Discover the unspoken truths behind the glittering façade of celebrity beauty standards. Join me, Jerusha, as I lead an enlightening discussion with a panel of insightful youths—Nicole, Ritisha, Lola, Haniya, and Sarah—taking on the pervasive influence of the Kardashians and the impact their brand of glamour has on our self-perception. This heart-to-heart isn't just about calling out the often toxic beauty narratives; it's a clarion call for embracing our unique health journeys and rejecting the one-size-fits-all approach to beauty and fitness.
By the end of our deep dive, you'll understand why the echo chamber of celebrity-endorsed regimens and extreme dieting trends is more than just harmful—it's a distortion of reality. We tackle the deception rampant in celebrity beauty lines, the illusion of attainable aesthetics, and the strength found in authentic representation. This isn't just an episode; it's a movement towards a healthier, more inclusive view of beauty. Tune in for a powerful exchange of ideas that aims to redefine standards and champion a more honest narrative in the media.
Discover the unspoken truths behind the glittering façade of celebrity beauty standards. Join me, Jerusha, as I lead an enlightening discussion with a panel of insightful youths—Nicole, Ritisha, Lola, Haniya, and Sarah—taking on the pervasive influence of the Kardashians and the impact their brand of glamour has on our self-perception. This heart-to-heart isn't just about calling out the often toxic beauty narratives; it's a clarion call for embracing our unique health journeys and rejecting the one-size-fits-all approach to beauty and fitness.
By the end of our deep dive, you'll understand why the echo chamber of celebrity-endorsed regimens and extreme dieting trends is more than just harmful—it's a distortion of reality. We tackle the deception rampant in celebrity beauty lines, the illusion of attainable aesthetics, and the strength found in authentic representation. This isn't just an episode; it's a movement towards a healthier, more inclusive view of beauty. Tune in for a powerful exchange of ideas that aims to redefine standards and champion a more honest narrative in the media.
Hello everybody, this is Jerusha from Halton Women's Place and you're listening to the Learn to Love podcast. This is a show that discusses all things relationships, whether it's the relationship you have with yourself, your friends, your family or a romantic partner. We want all your relationships to be healthy. Through the discussions we'll be having, our goal is to give you the knowledge and tools you need to learn to love better. Today, I'm joined by an awesome youth panel featuring Nicole, ratisha, lola, hania and Sarah, and we're having a much needed Kardashian intervention. Hi ladies, thanks for joining me today. Thank you for having us.
Speaker 1:So the topic on conversation we're having today came up when I saw a story in my newsfeed about Kim Kardashian bragging about her body fat percentage and also sharing yet again unsolicited news about her doing a painful treatment to tighten her stomach. So this intervention is for the Kardashians, on behalf of the world. I want you to please stop, because you are harming so many people. And the intervention is also for all of our listeners who are negatively affected by the beauty standards and ideals that the Kardashians have been selling for years. So we really want to break that down through this conversation.
Speaker 1:So, as they've been in the spotlight, the Karjana family have been at the center of discussion about celebrities promoting unrealistic beauty standards.
Speaker 1:The five sisters and their mom as well they're all equally guilty of posting these envy inducing photos to their social media pages, which everyone should realize are carefully curated to show them as flawless. The Kardashians themselves have even spoken openly about using social media to propel themselves and their brands. I, before this conversation, I just went quickly on to Google to look at how much followers they have, and between the five sisters and their mom, they have accumulated almost 1.4 billion followers on Instagram combined, which is insane. So, from that perspective, both Kim and Kylie have over 300 million Instagram followers and, if we think about it, there are only three countries with a larger population in the world and 300 million, and that's China, india and the US. So just think of that amount of influence that they wield through social media. So I want to start off the conversation by asking how do you all think social media and the Kardashians have really influenced the ever changing standards of beauty?
Speaker 3:I mean, I've seen this topic trending on TikTok a lot and I see a lot of arguments that it's not celebrities responsibility to think about their viewers. But the thing is in the state and age we are growing up with social media, so everything we see these celebrities do like Kim Kardashian, kylie Jenner they are influencing young girls and telling them how they should live their lifestyle. And I've seen them advertise a lot of diet pills and with this Marilyn Monroe dress, social media really makes us think that we have to. It's hard to explain, but that clothes are supposed to wear us and not the other way around. And the fact that she lost so much weight just to fit into this Marilyn Monroe dress just makes us think that clothes will. Fitting into clothes is all that matters. Like I used to struggle with body image, like the issues, and what really changed my mindset was that clothes aren't supposed to wear us. We're supposed to wear clothes, so it does not make a difference If the clothes, if it doesn't fit right, just size up or size down.
