It’s a throwback photograph of Kim Kardashian with dark hair, her bra undone, wearing only black tights facing the mirror.
There’s nothing atypical about the 37-year-old reality star’s shot. Everything is as it always is except for the caption… and, on second glance, the shadow in the corner of the photo.
“Photograph by North,” the caption reads. And sure enough, there is Kardashian’s eldest child, four-year-old North West, in the mirror’s reflection behind the flash.
Cue: An Instagram divided.
LISTEN: Do the Kardashians have a right to ask for privacy? Post continues below.
In typical concern-trolling fashion, some parents are questioning if it’s appropriate to allow your daughter to photograph you undressing. They’re also wondering how images such as these might impact North’s self-image.
“How come she got her daughter taking a picture of her like that?” one follower asked.
“Omg why are you having your daughter take risqué photos of you?” another said, adding: “‘Here, North, this is how you make money using your body.'”
“I wonder how many people would get social services called on them if this was anyone else but Kim K?” another person commented. “This is subpar parenting.”
Others are defending the social media queen, saying there’s nothing unusual about nudity such as this in healthy families.
“People still bath with their kids at that age,” one person said. “The people kicking off are the weird ones.”
“Omg seriously? It is not illegal for your kids to see you with your bra coming off,” another added.
Others, still, are suggesting it was an accident, saying North “probably just picked up the camera and snapped”.
Of all the arguments, this is the hardest to believe considering deliberate and at times genius curation of the Kardashian West image.
Perhaps she was after an “internet divided”. Perhaps she simply wanted to share an intimate moment between mother and daughter. Either way, trolling for the sake of trolling – under the guise of being ‘concerned’ – is never helpful.
None of us know what was happening when North took that photo: what the little girl was saying; what her mother was saying back. And jumping to conclusions is always unfair, especially when all we have to launch off is a single snap of a moment in time.
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Top Comments
I just like that even Kim K’s bra strap leaves marks on her. I’m indifferent on the rest
I don’t have an issue with parents being naked around their children, but having the kids take a photos of you seems a little across the line. TBH, I’m not sure if I can explain why, beyond ‘it makes me feel icky’. Perhaps because there’s a difference between casual nudity around the house - walking into mum’s room when she’s changing etc - and the deliberate, often sexualised nudity in the photos. And I may be accused of ‘concern trolling’ here, but I’d be wondering about what happens after this. How long before young North is taking pictures of herself and/or her friends? I would be worried that she doesn’t see it as a big deal, and that would make her a target for predators. ‘Hey, send me a naked picture, it’s no big deal, your mom does them all the time!’
If the aunts are anything to go by, the franchise will have her commercialised as a minor, and her first plastic surgery will be done while she's still in high school. If she ever finishes high school, that is. By the time she hits 18, her face (and likely her arse too) will be unrecognizable from the original.
Well, that’s a thought that’s going to bum me out for the rest of the day.
*shrugs* This website ran another article essentially saying we should expect the minor children of this family to be indoctrinated into what's made them famous, because that's what the Kardashians roll. That means: plastic surgery before they're 18, hyper sexualisation and exploitation. Why we persist in making them successful in that venture beggars belief.