“Omg PEDESTRIAN.TV, no one cares about the Kardashians, they are a waste of oxygen, stop posting about them, no one cares!!!!!!” Except you do, because you clicked on this and are reading it right now. As did thousands of other people. And when ya’ll stop clicking, we’ll stop posting about the Kardashian clan, got it? Righto. Carry on.
Just in case you weren’t aware, an extremely well-known woman was assaulted twice in the past week. Once, when she was simply walking down the street. The other, when she was alone in the safety of her own private hotel room.
Kim Kardashian-West firstly experienced a sexualised assault by ‘serial prankster’ (but I’d prefer to call him a serial dickhead) Vitalii Sediuk – while she walked down the street, he ran up behind her and kissed her on the buttocks. Sediuk called it a ‘protest against butt implants’ (
as if it’s his business what someone chooses to do with their body), and avidly denied that his actions constituted sexual assault.
as if it’s his business what someone chooses to do with their body), and avidly denied that his actions constituted sexual assault.More recently, Kardashian was attacked in her hotel room in Paris at 3am. She was gagged, tied to the bed, and held at gun point while five men, dressed as police, stole $10 million worth of jewellery, as well as her personal mobile phone. It’s since been reported that she begged for her life, and that she actively believed at the time that the men were going to rape her.
Now we can all agree, whether you like the reality television family or not, that this sounds insanely terrifying. It sounds like one of the worst experiences of your life. It sounds like something that most of us would talk about in a psychologist’s office.
Yet, if you look in any online comment section about this incident, you will most likely see a plethora of comments with this emoji: ‘
‘ . Or, people applauding the attackers. OR, people laughingly telling off armed, violent criminals for not pulling the trigger and murdering her.
‘ . Or, people applauding the attackers. OR, people laughingly telling off armed, violent criminals for not pulling the trigger and murdering her. Seriously… it’s hard to begin explaining why that’s incredibly fucked up, because it’s so obvious: THE WOMAN IS A HUMAN BEING.
Yes, Kim is a fabricated ideal, a falsified entity, a pawn in a capitalist game to sell clothing, make-up, and television shows to make millions of dollars… but, so fucking what?
There’s still a living, breathing, human being under all of it. A person like any other, who does not, under any circumstances, deserve to be attacked.
Kim is a wife, a mother, a sister, a daughter, and she’s known for being incredibly friendly and loving to fans. She’s also incredibly smart, an amazing business woman and entrepreneur, and has an empire that she created purely from the betrayal of an ex-lover’s trust.
But even if she was rude, had no family connections, no style, no intelligence, no business-savvy and no empire – Kim does not deserve what she’s experienced in this past week. A woman’s (or any person’s) right not to be assaulted is not determined by their demeanour, their marital status, their fame. Or, the sheerness of their skirt.
It’s determined by the fact that she is a living person with basic human rights.
If you hate a celebrity, okay – you don’t have to engage. If you want to vent to your best mate over a bottle of wine about how Kim wearing snap-pants with lingerie as a top is “what’s wrong with the world”, you’re well within your rights to do that. If the ‘Kardashian’ genre of entertainment just isn’t your cup of tea, that’s cool too – each to their own!
But making fun of a woman in this harrowing moment is insensitive at best, and inhumane at worst. So many women – including women you know – fear incidents just like this one, and tell themselves their fear is irrational. But it happens, and it could happen to absolutely anyone. Making fun of women who have experienced assault (particularly in the public eye) is nauseating, and it makes it harder for ALL survivors to talk about their assault.
Applauding people for committing illegal violence against women contributes to the widespread abuse and murder of every woman alive. It may seem harmless, but it supports an atmosphere where violence against women is an accepted norm. It also means that any abusers reading these comments now have concrete acceptance of their violent thoughts and actions. And wishing for the violent death of a woman could easily make other women in your life question YOU as a potential instigator of violence.
And if that last paragraph made ya scoff the words ‘OVERDRAMATIC MUCH‘ under your breath, let me put it another way: expressing joy that another human being has experienced a terrifying, violent, traumatic violation of their body and privacy makes you an insufferable fuckwit.
No two ways about it. Sorry not sorry.
Photo: Stephanie Cardinale / Getty.