Speaker 4:I think another thing that was really popular, like trying to like change their body is like they're really popular for like their workout videos and like trying to show how they like eat healthy or like the salads that they eat, and they promote all this kind of stuff. But like they also. And then everyone gets so obsessed, thinking like, oh, if this is working for, suppose, like Kendall Jenner, like she's a model and everyone wants to like have that desired look, so like they promote these, like workouts and everything they don't like and it's just not like resonating with people that just because you do it doesn't mean you're going to achieve the same body type. And I think, like with the dress, it's just like adding on to that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think. So they have this. There's this phrase that I saw called the slim, thick figure. So it's like you have this flat stomach and tiny waist but then, like your other proportions are not proportionate to what that would look like. So you have big boobs and a huge booty and, like this curvaceous waist and like people, that's, that is the figure and that's the look right now. That's the body ideal right now. Right, but that actually is so unhealthy and actually also unrealistic. When you have a flat stomach, you don't end up tend to have, like you know, the really curvaceous hips or the booty. That's for somebody that tends to be, you know, maybe a little thicker, for example. So them trying to say that this is their natural body, which we'll talk about in a bit more detail but like it's just outrightly a lie and, like Nicole said, like, oh well, if you just eat like us or exercise like us, you can achieve this. No, there's so much more into that.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I feel like there should be like some like like pre boarding of like them just saying like this is what works for me and I'm just promoting like healthy habits for myself and for others and I'm just showing you how I do it and what personally works for me, like you can totally try this, but like not being like this is the way to do it and just saying like this is all and then nothing else works.
Speaker 5:Right. And then I think they say, like it's not about that, fitness is the goal. It's more of like achieving that body type. Like, if they are promoting workouts, it's a good thing, right, because they're promoting like healthy habits, as you said, but then as soon as they attach it to like the ideal body type, that's when it becomes problematic, because now we're just losing weight or trying to achieve that for other people's pleasure rather than like our own health.
Speaker 2:And even speaking on the ideal body type, it's really convoluted how it always changes. Like, say, less than 20 years ago the ideal body type wasn't slim, thick. So today people have been commenting on how the Kardashians are reversing their BBLs and sort of going back towards the instead of the more extreme features of, like very small waist and very large hips. It would be reversing their BBL, kind of going back towards the more traditional slim body ideal that was more popular like 10 years ago. So in the way of them influencing people to change their bodies to such extremes and for them to be able to easily reverse that, it's kind of deceptive in a way of them saying this is the ideal and then going back on their word and changing the ideal for yourself and making other people's follow suit.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I actually read something where it said that the BBL which I didn't know what that was before, but the Brazilian booty lift that that was one of the most reversed procedures. And it kind of shows because if you look throughout time what the beauty standard is. It's always changed, it's evolved, right. But now it's the big booty, small waist, right. So when the big lips oh my gosh, don't get me started on these lips like look so ridiculous. But when that goes out of style, then are you going to like, oh, let's all go to the doctor and like, change our lips and change this and that because this is a new trend. Like, is your body supposed to be a part of a trend? I know, like a trend is like oh, you know we're going to get some champion sweaters or whatever, but like is your body? You're going to keep contorting your body to fit into a trend and it's self is so unhealthy.
Speaker 1:So in a reunion episode of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, the family was asked about criticism that they promote an unattainable level of beauty to the public. And my favorite, because it was so cringy and outrageous, was when Kendall Jenner her response was very like she's so like, fervently believes the crap that she was about to say. She was like we all really enjoy taking care of ourselves and being healthy. So I think, if anything, the only thing we're really trying to represent is just being the most healthy version of yourself. And then Kim Kardashian added we get up, we do the work, we work out.
Speaker 1:And then she doubled down on that stance although there was like some backlash from it when she had an interview with Aler magazine and they asked her if she feels responsible, or even guilty, for setting an unrealistic or unattainable beauty standard. And then she says if I'm doing it, it's attainable. I really genuinely care about looking good. I probably care more than 90% of the people on this planet. It's not easy when you're a mom and you're exhausted at the end of the day, or you're in school and I'm all of the above. I do my beauty treatments, usually late at night, after everyone's in bed. I'm doing laser treatments. Thoughts about this.
