In case you'd not noticed we live in a deranged society in which women's bodies are public exhibits, Us Weekly is now letting you "zoom in" on Kim Kardashian's "stunning post-baby curves!". Because picking apart celebrity thighs was getting ho-hum. We needed to super-size the pics and the body shaming before we all noticed the great gaping emptiness of it all.
Of course, the magazine employs up-beat, pseudo-complimentary language like "tip-top, super-sexy bikini shape". But that's only because it can't actually write what it's really saying: "This woman is confident and you feel shit about yourself, so let's dismantle the former to exacerbate the latter".
Or: "ACCEPTABLE HUMAN SHELL: Y/N? USE MICROSCOPE."
As Jessica Grose at Slate points out, the zoom function is only offered on certain images. Amazingly enough, those images are Jessica Simpson's "slim, sexy legs" and various snaps of Victoria's Secret Angels (an institution built on female despair).
Kim Kardashian has made her money from the tabloids and the attention they pay her. There's no denying that sauntering around in a bikini for the paps is part of that fame game - or that it's her right. However, that doesn't mean it's an act of empowerment - she's still working well within the confines set out for her by mainstream media. In other words, hers is a "choice", but it's still one shaped by external dictates.
