The whole Kim Kardashian “breaking the internet” campaign is one that has blown-up plenty on entertainment news sites. Not only that but Kim has gotten a lot of backlash from viewers and celebrities for deciding to expose her naked body to the world in this odd manner. One particular celebrity who has made an effort to poke fun at Kim for her photo shoot, is singer and actor Nick Jonas. He posed exposing his greased booty in a similar stance as Kim’s. How are the two different you might ask? Aside from the totally nude photo’s of Kim, Nick and Kim share almost the exact picture in terms of exposure. So why was Kim’s so much more prevalent and popular in society? Nick Jonas had the same amount of exposure and not even close to the same amount of exposure and hype that Kim’s picture got. 
Obviously these are different circumstances because Kim’s was actually for a cover shoot while Nick’s was making fun of her for doing so. However let’s look back to when Nick Jonas did his cover ad for Flaunt Magazine. He was pictured without a shirt, exposing part of his butt and grabbing his crotch. The difference is the main reaction the public had to each photo.
Nick’s photo’s were seen as sexy, several of my friends drooled over the star’s great abs. But no one really gave him any negative backlash over these photos. When people viewed Kim’s cover, they were mostly appalled. People rolled their eyes at the new mom for being over-exposed while a male star was pictured exposing himself in a similar manner without the negative reactions.
When trying to relate this concept back to this class it made me think of the Kim et al article pertaining to sexuality of men and women. In heterosexual scripts, men are supposed to be the sexual initiators which Nick Jonas seems to express while grabbing his crotch in his photo with this pants pulled down around his ankles. Women are supposed to be good girls by being the sexual gate-keepers. Kim doesn’t seem to be following this script considering she is showing off her entire body without leaving anything to the imagination (Kim et al., 2007).
This idea just goes to show the double standard of men and women when it comes to their bodies. Once women begin to cross that line of sexual gate-keepers they are looked down upon and criticized for stepping outside of the heterosexual scripts.
Kim, J. L., et al. (2007). From sex to sexuality: Exposing the heterosexual script on primetime network television. Journal of Sex Research.
I knew someone would write about Kim K for this week's blog and I'm glad to see that not one but two people in the class did. Considering the topic of the class, Kim K is definitely relevant to talk about within the context of our research. I'm glad you touch on the double standard between Nick Jonas and Kim K because double standards are 100% problematic when it comes to this. Although you touched on the double standard between men and women, I think there is another important double standard within just women as a group as well.
ReplyDeleteThinking through KK's stunt, I couldn't help but remember a story that went viral earlier this year when a woman (Meghan Tonjes) posted a picture on Instagram of her butt and it got taken down by Instagram (The link to the HuffPost article can be found below). The woman who had the picture taken down was more on the plus size and she expressed her frustration because she mentioned that there are butts all over Instagram but when they're connected a woman with a "perfect" body it isn't considered a problem. It was only considered a problem when this woman who is on the bigger side posted it, or so goes her argument. It really sparked a conversation of the way there is a double standard on social media sites between body types that might be considered "ideal" and body types that might not as much. Personally, I would really agree with Meghan because I see butts on social media all the time (not intentionally). Almost way too much! They're everywhere and it's only gotten worse with all the butt-centric music that has been released lately. What makes THIS butt appropriate enough to where it is allowed to stay on social media long enough to break the internet? And why was Meghan's so inappropriate that it immediately got taken down and would never even get the chance to break the internet?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/05/20/meghan-tonjes-instagram_n_5353804.html
Hey Maura!
ReplyDeleteI am so glad someone made this comparison because when I saw the photos of Nick Jonas I immediately thought of this class. I completely agree with you that the majority of the backlash that Kim received is most likely due to the heterosexual scripts we talked about in the Kim article (the double Kim is getting really confusing). Like you said, Kim Kardashian’s photos most likely received such backlash because, in a way, they portray a woman openly expressing her sexuality with no invitation from a man. These photos suggest the opposite of Kim’s heterosexual scripts, which imply that women should be passive and secretive about their sexuality and wait for male initiation in regards to sex.
I think another interesting way to examine this post might be from the standpoint of the Ferguson article. Ferguson found that when exposed to portrayals of promiscuous women, viewers thought of sexual assault victims as more responsible and as of having fewer traumas (2005). While there is no question of sexual assault here, such promiscuous images of Kim Kardashian I think may have lead viewers to view her as less of a victim of harsh comments she received about the photos and more responsible for the backlash she received. Ferguson’s ideas might help explain why a woman received so much more backlash than a man in the case of such revealing photos.
Really interesting post!
- Kelly