Speaker 6:I mean, is there really any way to say that? How horrible is this? Like we all know that she's getting her beauty, or, like I believe, most of it. Like we all know she does this, all the surgeries, all this different treatments, and she's so passionate about the way this always works for her and how anybody can do it if they work hard enough. But the thing is not everybody has the same body type. Everybody's going to have the same reactions to the surgery. Surgery is this treatment and not everybody can afford it. And she is the way she is because she works so hard, because she puts in the effort, she cares more than everybody else. She's so extremely hard for people who still care, who still put in an effort and yet don't get the same results.
Speaker 4:I think, going off of saying about affording things, I remember that she was showing a treatment called the Vampire Facial, where it's like you take the platelets from your blood and they spin it and then you only extract some of it and it goes back into your skin. Like that's not a cheap procedure or facial to get. So I don't see how, like saying that, oh, this is so easy and it works and it's beneficial, like you can't promote something to like a very wide group of public and say you should try it when not everyone's able to afford it.
Speaker 5:And I think it's not just about like, if everybody, if it's going to work on everybody, but also like, why should everybody try it in the first place? Right, if you've chosen that for your body, then like okay, but then that doesn't mean you have to encourage other people to do that as well. Right, because, like no, everybody's bodies is different. Right, we don't change our bodies to look like something.
Speaker 6:I can argue that some people do need, not need, but some people would like to get the surgeries where there's, like body comfort and surgeries and all of that. The problem is when you idealize this exactly body type and encourage others to do all this really expensive procedures, and make them believe that their bodies are not enough.
Speaker 1:And you know what, if you look at the first season of the Kardashians and look at them now, you can see a transformation in each and every single one of them and some, a lot of what they do is so deceptive and outright deceitful when they like to say this thing about I've never had any surgery. There's a lot of procedures that you can have done that technically aren't surgeries, but it is something that is altering your body or helping you to get the look that you're trying to attain. So it's not that we got older and they just got older through the years and now they look that way Like sorry, their butts didn't suddenly, like they woke up one morning and there's a whole other booty on top of their preexisting. Like come on, let's be realistic here.
Speaker 4:I do know that there was an episode on Keeping Up where they were, like, taking x-rays to prove that Kim doesn't have like the transplants or like in her butt, and I was just thinking about how, like, how much people were obsessing over the fact that, about their bodies, that they had to prove and take an x-ray in order to, like, stop these rumors.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and, by the way, can I just say that Kim Kardashian isn't the first person or before that it was JLo like they're. Everybody was obsessed with that. They're not the first people to have big booties, and I feel like that is almost like an appropriation of other body types that before were made fun of for looking that way, like the big lips, for example. So let's just highlight that as well.
Speaker 2:Yeah, can I? I wanted to talk about this just for a short amount of time. When I used to watch TV early, early 2000s I guess, maybe like when I was five or so, on YTV or Disney Channel, I'd watch a TV show and there I think maybe five times I heard this line on five separate TV shows. A character would be putting on jeans and be like, do these pants make my butt look big? And they'd say it in a negative way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and I do know that a lot of this like fear towards having a more crevacious body type around that time was kind of a little bit rooted in racism, because people would perceive having larger features as being more unnatural, more exotic, more different, and it's interesting to see how that's changed over time. But even then, the reason that it's changed isn't because of these people that a lot of people would attribute those features to. It's because people have taken those features and have made them something kind of contorted them, something that they can monetize and something that they can profit off of without having the lived experiences of somebody who had those features for most of their life.
Speaker 5:Yeah, yeah, and I think we can also like just say that these, like having larger like body parts, is not wrong, like it's, there's nothing wrong, like you can't have a wrong body, right. It's just that we're idolizing this body type for every like single person.
Speaker 1:Which is wrong.
Speaker 5:Right, because we all have different body types, feel like there's difference in genes. It's so like when we're imposing one body type on everyone, that's what's wrong, but like having that body type in itself there's nothing, but yeah.
Speaker 3:And I love adding on, and adding on to. That's not only wrong to impose one specific body type. What's wrong to Market, market how we supposed to get there, and unhealthy ways where you're promoting Dieting, unhealthy workout culture and just things that are really harmful to your body, just to get that body type. It's just not worth it.
