The Kardashian Brand: A Study in Beauty Standards and Gender Performance
How do we standardize female beauty? How do beauty standards differ globally? Can society function without beauty standards? Before we can answer these questions, the first thing we must understand is what beauty standards are. Essentially, beauty standards represent an “immutable essence” of femininity (Beauvoir, 279). What is femininity? It is a hypothetical criterion that one must observe to be considered a woman. At least, that is what it is alleged to be. The true question that we must ask ourselves is if femininity exists at all. According to Judith Butler, a contemporary feminist advocate, femininity is “a kind of imitation for which there is no original” (Butler).
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Society encourages extensive insights as to how a woman should appear, not only physically but also manneristically; women are taught from a young age that promiscuity is unacceptable, while prudishness is undesirable. These arbitrary beauty ideals establish women as, “the other, the inessential, the object” because they aim to please men, who operate as “the subject” (Beauvoir, 7). The self-created Kardashian Brand is very telling in regards to how we standardize beauty, as the Kardashians function as both an idol that women emulate and an object that men desire; it is women’s admiration and the men’s lust that fuels the massive Kardashian monopoly. The Kardashians maintain media prevalence by tailoring their gender performance to the evolution of these notions and thus, the monopoly prospers. When Kim Kardashian exercises, she wears excessive makeup and has polished hair, verifying her vigilance in being, “really careful about how [she is] perceived” (Kim Kardashian, Keeping Up with the Kardashians, S1:E4). This manipulation proves that gender is a not factual construct and the dual nature of how the Kardashians are perceived confirms that gender is open to interpretation, in turn substantiating gender as an act. Because the Kardashians have perfected a formula that allows them to …show more content…
The human experience is characterized by making comparisons to what is believed to be standard and gender roles perpetuate the notion that there is something uniform in each member of a certain sex. Gender is everywhere. Even something as simple as a razor, an item used universally, experiences gender categorization. Society does not know how to function without incessantly promoting the “binarism of sex” and the Kardashians have capitalized on this “fundamental unnaturalness” by making a line of products, including a clothing line and a perfume brand, which targets female gender performance and sexuality (Butler, Gender Trouble, 190). Does their exploitation of gender make them immoral? It is up to personal interpretation whether or not the Kardashian philosophy is corrupt, however, it is undeniable that exploitation for commercial gain is a traditionally male action. ‘Masculine’ tactics produce a lucrative brand and the hyper-sexualized Kardashians take on feminist agency; Butler’s notion of the world being “produced through the constituting acts of subjective experience” is unquestionably demonstrated (Performance Acts and Gender Construction, 522). The Kardashian ability to take gender expression to a degree where it virtually becomes a parody and to successively make a fortune by exploiting gender roles proves that character and intellect do not
Breazeale claims that society’s view of women has everything to do with how consumerism has been viewed primarily as a feminine attribute, and describes how men believe women are just poor consumers. Additionally, Breazeale describes how showing women in erotic, sexual ways made men feel that women were solely objects of their desire and nothing more. Breazeale effectively convinces the audience that society’s perception of women today has been significantly swayed by their constant portrayal as consumers through an in-depth look at Esquire Magazine and how it not only portrayed women as lavish, silly spenders, but simply as objects of the male
This phenomenon suggests that all women are required to remain loyal wives and stay at home mothers who aspire to achieve perfection. In “Mirrors of Masculinity: Representation and Identity in Advertising Images,” Jonathon E. Schroeder and Detlev Zwick claim that “highly abstract connections are made between the models, a lifestyle, and the brand” resulting in a need to associate these products with a specific way of living (25). Instead of simply displaying these luxurious bracelets and handbags, the ad creates an elegant environment through the incorporation of sophisticated items. The women are dressed elegantly in dresses and blouses, adding a conservative element to the ad. The ad presents a rather stereotypical image of the very successful heads-of-household type mothers who have brunch with other elite women in an exclusive circle. Everything from the merchandise they sport to the champagne glasses down to the neatly manicured fingernails provides insight into the class of women presented in this ad. The body language of the women strips the image of the reality element and instead appears to be staged or frozen in time. This directly contributes to the concept of the gendered American dream that urges women to put up a picture-perfect image for the world to see. Instead of embracing individual struggle and realities, the American dream encourages women to live out a fabricated
know beauty in any form”(86). We are so conditioned to see female beauty as what men
Keeping Up with the Kardashians is a stereo-typical reality show that focuses on attention grabbing antics and high impact drama. When “Keeping Up with the Kardashians” made their debut, it brought something new to the table of reality TV causing the viewers to go wild. While the Kardashians audience consists of middle age to adult women, there are still a large amount of fans that are men. Many of the characters in the Kardashian family are known for their vain, arrogant and high strung personalities. Stereo typical portrayals of how women should react are shown throughout the show. Multiple viewers continues to embrace the illusions that all women are cranky and vain, only interested in living a luxurious lifestyle.
