Kylie Jenner

She’s known as one of the most influential moguls of 2017: Kardashian family member Kylie Jenner. Famous for her backside and pouty lips, a simple search can reveal her instagram, which is practically parading an ideal body type and sexual objectification. However, her physical appearance is an unrealistic look for girls all over America. By promoting this, she is adding to the low self-esteem and low confidence that is directly linked to the ideal of perfection. Her look, and body is what is deemed as beautiful in today’s society. She has a daily following of 19,182 and an overall following of 97.5 million people. With more than half being impressionable teenage girls. Kylie Jenner’s powerful social media influence is leaving a negative impact on the beauty standards for young women because it encourages unrealistic ideas of perfection.

There is a constant reminder of what is beautiful in magazines, advertisements, and social media platforms. With Kylie Jenner being a major influence among millennials, companies use her to promote their products. They specifically look at Kylie, because of in fact how engaging her 98.9 million followers are. The  products she promotes include “Flat Tummy Tea,” and waist trainers. Flat tummy tea is a company that sells detox products that “promote weight loss.” They claim their products are all natural, has vitamins and the right herbs to help you lose weight. They also sell things like waist trainers and weight loss shakes. Instead of kylie  being outright and saying her body was achieved with surgery, she says, “ My flat tummy secret is my detox tea… keeping my tea with me keeps my waistline slim.” This leads to people buying these things thinking that they actually work just alone without proper exercise and diet, they are being deceived. There have been many cases where girls have ended up in the hospital because of waist training. This is due to impermeable damage to the organs. On Flat tummy tea’s website, in big white letters says flat tummies with a big heart. The sites promotes being skinny as wonderful and perfect, compared to an overall healthy lifestyle.

Another way Kylie Jenner makes beauty seem unrealistic is in terms of identity. There is not any diversity in the models on their page, one of these models include Kylie. “According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, about 70 percent of girls grades five through tenth said images influence their ideals of a perfect body.” A lot of impressionable girls are seeing that, with kylie getting 165,000 searches in a month for her page. In marketing, there are certain things advertisers do to grasp the attention of consumers. One of these things is  called dismemberment, which she does on her social media feeds. It is when there is focus on one part of the body. Like her breast or butt for example. This is done only for the purpose of selling a product. This is dehumanizing to women, showing that the only way to get a point across is to objectify yourself. Also detaching the face, and other basic human features to only show the specific “feminine” ones are basically shouting the idea that women are nothing more than their bodies. A instagram post, which dates to August 21st  has  kylie selling her new t-shirts. These t-shirts have her in a bikini, which leaves nothing to the imagination. This shirt does not have her face or other features. Everything is cut off except her body.

She has become an expert in selling herself as a sex symbol. Her body is a brand. The business tactics used aren’t promoting anything positive for young girls.These pictures show beauty that isn't attainable. Jenner wasn’t born this way, her lips and breast have been achieved through surgeries. The Kardashian/Jenner surgeon, Simon Ourian states that just 10 years ago his clientele that was between the ages 15-19 only made up 1%. They now make up 10% of overall clients. There is no wrinkle, roll or flaw in site on Kylie. The young girls that fit in with her 97 million followers are going to like these pictures, and compare themselves in every way possible. These pictures show them that beauty is based on looks. An example of this would be the Kylie Jenner lip challenge. In order to look like kylie jenner, girls would suck on anything that would make their lips swell up. This did nothing but left girls with bruised or busted lips. According to an article by Mac Cosmetics. Shortly after this challenge, there was high demand for lip plumpers,

Although Kylie Jenner may not think that sexually objectifying her body to young girls matters much, her influence goes beyond just posting photos to them. In today’s time, she holds a lot of power in the minds of today's youth. They are looking for a role model, someone to look to or to aspire to be.In an interview Kylie mentions that she basically isn’t going to stop doing what she wants, no matter the consequences. "I feel limited in some ways because I have such young fans. But I'm okay with that; I do everything I want to do." She’s acknowledging her actions, but is completely disregarding what these actions do.  In the same interview she says she knows she has “young fans…”  Having this power, means being responsible. There are countless others like Selena Gomez, who holds the most followers on instagram who do not objectify themselves. In comparison to Kylie, she constantly promotes lupus research, and post photos that show her doing community work. For example, a post that is showing you how to reach out to the representatives of your state for DACA’s or  dreamers.  Which are immigrants who have come to the country as children, that are protected by a bill passed by Barack Obama. Her post are nothing but positive, and if she is promoting something, her body is in full view and it is appropriate for her young followers. There is nothing wrong with expressing one's sexuality, but it should be in moderation or in private. With adolescents being one of the most impressionable age groups, many girls are still trying to figure themselves out, and Jenner’s behavior messes with that process.

Citations

Urgo. “Detailed Instagram Statistics for kyliejenner.” Kyliejenner Instagram Stats Summary Profile (Social Blade Instagram Statistics), socialblade.com/instagram/user/kyliejenner/monthly. Accessed 25 Sept. 2017.

Lister, Mary. “33 Mind-Boggling Instagram Stats & Facts for 2017.” WordStream, 21 Aug. 2017, www.wordstream.com/blog/ws/2017/04/20/instagram-statistics. Accessed 25 Sept. 2017.

Boone, Carly. “Beauty vs. Self-Image.” Prezi.com, 15 Feb. 2017, prezi.com/l9syqppjzwmr/beauty-vs-self-image/. Accessed 25 Sept. 2017

“Kylie Jenner Quotes.” BrainyQuote, Xplore, www.brainyquote.com/quotes/quotes/k/kyliejenne825427.html.