The name “Kardashian” can never seem to avoid the spotlight. Every time I see pop culture articles, the Kardashian name is always headlining in some shape or form. You cannot talk about social media, reality TV, or fame without the name Kardashian.
With this kind of reach, it is no surprise the Kardashians basically created the idea of an influencer. They were the original ones. While influencers are known to persuade people to purchase products or services from companies, the Kardashian influence has gone a step further and seeped into every aspect of what the world values. The Kardashians have become the standard for what beautiful women look like. Whatever their bodies look like, that is what becomes culture’s ideal body type. The crazy thing is this ideal body type changes as they change.
Kim Kardashian has always been known for having an extreme hourglass figure with a tiny waist, ample hips, large breasts, and a large butt. That look also was adopted by other members of the Kardashian family. There have even been many jokes on the Kardashians’ shows about how this look put them on the map. What was interesting to see was that this look became desired by women and culture. All of a sudden: big butts were in. Coming out of the 2000s, where the skinnier you were, the better, this was somewhat of a relief for women that were not stick thin. The bad part of this is the Kardashians were promoting a body type that is virtually unattainable for most without plastic surgery.
The shocking thing that came with this is the increase in plastic surgery across the country and particularly the Brazilian butt lift, or BBL for short. Surgeons saw a vast increase in this type of surgery in the past few years, especially among young people. In fact, I know a lot of people around my age that have received some sort of cosmetic surgery. This is not necessarily a bad thing, as I believe that you should do whatever will make you happy when it comes to your appearance. The problem I have is that many people are changing themselves because they have been told by society that you have to look a certain way to be viewed as beautiful. Another problem is that the Kardashians have been accused of getting cosmetic surgery and lying about it, which makes young people think those looks are naturally attainable. Although there is no way to confirm or deny these claims for a fact, if this is true, this could be detrimental to generations growing up with social media that see these looks as the standard.
Now, usually, when trends like this emerge from specific people, they have their spotlight for a while, and then it fizzles out. The Kardashian brand and influence are nowhere near fizzling out. When one show ended after 20 seasons, they started another on one of the most popular streaming platforms, Hulu. In the last year, we have seen the slimming down of the Kardashians, specifically with Khloe and Kim. Both have been noticeably smaller recently, signaling that big butts are back out. Almost immediately when this occurred, I saw a shift on social media with other influencers losing weight and even people around me becoming fixated on becoming thinner. The hold on culture and trends the Kardashians possess has made genetically unattainable body types the ideal.
Social media has the power to impact our self-image significantly. Young girls and boys are being raised in a society where influencers like the Kardashians are the standard. If you don’t have that exact body type, it is easy to feel like you are not good enough. It is incredibly taxing to be told how your body should look and change like it’s a fashion trend. Your body is not a trend. If you want to be thinner, work towards that. If you want a big butt and a small waist, get that BBL, girl. All that I ask is you do that for yourself, not anyone else. Don’t let the Kardashians tell you what is beautiful.