Speaker 1:Yep, it like infuriates me how like tone deaf they are, but I don't know if it's tone deaf because are you actually? Maybe they are just that like blind that they actually believe the garbage that they're saying? Because, like when they're saying, oh, we get up and we do the work, like are you actually seriously saying that? Because how can you say that when you have such privileged lives? And also it's just not realistic like anybody else. When you say that's common, like when Kendall and Kim said that Anybody else who's a normal human being and has like a rib cage and your face isn't perfectly symmetrical Maybe my eye is a little different or my eyebrow or whatever it makes you feel like you're a loser, although we shouldn't feel that way. But it makes you feel like, well, I'm not beautiful or I can't look that way, when we all know that that is not how they look naturally, like we have the receipts, go back to 2000 and whatever, when they started in their first Season, right, and also it's unattainable, because Nicole brought it up. It's also unaffordable. Like don't try to act. Like okay, well, you know, just go do some squats and go eat like salads every day and you're gonna look like that. You're not. So again, you're doing a disservice to people and you're harming your 1.4 billion followers who are, like May or may not be believing and trying to emulate these standards that you're setting. And I think Kylie Jenner is a perfect example of what that pressure looks like. She started doing stuff to herself at such a young age. When we look at Kylie, at the very beginning she had thinner lips. Nothing was wrong with that and this is no meant, no way meant to be Shaming them, but it's just a call out like facts and expose, like this brand and product that they're trying to sell people and are harming people with, because there's a lot that you can do. That isn't considered surgery, but the audacity to say that we get up and we do the work like you just need to stop with that, because there's so many girls self-esteem that you're affecting between the filters and the lighting and the hair and makeup team, and then some of these like procedures that they're doing. Whether they want to label it as surgery or not, surgery or whatever is a technical terms. You can see a transformation in all of them.
Speaker 1:I remember back in the 80s when Cindy Crawford was the standard of beauty right. Young girls were trying to emulate her. But then she came out and said I wish I looked like Cindy Crawford when I wake up in the morning, because I don't. And that can be so freeing to people, then trying to sell this folks concept like if you buy this product and if you do this like you can look like me. So what Cindy Crawford did was she took a magazine cover that they did of her and she showed how she showed up in the morning and then she talked about like All the tricks and things that they did to like make her look like that, so the hair and the makeup, and then even that doing tricks to make her boobs look bigger, and then, after all of that, they use technology to give her a waist and Photoshop the image even more. And that can be that truth can be so freeing to people, because then you come to see it's like a marketing ploy and what am I actually comparing myself against a unicorn that doesn't exist? Like it can be so liberating for people.
Speaker 1:So I want to get to what's the missing piece here? Because we know that they have immense cultural power and social media presence and they've used that power to glorify and normalize everyday airbrush perfection which, like we've been saying, is that they're saying oh, it's because of eating healthy and working out daily. Chloe loves to do that, like highlight, and I have no doubt, chloe, that you're in the gym, you're working out hard, you're doing it great, but that's not the only thing that has you looking that way. Let's be real. So, essentially, they are perpetuating this idea that if their fans or followers follow the same thing or buy their products Eat healthy or exercise that they could achieve the same results. But Also buy their waist trainers and their lip liners and their vitamins, and if you just live a push lifestyle, you'll look like them. So what's the missing piece that we're leaving out out of this narrative of the Kardashians being the beauty standard?
Speaker 2:They have everything that they need to get the way that they are, and a lot of people don't have personal trainers 24, seven personal chefs, plastic surgeons on call. You know, not a lot of people have that resource available to them to craft a Idealized version of themselves and, as a result, it can lead them to do dangerous things. You know plastic surgery, in particular PBLs. They're really dangerous If you get them at Less Certified places or if you travel to get them.
Speaker 2:I know a lot of people who've passed away because of botched Plastic surgeries, and it's it's harmful for them to perpetuate this behavior, while also saying that everyone can get it. It's a very privileged point of view for them to say that Getting the perfect body is as easy as XYZ, when you're going to need so much Monetary backing in order to even begin that journey.
Speaker 1:It's yeah, you need a whole lot of wealth, privilege and a whole team behind you to look like that.
Speaker 5:And I think what's even more like, devastating, is when young teenage girls are like going on these really unhealthy diets to achieve that body type. Because like and they're like restricting like foods, like there's so many diets, like the keto diet, like so many, and we all know that they're not good for you, like they're they're really unhealthy and like. The missing piece is that to achieve that body type, it's in an unhealthy way, it's in a dangerous way and they probably also endured the effects if they're done that. But they're just not sharing that because they want to market this body type that they've now glorified. It's their brand.
Speaker 4:Yeah, I think what adds like to their brand and like Tina such is that, like Kylie Jenner and her group are like a popular group, the friend group right now, and like especially on tiktok.
Speaker 4:And if you like, look at all of her friends, they all seem to have similar body types and, like I mean, some of them have out least outwardly, said like I have gotten surgeries, I have gotten these procedures done, but they're all to fit the same Kardashian Jenner like figure that they've been promoting. So it's not only like just them that they've been like in, like in the family, promoting their friends are doing it to now. And like it's just like they have followers. They like each one of them influences different types of communities, like her makeup artist is more in the makeup world and her friend is more in the fashion world and like they target like different interests that people follow and then, collectively, we all just joined into this one trend. So I think it's like a repetitive cycle of like. Where do you, where does the trend like stop within people and like, how do you recognize that it's like not okay to be like or not it's? It's okay to be different in a way, and not everyone has to look the same.
