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Housewives and Whores: Is Kim Kardashian a Sex Worker?


A sex worker is self defined. One can't proclaim another to be a sex worker... right? Right.


But there are grey areas where a woman may not explicitly be a SW but still used sex/femininity to make her bag. This is why I argue that housewives are a type of sex worker. And that declaration is sure to upset the quarter of American moms who stay at home because stigma tells them that SW's are just trafficked, uneducated, passive dick suckers. Patriarchial values still define sexual women as dirty, stupid and bad.



Sex workers don't just have sex, they are multi-faceted business women who perform a variety of tasks and fulfill a variety of roles. But sexual work is one of those roles. Housewives are compensated for a variety of tasks, including sexual labor. They may or may not love the man who's compensating them, just like a sex worker may love her client (escorts shack up with/marry their clients/fall in love with clients all the time). The fact remains that sex is part and parcel of their role as homemaker (or it isn't, I realize some folks don't have sex, but sex is usually a part of this role).



I was listening to my favorite, extremely well done SW podcast 'Old Pros' and the host mentions how Kim K is a sex worker because porn made her famous and she retains her fame using eroticism. She has the curves of a Babylonian sex goddess and uses her body to promote her business ventures. She expertly parlayed sex tape publicity into the business empire we admire today. From Kimoji's to KKW Beauty and fragrances, she's made billions of dollars in revenue in the publishing, gaming and beauty worlds.



I remember first seeing her on one of my guilty pleasures, a reality show called The Simple Life as Paris Hilton's stylist. While Hilton is still a cultural icon, Kim has far surpassed her in terms of cultural relevance and revenue. We swoon over Kim's looks at the MET gala every year, her Hulu show is one of the top ranked streaming shows and she's ever present in pop culture.



Recently she made the cover of Time Magazine's breakdown of the 100 Most Influential Companies of 2023 and continues to expand her wildly successful empire with Skims. In 2022 the brand, which is privately held, was valued at $3.2 billion, double what it had been valued at just nine months prior. (That’s $2 billion higher than either her sister’s Kylie Cosmetics or 2000s-era shapewear icon Spanx ever climbed.) Kim's shapely figure is the star of most promotional materials for her brands. She's the model and feminine sexuality is her brand.



Kim's self awareness and business acumen was displayed during a recent episode of her Hulu reality show when she refused to tone down her sexuality for a conservative business conference. She commented on how she always stays true to her aesthetic, regardless of her surroundings, she always wants to look like "Kim" despite pressure to fit into an intimidating suit-and-tie environment. The latex pants ripped (who knows if this was a gag planned by production) and a good chunk of the show features her assistant and hair guy gluing the skintight pants onto her famous behind.



Kim knows she's selling sex and her erotic vision is portrayed by everything she does and made her into one of the most relevant cultural icons of today. My personal feelings on Kim are mixed. It's rumored that the Kardashians have a surgical suite in one of their family homes based on the frequency of plastic surgery procedures that they inevitably lie about. They lie about the insane amount of facial and body modifications they've had and are partially responsible for the unnatural, large butt/breasts/non-existent waist/non-existent cellulite pressure that women today feel.



According to plastic surgery experts, and if we compare photos of her then-and-now, Kim has had rhinoplasties, eyelifts, thread lifts, lip lifts, a mini-facelift, facial implants and a few BBL's (including a butt reduction when ridiculously huge asses went out of style), breast implants, liposuction and enough Botox/filler to fill 50 infinity pools.

Yet she claims the only body modification she's had is Botox.


But this pressure that women feel to adhere to ridiculous beauty standards is also due to late stage capitalism and the prevalence of social media. Sure, Kim K was born into a wealthy family but also skillfully plays the capitalist game in which women can use eroticism to accumulate power.

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