Anna Good
North West, Kim K and Kanye West’s daughter, went viral recently for holding up a handwritten “STOP” sign at paparazzi taking photos of her and her mother at the Jean Paul Gaultier fall/winter fashion show.
Kim shared a video of the viral moment and joked that the 9-year-old “had it with the people taking pictures of her.”
Kim’s tweet was criticized by fans for disrespecting North’s boundaries, and what was clearly an uncomfortable situation for her.
It certainly isn’t the first time that North has been outspoken about not wanting photos taken of her, and has called out the paparazzi on more than one occasion.
While in Paris, North and her friend Ryan Romulus (daughter of Kim’s friend Tracy Romulus) were walking ahead of Kim and Cici Bussey, a cousin of the Kardashians, when they were swarmed by paparazzi.
North called them out for their behavior, asking, “Why do you have to wait for us all the time?”
The majority of them ignored her and continued to take photos, while one shouted out, “Because you’re so famous. We love you, North!”
Fans labeled these comments as “creepy” and “weird” and others brought up a very valid question: why were the two little girls walking ahead of the adults, where they were more likely to be exposed to the attention they clearly didn’t want?
The first time North called out men photographing her was back when she was only two years old in 2015.
She was walking hand-in-hand with a nanny on the way to ballet class, and was happy until the camera shutters went off. North’s expression changed and she yelled, “No pictures!”
They continued and so she shouted louder, “I said no pictures!” and the paparazzi laughed her off, saying to each other, “Did you get that?”
“She’s not a celebrity.. Her parents signed up for this life, but she didn’t. Leave that little girl alone!!” one user commented under a video of the exchange.
Another wrote, “Theres something really messed up about a bunch of grown men, hanging outside a kid ballet school, to take pictures of a 2 year old.”
In another instance of North’s aversion to photographs, Kim posted an Instagram video where she appeared to ask North, who hid under a huge fur coat, why she didn’t like photographs.
People compared the Kardashian family’s children to other celebrities, and the steps they take to shelter their kids from the paparazzi.
The Kardashians, and Kim especially, seem to have forgotten that children are not accessories and need to remember that they are humans and may very well not want the same things as their parents do. And that’s not a bad thing.