Speaker 1:Yeah, one of the funny great because it was so on point tweets that I saw was somebody being outraged over the get up and do the work tweet and they said it. They were in so enraged by it because it was their surgeon and esthetician that got up and did the work. Like, so, like, so, like, stop with this. Like false narrative. One of the things that I want to talk about is that social media, which I know we've talked about previously, but it is all about being presenting this very curated image of yourself, and often the Kardashian post have been exposed for being heavily photoshopped, with fans picking up on the clues that the picture has been edited. Like you'll see some level of distortion in the background, like oh, why is your wall like wobbly? It has it's only become concave than the back right, and I think it's so good when we expose that, because the Kardashians are very diligent in maintaining these manufactured images that they're selling us. So I want to break down a few Kardashian case studies, if you will. So one of the ones that I came across was a report where Chloe Kardashian was so embarrassed by an unauthorized picture of her in a swimsuit that had no filters that she launched legal action in a bid to scrub it from the Internet. And then, after the unauthorized photo was mistakenly posted by an assistant earlier in the week, several social media accounts that had posted this image where, honestly, in the picture it's not a bad picture like I thought it was going to be like some horrible thing. It's just literally that it has no filter. So they I sent a bunch of legal action to these accounts that they were gonna take legal action against them if they didn't remove the picture. So after backlash, chloe posted that she felt the pressure of not ever feeling perfect enough and told fans the pressure, constant ridicule and judgment my entire life to be perfect and meet other standards of how I should look has been too much to bear. When I take that criticism to use as a motivation to get myself in the best shape of my life, I am told that I couldn't have done it through hard work and I must have paid for it all. So again feeding that narrative that I didn't pay for this, I like worked out. No one's saying that you didn't work out, but let's get more into her statement.
Speaker 1:So she continued by saying she loves a good filter, good lighting and an edit here and there. The same way I throw on some makeup, get my nails done or wear a pair of heels to present myself to the world the way I want to be seen, it's exactly what I will continue to do, unapologetically. She declared my body, my image and how I choose to look, and what I want to share is my choice. It's not for anyone to decide or judge what is acceptable or not. She added that she isn't looking for sympathy, but instead to be acknowledged for being human. She included a message to fans who also feel the constant pressure of not feeling perfect enough, telling them that they are unique and perfect in their own way and must no longer live life trying to fit in the perfect mold that others have set. And then, to top it off, she shared several stripped down videos showing off what her actual body looks like, unretouched and unfiltered. So I want to break that down a bit, because I know there's a lot of information there and I don't know about you, but good grief.
Speaker 1:There were so many contradictory, hypocritical statements in what she said, so I want to highlight it. So I don't want to come across as I'm not being empathetic. I am empathetic to the pain and insecurity that Chloe admits she faces. But I think what's important to note is that the Kardashian family themselves have contributed, if not created, the beauty standard over the last two decades through Photoshop, surgery and their wealth, like we've been talking about. And then one minute, she says she achieved it through hard work. And then she says she loves a good filter and edit. So why are you still trying to play this game of I exercise and got this body? Yes, like I said, she probably does work out a lot, but it's not just exercise and diet that has you looking that way.
Speaker 1:And then the video she posted after to say like oh, look, this is what my body actually looks like. Those videos which someone like actually did a video on after those videos were using filters. People may not realize that you can actually use filters in videos. And Kendall Jenner, who is like already like she's a model, why do you need to use a filter? But she filtered her video.
Speaker 1:So she's continuing like she's already trying to like push back and say, no, this is who I am and I got this body through hard work, but then you're using a video with filters on it again, like it's just so outrightly deceptive, it's outrageous to me. So she's continuing this lie, ignoring the harm that she's potentially causing to so many impressionable people. But then she wants to be acknowledged for being human. So you want to be human, but you want to be a manufactured human using like. I don't get it. So I have empathy for her, but also don't ignore your own contribution and your family's own contribution to the beauty standards that people face and the harm that you're causing just by that post in itself, like you're suing people because you have an unfiltered photo of you in a swimsuit. Like how ridiculous.
