Can We Stop Shaming Kim K. For Her Sex Tape?

As a major Kardashians fan, I'm just over people saying that Kim Kardashian is "famous for being famous" or that the whole family rose to fame over her sex tape with Ray J. It's been years since that tape hit the internet, and the same old jokes are just getting, well, old. Can we just move on? Apparently not. Over the weekend, a rude "fan" attending Kanye West's Glastonbury show waved a giant flag featuring an image of Kim Kardashian's sex tape. And there is nothing at all funny or OK about that.

Like I said before, I am a fan of hers, so yes, my opinion might be biased, but hear me out. We need to move on from referencing the Ray J sex tape. Kim Kardashian has done enough in her life — maintaining an empire, founding fashion lines, creating a bestselling phone game — to not need "sex tape" to be the immediate words associated with her name. She has proven herself to be more than that very public mistake. This act of slut shaming was reprehensible and unnecessary. Can we just stop reducing Kim Kardashian to her sex tape?

To those in disagreement, I'm going to address the obvious. Yes, Kim Kardashian made a sex tape while she was dating Ray J. I know that she eventually profited once the tape was released. And I am not so ignorant to think that its existence didn't give her a lot of attention in the public eye. I am very much aware that the scandal propelled her onto the magazine covers and into the conversations of people for years to come. It was a big part of making her a household name. I'm not going to deny any of that.

But what did you want her to do? Crawl under a rock and hang her head in shame for the rest of her life? She has apologized for this so many times. She has taken ownership of her actions and has claimed that she is not trying to be a role model. We all make mistakes and hers just happen to be a very public ordeal.

So what is wrong about her capitalizing on the attention of the tape's release and parlaying that spotlight into more positive areas? Her most intimate moments were witnessed by the world, ridiculed by many, and constantly referenced. Why wouldn't she try to make her life better after that? She went from being Paris Hilton's friend of the moment to a celebrity in her own right. She crossed the threshold from being a hot reality star to a fashion icon. She went from endorsing products to creating her own beauty and fashion lines. She has turned lemons into lemonade and then some.

Kim Kardashian West is a mother, wife, and entrepreneur. Keeping Up with the Kardashians has been on the air for ten seasons. She has one of the most successful video games there is. She has been on the cover of Vogue . She has multiple perfumes. She has dominated all social media platforms. Yes, I know that she is not curing cancer, but that does not mean that she is not contributing to society. It's way overdue for people to start taking Kim Kardashian seriously as a business woman. She has a loyal group of fans who watch her on TV, follow her online, and buy her products. There is so much more to her than this sex tape. Can we just let it go? There is so much more to "Keep Up With" than the an eight-year-old sex tape. Let her live!

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