Many problems exist with Kim Kardashian’s recent photo shoot
By now, many people have seen the nude and oiled up photos of Kim Kardashian taken for the cover of Paper magazine with a title of “Break the Internet.”
The photographs made an enormous splash on the Internet since Kardashian is a mother and people are usually prone to take the opportunity to view a naked celebrity. But there are more important things to worry about regarding these photos.
Jessy Forsmo-Shadid
If anyone wants to show off their naked bodies, even if they’ve had children, they should be able to. Mothers are allowed to feel sexy and confident about how they look. They should be able to show their bodies off any way they like — a category that includes Kardashian. The photos of Kardashian, though, have been modified to look better than the average mother’s body possibly can.
Looking at the photos, you see her skin has absolutely no blemishes or cellulite. Instead, there’s oil so the lights can bounce off her “flawless skin.” What’s more upsetting is that it appears her waist has been taken in so much it looks as if she had a couple of her ribs taken out. Nothing screams greatness about these photos. She nearly looks inhuman.
Alongside the photoshopping fiesta, there is a problem with the photographer Kardashian chose to work with for this shoot. Jean-Paul Goude, the photographer, has been known to have a facination with black women and likes to pose these black women as objects.
In fact, in 1981 he released a book of photographs titled “Jungle Fever.” In these photos, he had models posed as servants or slaves, which objectified their bodies.
Some of the pictures he has taken involve naked black women wrapped up in chains. There are pictures of a black female model crawling around nude inside of a cage. Goude posed her to look more like an animal than a person. He is known to have a fascination with the behinds of black women and makes it crystal clear in his photography.
So why would Kardashian want to work with a man who purposely portrays black women like objects and animals? It doesn’t take much research to find out about the controversy surrounding Goude’s photography.
In the photo shoot, Goude had Kardashian pose with a champagne bottle in hand, while the drink shot over her head and landed into a glass balanced on her behind. The same improbable pose had her knees bent, as if she were serving someone. Kardashian wore a strapless black dress with matching gloves.
The same photographer has actually already done this picture. Except, in the first instance, Goude’s model was a naked black woman. Nudity could not possibly make the model look as elegant as Kardashian looked on the cover of Paper magazine.
There is plenty of controversy to Kardashian’s recent photos. But having Goude take these photos, despite the themes his past photo work demonstrates, is more than a bad judgment call. These photos have to be the worst thing Kardashian could have done with her modeling career.
Jessy Forsmo-Shadid can be reached at [email protected]