Speaker 6:I don't think she realizes that. You know how she spoke of, how the pressure she was under when she was younger and other perfect body. And now she is that perfect body and she is imposing that same pressure under younger generations and by spinning all the sails of how she I'm guessing she worked hard, like there's no way you can have that body with help, put in some effort into it right, but still to assume that you didn't actually use anything else besides, that they only work hard, they only ate well, that anybody can have this body If only they work hard enough. That is extremely harmful, especially when you yourself have to use all these other products and all these other means of getting this body right and then coming out and saying that all of that is lies and then you're so hurt that other people are calling you out on it. It's not a good thing, because you're just spinning more and more lies and making more people feel uncomfortable with themselves. We're thinking that way. We're thinking, you know, for only being all this house.
Speaker 4:I think, going off like what you said about, like projecting insecurities, about pointing out things that maybe we wouldn't have noticed like before, like when Kylie Jenner was talking about her lips and she said that she felt like they were small and she was made fun of because of them, and then she got the fillers in her lips, everyone started the duck challenge, where they put like their lips into the little cap and, like, people actually got really badly injured through that and it just shows, like sometimes they like proclaim about their insecurities that maybe people wouldn't have noticed before, and it's OK to talk about your own insecurities and what you feel, but I feel like it's done in a certain way through them, where other people start noticing it when they didn't have it before.
Speaker 4:Like they start noticing all these features that they're like oh, maybe I should have that too. That's what, like, everyone else is trying to achieve. So, and I feel like it's also done through their like, through their brands and through their like products, like you said, like their waist trainers and the lip products. Like she started her whole Kylie cosmetics and her lip products because she wanted she wanted to find that perfect lip liner that matched her lip so that she could overline her lip and so that she could show. So it didn't like make a difference, but I feel like, and then she started that through that insecurity, and then everyone was like, ok, I need to find that perfect lip color than a TikTok trend where you can find your perfect lip color if you do this, and it just like starts like this whole chain of like, yeah, trying to find this perfect ideal of yourself.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and for many years as well. She also blatantly lied when people she said she was just overlining her lips. Yeah, no, you weren't. And again, it's not to shame people, like if you want to do that, like she could do whatever she wants, but then don't lie, because there's a bunch of impressional over 300 million people that are following you that are thinking, ok, well, if I just get the Kylie lip kit, I'm going to have Kylie's lips, because I need to have that, because that's going to make me beautiful. You're basically exploiting people's insecurities to make money and that's disgusting.
Speaker 2:It kind of makes me think about how the fact that you said that in the way of like them, making them making themselves into the clothing, instead of making the clothing fit them, it was making me think. The fact that their bodies are their brand the Kardashian family's their bodies are their brand and they can't afford to have their brand be undermined. So the way of people addressing the fact that the way that they're promoting the way they've got their bodies is unrealistic. They can't afford people to find cracks in this perfect system that they've created for themselves. So it's kind of a cycle of just securities being projected onto other people and money being gained from projecting those insecurities onto other people.
Speaker 1:Mm. Hmm, there's this housewife, is it? Somebody might know, bethany Frankel? Yeah, so I saw on her that she had posted something on her social media where she was kind of like showing her skin as it is Right. I mean recently in Canadian news there was like the whole thing with the news anchor because she has gray hair, right. So it's about like you're not even allowed to age, you're not allowed to like show your, your true self, because you need to fit into this standard of beauty. But she was kind of like just highlighting, like when she posts certain things on her social media. Sometimes she will have full on glam, but she will post it and she will put like you know that she has glam on. This is not like how she normally looks, but then she shows herself as she truly is Right and I think that again is so like truthful and people can really like resonate with that because it makes you feel less terrible about yourself. Like I know what even some of these people, like the they're here like for me my hair is like a lot thinner and like for their hair I'm like good Lord, do they have good genes? And it took me a while to figure out. Like no, there's just a whole lot of hair pieces in there, right? So there's so much of it where you do like, even as you're older and it's not just for young girls, just people in general where you you're comparing yourselves to these things that aren't, or to these people, sorry, that aren't actually themselves and they're not admitting to having all these things done and said they're profiting from it.
Speaker 1:Another Kardashian case study I wanted to highlight and I know Nicole brought it up before and I think Hania as well was when Kim Kardashian posted about losing 16 pounds in three weeks to fit into that Marilyn Monroe dress at the Met Gala and she said if I was starving, because there was a lot of backlash. And then so, of course, in her usual tone deaf manner, she says if I was starving and doing it really unhealthy, I would say that of course that's not a good message, but I had a nutritionist, I had a trainer. I have never drunk more water in my life. Again, how out of touch can you be? Because healthy weight loss per week, according to the Mayo Clinic, is about one to two pounds. It isn't over five pounds a week. So that's not healthy.
