Kylie adds, “I just think we have huge influence. And what are we doing with our power? I think I see so many young girls on the internet now fully editing. And I went through that stage too but I’m in a better place. And other people can instill insecurities in you.” Here’s where things get…ridiculous. Kylie was accused of photoshopping her pictures on Instagram as recently as April. She may not actively encourage others to do the same, but to characterize herself as someone who is past caring what others think is borderline insulting to the audience..
Later, the woman who made a fortune selling cosmetics and was just shown shellacking her sister’s face, tells the camera, “one of the biggest misconceptions about me is that…I got so much surgery to change my whole face, which is so false,” claiming that she’s had “only fillers.”
Then Khloé, the Kardashian who has made perhaps the most radical changes to her appearance, reflects, “I had the most confidence. I was chubby and in a skintight body-con dress. Society gave me insecurities.” There is absolutely no doubt that during the early years of the family’s fame, it must have been awful for Khloé, naturally bigger than her sisters, to be constantly ridiculed in comparison to them. Weight shame is part of what drove their brother Rob out of the spotlight. And now that she’s slimmer, Khloé is frustrated that she still gets criticism. Whether too big or too small, it’s “Not good enough. Still there are people constantly bullying you. You have to do things for yourself,” she tells the camera, protesting “unfair pressure”.”
This is the definition of empty rhetoric. Khloé earned money for an odious program called Revenge Body. Her family has promoted items like appetite suppressants, “flat tummy tea” and waist trainers. Her sister Kimberly bragged of starving herself for the Met Gala. Whatever bullying Khloé experienced does not justify the fact that she and her whole family not only implicitly promote a certain body shape in their endlessly documented diets and workouts, but also actively profit from it. In fact, that she’s been on the receiving end of this kind of criticism should make her more compassionate and open-minded, not less. If you’ve been a victim of fat-shaming, and you know you are a role model to your viewers, and you know you are being filmed, why would you ever so effusively praise others for being skinny? Over and over? If this conversation is supposed to be damage control for that backlash, it is too little, too late.