Why Kim Kardashian's Pregnant Bikini Magazine Cover is Good For America

US Weekly

Believe it or not, this photo of Kim Kardashian is helping us as a society. While vacationing (or creating drama for Keeping Up With the Kardashians) in Greece, photogs captured Kimmie sporting her boldest look yet: a pregnant and proud beach babe. And while there are still some fans hitting Twitter and every comment section they can find to protest what the rest of us can see as plain as day, Kardashian is embracing her pregnancy in a natural, beautiful way by showing the public what a real pregnant woman looks like.
Kardashian has been inching towards this complete and total acceptance of her mother-to-be shape in the wake of a vicious tirade of fat-shaming that started from the moment baby Kimye began to show. Cloaked under the guise of Kim's poor fashion choices, her growing size became almost more relevant than the fact that she and Kanye West might possibly be popping out the most important child in the history of pop culture (that is, until Jay-Z and Beyonce have their second baby). At first, Kardashian was sheepish about her new shape, focusing on dieting while with child and praising outfits for reasons like "I hardly look pregnant! lol." Then, in April, Kardashian rebelled against the negative chatter, posting a bare baby bump with the caption "baby love" and slowly started to look on her new shape with renewed positivity.
Cut to May and we find Kardashian wearing a form-fitting gown at the 2013 Met Gala (even if its pattern was a little more Mrs. Doubtfire than we would have liked), caressing her pregnant belly like a proud mama-to-be, and strolling nearly nude down picturesque Mediterranean beaches, without a care in the world about the inevitable nearly-nude paparazzi pictures. It's enough to make even the biggest Kardashian detractors smile.

Larry Busacca/Getty Images

Kimmie may not be the best model for the American dream. She may not be the classiest celebrity on our roster of unyielding obsessions. But she is teaching us the very important lesson that, try as they might, celebs like Hilary Duff and Jessica Simpson before her weren't quite able to promote: Pregnant women gain weight and change shape, and that's a wonderful, natural thing. Kardashian, for all her faults, is a beautiful woman now and before her pregnancy, and maybe, by inadvertently creating such a robust conversation surrounding the way Hollywood talks about pregnant women, this polarizing reality star might actually be making a difference in a real way.