The ideal female beauty in American culture is predominately white (Bankhead & Johnson, 2014). Throughout U.S history, women’s mainstream beauty ideal has been historically based on white standards such as having blonde hair, blue eyes, fair skin, a thin ideal body, straight hair, and thin lips (West, 1995; Yamamiya, Cash, Melynk, Posavac, & Posavac, 2005; Leslie, 1995). Therefore, the features of African American women tend to be viewed as undesirable and unattractive compared to the European standards of beauty (Awad, Norwood, Taylor, Martinez, McClain, Jones, Holman, & Hilliard, 2014). According to Ashe (1995), “African beauty, body and hair have been racialized, with slim/”keen” European features being the accepted standard of beauty since enslaved Africans was forcefully brought to the Americas.” The physical characteristics of Black women such as having broad noses, brown skin, full lips, large buttocks and course hair has been looked down upon throughout United States history (Byrd & Tharps, 2001). In effect, the standard of beauty of European features that were forced on slaves are internalized and currently seen in the standard of beauty of African Americans (A.A) (Chapman, 2007). These standards include African Americans perceiving light-skinned as being more favorable than dark-skinned (Maddox & Gray, 2002; Perdue, Young, Balam,
The Kardashian family is somewhat of a phenomenon. They do not come from humble beginnings. They are not exactly athletic. They do not produce music of any kind, (any that is remarkable), and apart from their “reality” television show, yet they are actual icons that people spend time and money on. Of course they have a couple big time relatives such as Robert Kardashian, who handled the OJ Simpson case back in 1996. But there is one Kardashian out of all of them, that has sparked a peculiar interest for some. It is clear there is no denying Kim Kardashian’s physical beauty. Even I can get a little dazed by her seemingly three foot long eyelashes and amazing, unattainable curves. But there is one question that has been raised by many people,
Sarwer, D. B., Grossbart, T. A., & Didie, E. R. (2003). Beauty and society. Seminars in
No matter where a person goes throughout the United States, they will not walk through the streets of New Jersey or New York for long before they hear the latest scandals with Kim Kardashian or Miley Cyrus. If a person walks into any public store they’ll quickly hear discussion of the latest stars on American Idol from passersby. While we scoff at the antics of celebrities, but at the same time we can foster an almost fanatical desire to be as if not more famous then the people everyone talks about. It is rather human to feel envy, jealously, and desire; we all want to be looked favorably upon. We roll our eyes when someone repeatedly states how beautiful or intelligent a celebrity is, yet even a skeptic can’t help but desire the admiration that celebrity received. Why do men work out? Why do women use such extensive amounts of cosmetics? Why are people so determined to be revered? The answer to individual’s thirst for fame can vary but it’s unavoidable to assume that individual wanted to be the center of attention. We want to be admired, favored, and loved as much as the celebrities that we worship. Reality television has shifted to show the “perfect” life of our celebrities and how happy they are compared to the common people. Neoliberals and authoritarian realized how our fanatical love for our celebrities can be used against us as to quote Frank Furedi from his academic journal on the topic of celebrity culture in which he has stated in the abstract in his first page: “Often celebrity provides an alternative source of validation. The tendency to outsource authority to the celebrity represents an attempt to bypass the problem of legitimacy by politicians and other figures.” Through celebrities’ neoliberals and
In a patriarchal context, Alba has been created as sex symbol through the Hollywood entertainment industry, which defines the control that men have over what is considered beautiful in advertisement, such as the Revlon ad: “Most reviews about film and TV define Jessica Alba as the reason to watch the show” (Reed and Saukko 215). This type of promotion from a primarily male-dominant industry has turned Alba into a role model for youthful beauty. This has led to commercial contract with make-up companies to reinforce this popularized view of her being an idealized and objectified template for beauty. This type of promotion defines why Alba has not played a strip dancer in films, much as Sin City, but she can be converted into a wholesome and earthy woman that promotes high-class make-up products for women. These are important aspects of gender and the patriarchal foundation of the advertisement, which define Alba’s role in the ad and the way she is presented for the sale of this
In her novel “Beauty Myth”, Naomi Wolf argues that the beauty and fashion industry are to blame for using false images to portray what beautiful woman is. She believes the magazines are to blame for women hating their bodies. Wolf states, “When they discuss [their bodies], women lean forward, their voices lower. They tell their terrible secret. It’s my breast, they say. My hips. It’s my thighs. I hate my stomach.” (Wolf, 451) She is focusing on how w...
