It would be easy to make jokes about Kim Kardashian discussing the objectification of women in the media, but you’ve got to admit that she’s an expert in the topic.
That was one item on the agenda in the question-and-answer session with the reality star held Tuesday night in the Castro Theatre, one of San Francisco’s grand, old movie theaters. More than 1,300 fans, mainly young women, packed the venue. Some paid upwards of $220 for tickets that included an autographed copy of Kardashian’s seflie anthology, “Selfish,” and a photo with her.
Retired state judge LaDoris Cordell gently questioned Kardashian on topics such as her outfit for the evening, Caitlyn Jenner, Kardashian’s media profile and the art of the selfie.
1. Kardashian gained entrepreneurial experience buying designer shoes with her late father’s credit card and reselling them on eBay.
The shoes that launched her empire-building career were seven pairs of Manolo Blahnik boots like the ones Kardashian saw in a Jennifer Lopez music video. She told the crowd that she bought them for $750 each and resold them for $2,400. Her father, Robert Kardashian, made her sign a contract that she’d repay him with interest within 30 days.
“I was on a really strict budget. I didn’t make a whole lot of money, so if I wanted to buy something, I would sell things,” Kardashian said. It was an early example of “my love for selling and hustling and all of that.”
2. Young people don’t work hard enough.
In response to a question from Cordell about the chances for women succeeding in a male-dominated world, the 34-year-old Kardashian warned that young women don’t realize how much effort she puts into it.
“There is this generation of young people – girls – that are beautiful but don’t have a strong work ethic,” said Kardashian. “People sometimes think that with looks, things will come easy with modeling jobs here and there. But I really just encourage people to put in the work,” said the self-proclaimed workaholic.
3. The extended Kardashian-Jenner family attends group therapy.
Everyone is very supportive of Jenner since she appeared on the cover of Vanity Fair, but Kardashian and her family have been attending group therapy sessions too.
“As a family, we just literally prayed that people would understand it,” she said. “Everybody has their own transition to accept and support this.”
4. “The key to a good selfie really is lighting.”
Kardashian prolifically posts selfies to her 37.7 million Instagram followers, and her book “Selfish” contains hundreds of those self-portraits, so she knows a thing or two about the trend.
She advised Cordell that it’s important to have “lots of bright light,” and if possible, to be able to see your pose in a mirror. A favorite trick is to point the camera down from above. “Know your angles,” she said.
Cordell and Kardashian took a selfie in the Castro Theatre.
5. Kimye’s kids won’t be pressured to go to college.
Kardashian has clothing lines, fragrances, a reality TV show and a super popular app, yet left college after four years without graduating, she said Tuesday. Her husband, Kanye West, is a famous college dropout too and is not doing too bad for himself either. In their household, their daughter, North, and the son they’re expecting won’t necessarily have to get a higher education.
“If she really wants to go,” Kardashian said, she’d support her daughter.
6. Kardashian is objectifying herself, but there’s nothing wrong with that.
After hearing Cordell read a definition of “objectification,” Kardashian readily agreed that the media depicts women in degrading images. But she also said that she feeds off the power from voluntarily objectifying herself, whether in selfie after selfie or in photo shoots like the Paper magazine cover that broke the Internet.
“I think there’s power in that, and I think I have the control to put out what I want and I’m proud of that. So even if I’m objectifying myself, I feel good about it,” she said, adding: “I do what makes me happy and what I need to get done,” even though people have discounted her credibility because of her celebrity persona.
The conversation itself was a topic of contention for some: Kardashian was invited by the Inforum speaker series of the city’s Commonwealth Club of California. The venerable club, self-billed as the nation’s oldest public affairs forum, withstood criticism for booking Kardashian after previously hosting such guests Bill Gates, Hillary Rodham Clinton and the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. The criticism was similar to the frosty feedback National Public Radio received after Kardashian appeared as a guest on the weekly quiz show “Wait, Wait …Don’t Tell Me” last month.
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