Khloe Kardashian: Body positivity queen?

Khloe Kardashian is an icon in the beauty industry. She has successfully challenged the negative views people have of her and has finally achieved her dream body. There would be nothing wrong with this, if not for the fact that she claims to have achieved her seemingly perfect body (with unrealistic proportions) through dieting and hardcore exercise alone. At the same time, she avidly denies having had cosmetic surgery.  

Everyone has the right to have cosmetic surgery, but it’s misleading when one claims to have attained such unrealistic results without the help of surgery. This leads me to the topic of Khloe Kardashian’s recent photo which recently went viral, much to her chagrin. This picture, unlike her usual posts, is filter-free and unedited. To the reality star, this translates as it being unflattering to the point of her fighting to have it taken off the internet. 

I will be drawing upon my own opinions in this article. However, there are many views on the topic of body positivity and it is up to the reader to decide which ones they agree with. 

HOW DID SHE PORTRAY BODY POSITIVITY?

In my opinion, the photo of Khloe Kardashian is absolutely beautiful and nothing for her to be ashamed of. Even if it was something she didn’t want out there, she could have reacted a lot better. Her reaction is problematic, as it goes against the essence of body positivity by promoting unrealistic body standards and perpetuating the notion that some bodies are better than others. 

Some people may see their photos as unworthy, because such an influential person has deemed her own unedited photos ugly and unflattering. This could severely damage the self-esteem of many of Khloe’s followers. She gives off the impression that unfiltered pictures do not deserve to be celebrated or seen.  It seems as though she forgets that when she puts down the camera, her body is what carries her every day and it is beautiful with or without editing. Khloe could have embraced both images of herself to show that all bodies are beautiful, thereby contributing to the body positivity movement. 

This whole ordeal also makes Khloe seem very inauthentic. What happens to people who look how she does in that picture? How can she claim to promote body positivity when she cannot handle the world seeing her natural body? That implies there is a body type that she deems inadequate. Her negative response to the leaked photo is unnerving, as I would hate to think that Khloe feels it is okay to only celebrate some bodies and not others.  

On the other hand, we also can’t turn a blind eye to the massive amounts of backlash and negative comments Khloe receives on her social media, no matter what kind of content she posts. She mentioned in a post following the leaked photo that the internet is especially cruel to her and she has had to rely on filters and editing to create the image she wants to present to the world. This screams toxicity, because such a heavy reliance on editing and filters from a public figure like her definitely has an impact on what the world perceives as beautiful. 

This ordeal must have been frustrating for Khloe and I empathize with her for having to deal with the internet’s harshness. However, it is because of those unrealistic beauty standards that she should have jumped at the opportunity to show the world that she, and everyone out there, does not owe the world perfect pictures all the time. She does not owe anyone perfection and she is beautiful at any angle. I hope the whole world, and Khloe herself, will start to see this soon. 

• body image
• body positivity
• Kardashians
• Khloe Kardashian