first glance, seems superficial and dumb. Players create an icon and get to see the illustrated life of Kim as she goes from lunch in New York to a photoshoot in L.A. However, the goal of the game is to work hard in order to have a successful career.
Kim Kardashian is the first plus-sized ethnic minority woman to be called the most famous woman in the world.
When someone as influential as Kim embraces feminism instead of treating it as a dirty word or a political stance, we can only hope that her 40 million Twitter followers and 59.8 million Instagram followers will follow suit.