Speaker 1:And her comments are triggering because, again, think of the mass influence and people that she's reaching out to, people that already have unhealthy body image issues or have problems with eating disorders. She doesn't realize how triggering or dangerous her comments can be, because it sets a terrible example, and even after getting the criticism she continued to share recently about reducing her body fat percentage. So this is where the intervention piece comes in. Like, kim, please stop sharing this nonsense, and I'm not just saying for myself, I'm thinking of all the girls that she's harming with this nonsense, because when somebody decides to starve themselves by severely limiting their calories because this is what she says she covers it up in.
Speaker 1:Well, I was eating clean veggies and chicken and I drank a whole lot of water In order to lose weight. It all comes down to calorie deficit, right? So I'm gonna have a few tomatoes and a whole bunch of water because I wanna. Apparently, according to Kim Kardashian, that's healthy, but, unlike you, they don't have a nutritionist and they don't have a trainer to make sure and let them know. Like hey, actually you're harming your body right now. So how tone deaf and irresponsible can you be?
Speaker 4:I know there was like previous where, like her trainer is like they really focus on, like what she wants to focus on. I know that they've mentioned before, like they didn't wanna hire a trainer because suppose, if she wanted to I know this was mentioned somewhere but like if she wanted to lose toe weight, like the weight in between her toes, like if a trainer was not able to achieve that, like they didn't want them hired. It was mentioned on an episode, it was around those kind of words, and I was like what? Like I didn't know, toe weight was a thing I didn't know. There was weight between my toes.
Speaker 2:I didn't know that mattered what.
Speaker 4:But apparently like you need to lose toe weight now. But yeah, like I think that they're surrounded by like so many like nutritionists and health, like they have a private chef that'll cook these healthy meals for them and not everyone's able to like afford all this stuff, but then, on top of that, keep eating like perfectly healthy, just chicken and like metangies all the time. Like it's really hard for some people in their daily lives to like maintain this, and then it's just heartening to like see when people put in the effort and then they don't get the results.
Speaker 1:I've never that's so interesting. I've never heard of toe weight, but like that's where it crosses the line for me. Like don't come from my toes. It's called a big toe for a reason. People, it's supposed to be big. Like what the heck? That's the most ridiculous thing. Like not to make light of it, but like it just highlights how ridiculous and unhealthy it is. It's like basically attacking simple, everyday body parts. Like it's your toe. Your toe is supposed to be your toe. Like what is the exercise that we're gonna do now to make our baby toe smaller? Like ridiculous.
Speaker 3:And regardless of how unhealthy the dye was that Kim Kardashian went on. She had the money to have a nutritionist that watched over her and made sure that she was at least somewhat safe. Regular people who have body image issues don't have a nutritionist who can give them a dye that works for their body or just make sure they're safe and alive, right. So people are gonna try and do the diets that Kim Kardashian did. They're gonna hurt themselves real bad and it's so tone deaf. I don't even know if they realize the harm they're doing to young girls.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I personally really hate when celebrities share their like diet secrets or how do you get that perfect body of yours, because I feel like it's all curated to fit their image. Yeah, so somebody's a really supposed to be a down to earth celebrity. They'll be talking about how, oh, you know, I just have the meal like everybody else does, or, you know, I'll just go on a walk every once in a while. And we know that these celebrities themselves, they have to fit a certain box in order to maintain the position that they're in, to maintain the popularity that they have. And the way that it's just kind of it doesn't resonate with us as well as it would with celebrities between themselves. Celebrities would understand from one celebrity to another that, oh yeah, I know you had you lost that weight to fit into that Marilyn Monroe dress, because you know you're gonna get more likes on your good picture. People are gonna be like, oh, that's Marilyn Monroe, wow, you're gonna get more following from all this thing. So you're changing yourself to fit that image. But people at home are gonna start changing themselves to fit that image that you have for yourself.
Speaker 2:And just celebrity diets in general, I feel like they I'd rather them, not share them.
