Recent Posts
Accomplish May 21, 2020
Why is she being mocked for wanting to go into academics? The answer might be simpler than you think.
Image via Instagram/@kimkardashianKim Kardashian West announced in Vogue last year that she was studying to become a criminal justice lawyer, and the world erupted in backlash. An international sex symbol daring to enter an academic field such as law school? Let the mocking tweets ensue.
Despite all the hate that was thrown at her, she is still studying to take the bar exam in 2022. She is currently apprenticing under lawyers at #cut50. This organization is, “a bipartisan effort to cut crime and incarceration across all 50 states.”
Kardashian West currently resides in California, one of four states in the U.S. where you can become a practicing lawyer without going to law school. As long as you pass the bar and meet the required number of hours apprenticing at a law practice, you can become a lawyer. As mentioned before, Kardashian West is doing both of these things right now. She seems pretty serious about this!
So why is she still getting backlash online? The answer is simple, and unfortunately it’s a song we’ve heard before: it’s sexism.
Kim Kardashian West made headlines when she took up the case of Alice Marie Johnson. She eventually visited the White House and arranged a meeting with President Trump, who agreed to grant Johnson clemency.
Since Johnson’s release, Kim has continued to advocate for criminal justice reform. She was instrumental in the passage of the First Step Act, which encompasses common sense criminal justice reform, and was signed into law by President Trump in December of 2018.
The Kardashian family became celebrities through their reality show, “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.”Being “famous for nothing” has become their tongue-in-cheek brand.
Despite this, people still credit Kim’s infamous sex tape in 2007 as the real start to the family’s rise to fame. Since then, she has faced an endless stream of slut-shaming that has persisted throughout her career.
Despite starting in entertainment, the Kardashians are some of the savviest businesswomen and entrepreneurs in the game. From Kylie Cosmetics to KKW Beauty, to the Kim Kardashian: Hollywood app, there is hardly a business venture left unexplored by the Kardashian clan. So why are we collectively so shocked and angry that Kim Kardashian West wants to become a lawyer?
It all comes down to sexism. Our society has an inability to recognize that a woman can express herself sexually and still participate in academic pursuits.
Kim has been attacked by followers and fellow celebrities for posting nude photos in the past. She has always been able to defend herself eloquently against the slut-shaming masses. But the backlash that came when she announced her decision to study law was something new. It proves how difficult it can be for a stereotypically attractive female to be taken seriously in the academic world.
How is attacking Kardashian West for wanting to get an education any different than not wanting to hire a woman for her attractive appearance?
Despite her sensual image, Kim Kardashian has been leading the charge and creating tangible criminal justice reform. She is trying to follow in the footsteps of her father Rob Kardashian by becoming a lawyer.
When she first announced that she wanted to study law, the mocking tweets came rolling in on Twitter immediately:
What does sexual identity have to do with a woman’s intelligence? What does sexual expression have to do with her ability to perform at work? The answer is simply this: nothing.
If we want to facilitate change for all women, we need to applaud public figures like Kim Kardashian for proving, on an incredibly large public stage, just how multi-faceted a woman can be.
It’s our responsibility to disassemble the preconceived ideas society has placed in our heads about women. We aren’t either sexy OR smart — we can be both. We don’t have to choose between two strict and limiting identities when deciding what kind of woman we want to be.
Yes, Kim Kardashian once made a sex tape. She’s also releasing innocent people from prison, and proving how intelligent, business-savvy, and multi-dimensional she truly is.
We shouldn’t be tearing her down for straying away from the stereotypes we have about societal sex symbols. Instead, we should be celebrating her for proving that we don’t have to subscribe to the limiting dichotomy of female identity society has tried to pin upon us.
Kim’s nudes, her sex-tape, and her celebrity status have absolutely nothing to do with her intelligence, or her ability to become a successful criminal justice lawyer. Now — can she live?
