What Kim Kardashian Can Teach Latinas About Our Bodies

Kim Kardashian is talking openly about her body in light of Complex magazine accidentally running an unretouched photo of her on their website and agreed to pose for a “totally unretouched” photo shoot in a bikini. What she has to say about her relationship with her body can be helpful to other women (Kim is of Armenian descent) who don’t exactly fit with strict, White-washed standards of beauty… in learning what not to think about one’s self image. Although, you know. Keep in mind that most women do not look as slim or, uh, well-rounded as Kim in the first place. Which adds to why it’s so ridiculous that she should feel compelled to defend her body.  

Says La Kimmy:

I love my body the way it is. I’m not perfect. I have cellulite, so what.

What’s “not perfect?” What would make Kim’s body closer to perfection - not having cellulite? Having narrower thighs? Perkier boobs? A different nose? Which body is perfect and, if none exists, why hold other bodies up to an impossible standard? “I am perfect. I have cellulite, so what” would, we think, have been a more powerful retort.

It also seems that Kim’s intent in doing this unretouched photo spread in not showing how impossible current beauty standards are, but to show how she does fit into them, despite what people say. For example, she says:

I don’t think people get how petite I am because I’m so curvy. I’m small and curvy. The No. 1 thing people ask when they meet me is, “Did you lose weight?”

Does it matter that Kim is petite, though? “I’m smaller than you think!” is not the same as “I’m ok with being bigger than Hollywood standards allow.”

We also think many women may agree with Kim’s take on the public’s fascination with her famous backside:

On the red carpet, the paparazzi scream for me to turn around because they just want butt shots. People feel so free to talk about my butt, and it’s not comfortable. Girls come up to me and grab my butt, or if I’m doing a TV interview, people ask on camera to squeeze my butt. It’s uncomfortable.

It certainly must feel like a violation. But, then again, there’s this:

Of course, posing with one’s ass crack on display doesn’t necessarily give strangers the go-ahead to grab one’s backside but the decision to pose like this is part of Kim’s carefully-cultivated image. She isn’t known for her acting or her clothing boutique so much as she’s known for her backside. 

Which is where Latinas and other women who are, more often than not, reduced to their bodies by the media and by one another can learn something: Be ok with your body without feeling the need to explain or defend it. “I’m not perfect, but I’m happy” is no way to live. “I am perfect with my big thighs and my large ass and I am happy in a way that has nothing to do with my body” is, we think, the ultimate goal. Also? It might help not to pose with one’s derriere exposed if one wants people to focus on things other than one’s derriere. 

Click Below for Kim’s Unretouched Photos

“I Love My Body The Way It Is” [Life & Style, print version]