Wednesday, November 12, 2014

An Open Letter to Kim Kardashian

Dear Kim K., 

We get it. 

You have a big, beautiful dumper. 

You just had a baby and you don't feel very pretty or sexy anymore so you want every man (and even some women) in America to lust after you, because if they do you'll know you've still got it. I've been there. I mean, not the posing with my butt out for a NY mag part, but the unsexy part. 

Heck, I have four kids; I pretty much live on Planet Unsexy these days.

That wasn't always the case though. I was pretty cute and thin back in the day and that's dangerous. You get addicted to the compliments and the attention. You buy into the lie that your looks and sexuality are the sum of your worth. In your mind that becomes the best part of you. So after baby number one I lost my identity too, and I needed people to find me attractive so I could convince myself I still had value… that I was still lovable. Because of that I became easy, and I mean eeeeasy (wink, wink) prey for anyone willing to pay me a compliment. 

That's where you're at now. You're letting the world exploit you because you think their reaction will show you, and perhaps your husband, that you are still valuable and still worthy of love. 

But what you're going to find at the end of this media circus is that tomorrow you will still be a day older, and you will have a new perceived flaw: a new wrinkle, sag, or pound of fat. You will spend the rest of your life working tirelessly to prove your worth to people based on a body that is committed to betraying you. It will become your enemy, and you will grow to hate it. You will grow to hate yourself. No amount of ogling will suffice because you won't be the woman you were last year, last month, last selfie. 

You will be like a hamster constantly running on a wheel trying to catch the approval of others. And that's sad, because you will never be able to stop and enjoy your life. You will always be trying so. damn. hard. to earn love.

And even still, one day there will be another Kim K., a brighter younger fresher version of you, whose nude beauty will fill our news feeds, magazines, and movies. You will flinch at the thought of your husband leering at her, so you will run faster, work harder, sacrifice more. Until finally you won't be able to any longer. You will be so exhausted from trying that you will have to stop... at which point you'll realize all you gave up in this futile pursuit. The pieces of your dignity you sold for Hollywood's fleeting infatuation. The hours of laughter with good friends that were traded for hours at the gym. The minutes spent editing pictures to give to people who don't matter instead of using that time to teach your daughter that her beauty doesn't need to be filtered or fixed. Because you are feeding a monster whose appetite will not be satiated with you, it will one day try to feast on her as well. 

This is a cycle we must break now, for women everywhere and for all future generations of women to come. 

But how?

Well, that's the hard part. We have to go against everything we know and learn to love ourselves. We must learn to value that which doesn't fade but becomes more beautiful over time: our character, our kindness, and our compassion for others. 

Kim K., your mother didn't protect you from this world. She sold you to it. Please, I'm begging you, rip off the price tag and refuse to be bought any longer. You are worth so much more than the price of a magazine. We all are. And so are our daughters. 


9 comments:

  1. well said. I hope she reads it.

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  2. well written. Hope she reads it.

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  3. Well done! Thanks for sharing this. Prayers for all women caught up in this vicious circle!

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  4. i'm going to be controversial and say there is alot of assumptions here, and that is dangerous grounds, just because you were raised differently or see her behaviour as not acceptable to you doesn't necessarily make it wrong for her. I read this and see a lot of you telling someone how they feel and what they are, regardless of your intent it comes off as judgemental and assuming. Ironically I am doing the same now, basing a decision on what I see and what knowledge I have and know, but we are from a similar culture and as my years advance I understand the live and let live mentality. She did a magazine, good for her, some people like her some don't, but being judged is not going to make her change, and people agreeing with you here does not make you right, just proves there are two sides to this coin. In any instance, it is well written, if not a little off in my opinion.

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  5. The fact remains, however, that the undertone of her tweet about this cover indicated that she was working hard to try to compensate. This is not psychologically healthy.

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  6. Such a great photo you posted of Kim and her daughter. Probably the most modest and most beautiful that I've ever seen her. I also thought you were spot on with this post.

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  7. I should have read this before I posted the last entry on my blog, worried about my weight. You are so right!

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