Source: Stefanie Keenan / Getty
It’s not that Kim Kardashian doesn’t look good these days. It’s just, well… she doesn’t look like herself.
A recent image shows the 36-year-old mother in a cut off top to showcase her virtually non-existent waist—and it even looks like the shape of her face seems different. As a woman who spearheads a mega million dollar brand, the question remains: what is she ultimately saying to her fans…and to her daughter, North West, about beauty standards?
Kardashian’s obsession with plastic surgery and “tweaking” could send troubling messages to the girls and women who adore her: “I am not enough,” and “No one will love me as I am.” There’s a big difference between being healthy and lean versus being infatuated with the idea of just having “the look” (read: a super small waist at any cost). Since the lion’s share of her followers can’t afford to even finance a pittance of the work the superstar has been rumored to have done, their insecurities won’t simply vanish with a mad rush to plastic surgeons (though more and more women are getting body contouring and other procedures). Their fear and anxiety will manifest in different ways. And what happens when you don’t feel pretty or good enough? You tend to sabotage your relationships and see other women as competition. You tolerate unacceptable behavior from the folks you’re dating because you innately feel unworthy due to low self-esteem. You obsess over what you are not, which could lead to depression.
And the women won’t be the only ones who suffer. Trying to assure your toddler that her curly hair is awesome will literally be child’s play compared to convincing your tween that she doesn’t need fake breasts or a fat behind to be beautiful. Next time you’re gushing over Kim, make sure to thank her for that gift that’s sure to keep giving.
Trying to assure your toddler that her curly hair is awesome will literally be child’s play compared to convincing your tween that she doesn’t need fake breasts or a fat behind to be beautiful.
Back in the early 2000s, America was introduced to Kardashian, an undeniably exceptional beauty who seemingly inherited all of the right genes from her Armenian ancestors. What made her a natural stunner—hue, curves, nose— to the masses may have been a burden growing up in the white-washed, upper middle class suburban towns she called home, where fair, blonde women with boyish figures (read: Paris Hilton) are held as the standard of beauty. The sad thing is that she’s now perpetuating the thing that may have hurt her the most. There are other options, like working to reinforce the notion that there are different types of beauties.
Kardashian has the right to look however she desires. But as a mother and role model to two little ones, and the masses, she owes it to herself to at least consider the impact. Why would you want to undo everything that makes you, you? Why is it so hard to love the face you used to see in the mirror? What will you tell North about loving the skin—nose and body — that she’s in?
Regardless of what folks think about Kardashian, she has been smart enough to co-create an empire that has generated streams of revenue for generations to come. Still, no amount of money in the bank will save a child—including her own—who doesn’t love herself.
So, if Kardashian can’t stop “waisting away” for herself, maybe she can do it for North, and all the little girls who want to be just like her. They’re all worth it.
