Does your body empower you?

Does your body empower you? 

You might not have an answer straight away, and that's okay. It can take a long time to feel empowered by your body, especially if you're a woman, because the media mostly doesn't allow you to be empowered by anything, least of all your own body.

This week, Kim Kardashian posted a totally naked selfie onto instagram, with a small black strip edited in to cover her vagina and her nipples. As you can imagine, all hell broke loose across the internet. Some of the comments made towards Kim, by both celebrities and by ordinary people, have been shocking. She has been called almost every derogatory name under the sun, told that she has no respect for herself, that she needs to think about her children and the influence she has and so on.

It's funny that these same questions and harsh words aren't thrown around when men do the same thing. Ryan Reynolds was recently naked in his latest film, along with Ben Affleck, and Channing Tatum and his crew are merely scantily clad in the Magic Mike movies- yet there is no thought put out there for their children? No "Ryan, what about your daughter? Don't you want to be a good influence on her?". No nasty names, no dragging of their names through mud.

To be quite frank, it's ridiculous.

Furthermore, people have missed the point. Whilst posting a nude selfie on instagram is indeed a bold decision and one that only someone with the confidence level of Kim Kardashian would probably do, it's also Kim loving her body and embracing the fact that she loves her body, and this is what everyone is forgetting. People are saying she's doing it for attention, people are saying she's trying to keep her name in people's mouths. To be honest, Kim just loves herself, has embraced her body (that has carried and produced two healthy children by the way) and is expressing this on social media. There is nothing wrong with that.

Last night, Kim released this statement in defence of her photo's:

I'm not sure she could have worded it any better. Kim is empowered and that's all that this is about! In a world that constantly tells women to be down on themselves, tells them they aren't allowed to love themselves for fear of being seen as vain or narcissistic, Kim defies all of the standards for women and goes ahead doing whatever the hell she wants to do.

Now, what about the people saying "Kim should be a good role model" or "Kim makes money for getting naked"? Ha, can we not even go there please! Everyone seems to forget that above all else, Kim (and the rest of the Kardashian clan for that fact) is an incredible business woman. Yes, it started with a sex tape. And? Look where she has gone from there! She has had eleven TV series about her and her family, not to mention the spin off ones that focus on just her and Kourtney, she has released fragrances, a song (albeit not a good one but no matter), she models, she runs a clothing line with her sisters that has branched into hair and beauty products, she has designed and created her own game. What are you all doing other than sitting there slagging Kim off for posing naked?

There's no denying, Kim is a business women with her fingers in many, many pies, creating an unstoppable empire and this is incredibly inspirational to women everywhere who might want to start out in being an entrepreneur but don't have the courage. Kim is a mother and a sister and is so loyal to her family and this is also inspiring to women who may want to start their own family. Kim loves her body and is proud to show it off, under any circumstance. This is definitely inspiring in a world where women are told not to love their bodies, to be ashamed of their bodies, to constantly be skinnier, but curvier, but with bigger boobs, but a smaller tummy...the list goes on.

Regardless of whether you like her or not, it's undeniable that Kim is inspirational. If you don't see it, you need to dig a little deeper and look at everything that she actually does.

Chloe Moretz, a fairly successful young actress said "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".

Goals? Don't make me laugh. Chloe is clearly one of the many, many individuals who has not looked into all of the things that Kim Kardashian has achieved that don't involve her body- such as her incredibly successful Dash stores or her game, as mentioned above, along with everything else. But Moretz also misses the point, like many others. Yes, young women definitely have more to offer than their bodies, but Kim isn't denying that. Kim's photo shows the world that whilst you have more to offer than your body, it is okay to show it off and love it anyway. You can have goals and be successful and inspirational and love your body at the same time (just watch one episode of KUWTK or look through Kim's insta feed at all the incredible thing's she gets up to!). No woman should be dragged for that. Additionally, just because posting a nude selfie is something you don't approve of or wouldn't do yourself to 'prove' you had a nice body or loved yourself, doesn't mean you should drag other women for doing so. Different people want to do different things. So what?

In regards to Kim's children, yes, it might be awkward for her son to see her posing like that, but by the time he's old enough to use a computer and see that photo online (by which point it will be old, old news), I'm sure he'll have come across many more naked women in everyday media- TV shows, advertising campaigns and so on- so what's the big deal? Children are exposed to nudity every day- look at Calvin Klein ad's for example, or any fragrance advert where women are prancing around in a sexually provocative manner. Nudity and sexuality is ever present in magazines and TV's, this one photo is no different from that. When it comes down to it though, his mum's building a multi million pound empire for him. He is not going to care!

And as for North, well. She's growing up with some of the strongest women in the media, who are all so body positive and encouraging of self love. I don't think she's going to come out of this particularly damaged either.

Lastly, the lad's saying her nude isn't okay because it's all fake "tits and arse", the girls dragging Kim for having surgery and for using "too much" make up so that she is beyond recognisable and for using photoshop and editing app's to achieve her photo's...

Get a grip. 

Boys, you don't think those girls you perv over in Zoo or Playboy or The Sun's page 3 have used diet plans or had boob jobs or bum implants or lip fillers or botox? Some of them- not all, but some- definitely have had some kind of surgery. Then they're photoshopped on top of that. Spoiler alert.

Girls, don't you wear make up? Don't you wish there were parts of yourself you could alter to feel more confident? Don't you use Instagram filters to make your photos look better? I know I do all three of those, and I can guarantee most of the female population does as well. Get over it. Kim is doing exactly what you do, just on a more open platform.

There is nothing wrong with nudity- but it isn't for everyone. There is nothing wrong with loving your body- and just because you don't feel as confident as the next woman, you shouldn't drag her for it. Kim feels empowered by her body and expresses it through photo's. I feel empowered by my body and express it through words, in my magazine columns and on my blog. People do things in different ways, and that's okay. Its what makes us all unique and individual. What's not okay is trying to break a confident woman down. Stop trying to bring down people who love themselves, regardless of how they choose to express it. Stop slut shaming. Stop body shaming. Stop being nasty to people online because you're bored at home. Because essentially, that's why you're bothering to do it in the first place. Kim won't read your comments and she sure as hell doesn't care about them, so why even bother? The age old rule applies- if you have nothing nice to say, say nothing at all. Kim loves her naked body. Big deal. Get over it. She's empowered, so maybe you should focus on being empowered yourself, and if you already are, maybe focus on ways in which you can express that and inspire the young women around you too!

Does your body empower you? I know mine does.

Love from,
Florence Grace

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