It can’t be easy being Kim Kardashian. First, there’s her mom. Then there’s the whole world scrutinizing her pregnant body daily—and using it as an opportunity to engage in more blatant body snarking and policing than I’ve seen in a while.
Despite the fact that Kim is in the early stages of her pregnancy and barely showing, reporters seems to be taking great joy in carefully choosing words that portray Kim’s weight gain as a freight train that’s just this side of totally out of control.
It’s never that she recently “wore” a black dress, but rather that she “squeezed into a black mini dress that clings to every curve.”
And when she recently chose a pencil skirt with a zip up the back, the accompanying copy called it “the hardest working zip in show business!” Like we’re all supposed to laugh along as the article implies she’s too curvy to be contained? That she should be thinner? That the weight her pregnant body is naturally gaining is somehow wrong and bad? Oh. Ha ha ha.
And when did tabloids fall so low that they started running headlines like, “Growing Curves: Kim’s Cleavage is also said to have grown by four cup sizes since she fell pregnant.” That’s right! She’s no longer a 36D but now a 36GG and ordering custom bras.
Sure, salacious sells. But estimating the exact size increase of a celeb’s breasts (who hasn’t recently undergone plastic surgery)? I can’t actually call up any similar past examples of this.
Not to mention that Kim’s body—her hourglass, not-stick-thin shape—is one of the main reasons the press took a liking to Kim from the time she appeared on the public’s radar. And now they’re ridiculing her for it… cause that makes sense.
Now compare Kim’s press coverage to that of currently pregnant Penelope Cruz. As she bares it all in a string bikini, she’s being called a “bombshell actress” who is “glamorous” and “comfortable and confident.” In fact, “Her pregnancy glow [is] all the make-up she need[s]!“.
Similarly, actress Kristen Bell, who is due to give birth in the next few weeks, apparently “look[s] lovely” and is in “full pregnancy glow”.
Not surprisingly, the skewed coverage is reportedly driving Kim toward radical work outs, which are putting herself and her baby in danger.
As one tabloid’s “inside source” put it: “Kim is desperate to stop gaining so much weight, but she can’t seem to get it under control. She cries every other day, and she’s scared to see how big she’ll get… She’s called her sisters, crying, because she thinks her butt looks like ‘a big hunk of cheese.'”
You know what would be really radical? All of us laying off the judgments and voyeurism (“Oooh, she’s gigantic! At least I didn’t get that big!”) so that the woman can spend her energy on important things—like coming up with a totally cuckoo celebrity baby name.
Audrey D. Brashich is the author of All Made Up: A Girl’s Guide to Seeing Through Celebrity Hype and Celebrating Real Beauty
“Not to mention that Kim’s body—her hourglass, not-stick-thin shape—is one of the main reasons the press took a liking to Kim from the time she appeared on the public’s radar. And now they’re ridiculing her for it… cause that makes sense.”
Actually, it makes perfect sense–in a woman-hating world like ours, I mean. :/
Ugh, you’re right, Grackle. And it’s awful.
I wouldn’t have known about the media coverage of Kim’s pregnancy body at all if it weren’t for this article – as they say, “there’s no such thing as bad press.” Rehashing the insults and humiliating comments of the mainstream press about this human being spreads the poison. How can we make alternative journalism more revolutionary than reactionary? Why not publish an article that demonstrates responsible, compassionate media coverage of Kim’s pregnancy, or that of a non-celebrity woman?
First of all, if she’s jeopardizing her health and her baby’s health because of what people are saying, then maybe “being famous” isn’t the right call for her. Maybe she should step out of the public’s eye until she can handle the expected pressure. She knew what she was getting herself into. Next, she had no problem on her reality show wearing a turkey neck waddle to make herself appear fatter to trick her brother and then she even laughed about it! Now she feels lousy because people are dishing it back?!!!! What confuses me is if she’s so insecure, then why is she wearing less clothing than she did when she was “skinny”? This girl became famous for the same stupid reasons her mother did-she’s sleezy and threw herself out there. People are sick of that family and the reality show is dying, so now they’re throwing themselves at the press in desparate attempts to keep the fame going, whether the attention be positive or negative. The Kardashians are pathetic. Give it up and stay home to mother your kid. Your time in the sun has passed, Kim…
Thanks all for these thoughtful additions to the Kim Situation. But things are getting weirder: Not only is she on the cover of US magazine this week alongside the headline “Don’t Call Me Fat”…but inside, US points fingers at a “tabloid” (um, but not itself. ANOTHER tabloid) for saying bad things about KK’s pregnancy curves. Just thinking about that–how it doubles back on itself creating some strange wrinkle in the time/space/reality continuum–makes my head hurt.
Ugh. Another hateful headline:
“Busting out! Pregnant Kim Kardashian struggles to contain her famous curves in a VERY revealing maxi dress”
From the article:
“The 32-year-old reality show star showed off her famous ample curves in the long frock which showed off a great deal of her ample cleavage.”
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-2303766/Kim-Kardashian-struggles-contain-famous-curves-VERY-revealing-maxi-dress.html
Oh come on. She did squeeze herself into that incredibly unflattering outfit. Noone would say a thing if she wore flattering clothes on her fat body, but this way she is just giving people ammunition to fire at her. She MUST know that she looks awful. Whats wrong with a nice, straight lined, lithe top from Zara in fashionable colour, over a slightly lose-fitted sophisticated pair of trousers? oh wait, it’s Kim Kardashian. She does not know how to dress. There you go.
This is NOT about her weight. The weight is the effect, not the cause.
I’ve never been a big fan of Kim Kardashian. I’m not sure why she’s famous, and I understand unsolicited public opinion comes with celebrity. REGARDLESS! Nasty comments say more about the person saying them. I’d be willing to bet that all the nasty comments are coming from snarky writers who have never been through pregnancy. Building a baby is a tremendous, beautiful opportunity that she’ll remember for the rest of her life. Why not make it a positive experience for her vs. traumatic? Is it really so hard to be supportive? It seems she’s being hard enough on herself without any help. Kim needs support and lots of love love love. Just like mother always said, “If you can’t say something nice, shut your trap.”
i am a young mogul and i sell bracelets and key chines with positive words to help people raise their confidence and stay focus