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In Defense of Kim Kardashian West

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I never thought I would ever have much that was nice to say about Kim Kardashian West. Though I never wished her any ill, I certainly wasn’t a fan. I’ve never watched a minute of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians”. My eyes roll at most mentions of her and her family. I’ve been known to yell at the radio/TV “NO ONE CARES” when various media reports on anyone from her clan. But I’m here today to applaud her, and maybe even turn into a fan. Kim and I are taking it slow until I’m sure it’s what I want. I stand here today in defense of Kim Kardashian West and her decision to become an attorney.

In case you aren’t acquainted with how this woman rose to fame, here’s her story in an extremely-condensed nutshell. Kim was a stylist and close friend of socialite and reality star Paris Hilton in the early 2000s. She shot to fame when a video tape of her and her then-boyfriend getting intimate leaked on the internet in 2007. After that, she and her mother, Kris Jenner, created an entire empire around the Kardashian brand, with clothing lines, apps, and multiple reality shows. She is not afraid to show off her body, and has long been a target of “slut-shaming” and controversy.

May I approach the bench, your honor?

Kardashian did the most shocking thing of all just a short time ago. She announced her intention to become an attorney. Like everything she does, she received both mockery and support for her choice. Kardashian responded to her critics, saying in a social media post, “I want people to understand that there is nothing that should limit your pursuit of your dreams, and the accomplishment of new goals.”

This may all have stemmed from her recent involvement with prison reform. She met with President Trump in June of 2018 and convinced him to grant clemency to a non-violent drug trafficker. Kardashian has said that this case and others inspired her to learn more about the legal system. She is hoping to make a real difference in people’s lives by fighting to fix a broken system.

The “baby bar” isn’t what you think it is, folks

Kardashian will not be attending law school the way many people do. California, where she lives with her children and husband, rapper Kanye West, doesn’t require it in order to sit for the bar exam. Instead, Kardashian will apprentice for practicing attorneys for four years. She’ll take the “baby bar” once she completes her first year of studying. If she passes, she’ll continue on with the apprenticeship and take the bar officially.

Despite what some of us might assume, this isn’t going to be easy – out of the 28 people who took the bar exam in California in 2017, only five passed. And if you think Kim doesn’t know that, you haven’t been paying attention to the way she and her mother have handled their entire public lives. Kim might be superficial, but I don’t think she’s stupid.

Why I support her

This is going to sound a bit over-dramatic, so bear with me for a minute. The fact that Kim Kardashian, a woman who shot to fame because of her body and social media savvy, may now turn around and fight for the less-fortunate as a lawyer is exactly what the American Dream is built upon. If Kardashian is successful – and I’m betting she will be – she will be using her fame for good. Sure, if her sex tape had never leaked, we probably wouldn’t care so much about who she is, but here we are.

She is proof to young women that you can have a controversial past and still make a positive difference in the world. We can argue all day about whether she should have been posting nude selfies, displaying her life on reality TV, or showing off her derriere in magazines. Don’t we want to tell kids, “Hey, just because people are saying you’re a bad person you can still do something great”? Even if we think her past is filled with mistakes – and, because she’s human, it probably is – she might just prove us all wrong. I’m giving her a chance, and I encourage us all to do the same.

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