There is a famous saying that states, “ we should not judge a book by its cover”, but oftentimes the first thing noticed on a person is their looks. One’s “physical beauty” strongly influences people’s first impressions of them. As a whole, we tend to assume that pretty people are more likeable and better people than those who are unattractive. Around the world, we believe that what is beautiful is good. There is a general consensus within a culture about what is considered physically appealing and beautiful. “Physical beauty” is associated with being more sociable, intelligent, and even socially skilled. Society shares this common notion of who has and who does not have “physical beauty”. Thus, “physical beauty”, as seen
It is shocking to see the digression in humanity’s morals and values over the past decade. As cliché as it sounds, the media is the center of it all. The way women are being represented, from our television sets, the radio, pornography and even art has pushed beauty to the top of the list of controversial and widely debated topics around the globe. “Whenever we walk down the street, watch TV, open a magazine or enter an art gallery, we are faced with images of femininity,” (Watson and Martin).
Within the beauty industry there are numerous examples of media propaganda that can be investigated, but the television and magazine industry privdes a very specific representation of what women experience daily through the media. According to the Hollywood Reporter, the ...
I would like to begin with the fact that women have always been known to dedicate their time to beauty. Those who are devoted to their appearance most often believe that beauty brings power, popularity, and success. Women believe this, because they grow up reading magazines that picture beautiful women in successful environments; not to mention they are popular models and world famous individuals. Beautiful women are no longer just a priority for most advertising, but we have become a walking target for the working class employers. It is documented that better-looking attorneys earn more than others after five years of practice, which was an effect that grew with experience (Biddle, 172). We cannot overlook the fact that it is always the most popular and most beautiful girl who becomes homecoming-queen or prom-queen. While these are possible positive effects of the "beauty myth," the negative results of female devotion to beauty undercut this value. These effects are that it costs a lot of money, it costs a lot of time, and in the long run, it costs a lot of pain.
The concept of “beauty” is something that everyone feels, thinks, or wants, in order to fit society’s standards. In today’s society, we are often faced with the unrealistic ideals of what beauty is. Due to society’s constant portraying of unrealistic beauty ideals, this reinforces a negative influence upon women’s idea of beauty, resulting in a negative impact in their confidence, and self-esteem, which leads to others, specifically women to be manipulated by society’s corrupted outlook of what beauty is. To add onto this issue, we are constantly surrounded by sources of this negative influence in our everyday lives, including magazines, television, advertisements, and so on. However, women specifically, are more prone to be victims of this negative effect, thus will have more pressure upon themselves to match society’s idea of “beauty,” which includes unrealistic and sometimes unattainable beauty standards. Women especially, can sometimes be so deeply manipulated by society’s unrealistic ideals of what is beautiful, such that it’s possible that they don’t even realize it Furthermore, in order to do so, women often will receive negative impacts rather than positive impacts, such as in their confidence and self-esteem. The negative effects of society’s beauty ideals also lead women to have an overall corrupted idea of what is “beautiful.” Society creates unrealistic ideals of beauty towards women through the media by creating an unrealistic image of what women should look like to be considered beautiful. Men negatively affect women’s idea of beauty by using the unrealistic beauty standards exposed by society which further pressures women to try to fit society’s idea of what is beautiful. Beauty pageants negatively affect women’s ov...