Speaker 2:I really would rather than not share them, especially because, even as a kid, there's so much media that you see that can affect the way you think. Like even watching a TV show, you'll be like, oh, I kind of want to eat that food that the TV show is talking about. If a celebrity that you admire and look up to talks about their diet and talks about how much they weigh, it can definitely affect you, especially if you're a growing kid just thinking, oh, I'm like the same weight as a celebrity who's a grown adult, but I don't look like them. That mindset is just going to inspire a younger generation of people to have so many insecurities that they didn't need to have. And I really like it if, as people that have kids a lot of the Kardashians, most of them actually have kids and I would like it if they would think about the impact of the things they're doing, yeah, and how it would affect their kids if their kids were to see them without the whole glamour.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because their kids are also going to be exposed to these beauty standards and having to live up to that right, and what's the effect of that on them. And like, one of the things that I want to highlight as well is, like, when they're always like the celebrities that are always talking about, like you're right, they always ask them, like how do you look this way? What are you doing? Or like as if we like nobody wants a tipper trick like from a celebrity anymore, but, like, the latest thing that like irritates me every time I see a new one is these beauty lines. Everybody and their grandmother is coming out with like a beauty line, like with some sort of skin care line, about why they have this amazing skin. So, like JLo has one, hailey Bieber has one, kylie has one, there's a whole lot more, but those are the ones that I'm going to highlight for a second. And like JLo, like I love JLo, I mean she's gorgeous.
Speaker 1:However, and an interview someone was like and even she perpetuated it when she was like selling her beauty line, her skincare line. She was like, everybody always asks me what, like my beauty secret is. So this, I wanted to share it with everyone. Well, just logically speaking, that makes no sense, jlo, because you just created this beauty line. So clearly it's not what you've been using for the last 15 years. You've been using other people's products. So why are you coming out with this thing? Like, oh, this is, this is my beauty secret and if you buy this, you'll get my skin? You just created it. How could what you just created be the reason that you've had this skin for the last 20 years? Does that make sense logically? No, so it's just like blatant consumerism.
Speaker 1:When you have this power, you know it has this line. With great power comes great responsibility. You have great power with your 1.4 billion followers. Like, show some level of responsibility. Like, have some level of morality and ethical thinking where everything isn't about you trying to make money. You've made your money. You have billions of dollars. Like, stop preying on people and being outrightly deceitful and deceptive and harming people.
Speaker 1:As we come to the end of our conversation and intervention, I want to kind of end off by talking about beauty role models and I want to be clear. I want everyone to stop looking at the Kardashians as beauty role models. There was a post recently where Kim was. Someone exposed her for editing out her trapezius muscle, which is around your neck and shoulders. So, like, good grief, what exercise or food can I eat to get rid of my trapezius muscle? Like, what will I do to get rid of that? Like? It's so illogical. But it's important to expose this. That's why it's good when, like, all of these things are highlighted and we're having these conversations, because you're starting to break down this facade that people are like using to like compare themselves to.
Speaker 1:Because, after the video was released, some women admitted that they were weirdly released by the photo editing revelation because they had started to become self conscious of their own normal body parts, such as having a neck muscle. And someone also tweeted this crap is so damaging. I'm an adult woman. I know what Photoshop is. I know that all of these social media images are Photoshop, but I would be lying if I didn't admit that when I see photos of myself, this is exactly the kind of stuff I see on my own body and think I'm so big.
Speaker 1:And that's why because you're comparing yourself against these, to these images that are so highly manufactured, and I can say that as well as an older like and not old, but like a more mature woman as well, where you look at these images and then you have to stop for a second and I have to break it down, like, like, why isn't my hair like that, or why isn't this like that? Or my skin? And when you see celebrities where their skin actually has texture to it and it's not just like flawless, there's no pores. I understand that Jesus made me to have pores and I'm supposed to have pores and they do too. They're just hiding it, right. So you have to sometimes take a second and just like break it down mentally in your own mind and be like wait, what am I comparing myself to that I'm making myself feel badly about right now. Right, I can have thicker looking here too, if I go like put in a whole bunch of hair pieces, do I probably not? Don't have the money, but also don't want to do it. So it's so important to think of, like having a human body is not a flaw, and I feel like right now, it's like we're in this war against our own bodies, almost, and there's absolutely nothing wrong.
Speaker 1:And having body parts like it's ridiculous for me to even say that, but like she's editing and photoshopping normal body parts for like, it's so ridiculous. And why, like, why are you doing that? Like you can do what you want to do. You want to do photoshop, you want to do surgery, you want to work out, you want to eat healthy, you want to do treatments, do you? But the thing is, where it becomes a problem is when you're like lying. So the only thing is don't lie, because you're affecting a lot of young girls to own your stuff. Like be honest to people and say, like you know what this is me or this is what I've done, so that you're mindful of the impact that you're having and how people are comparing themselves to that, and just like break it down for people. One of the best tweets I saw was someone who said I'm not anti plastic surgery, I'm anti build a body and then telling young girls bold face lies about how you've obtained said body through exercise and hard work. It's just not true, so let's expose it.
Speaker 1:Khloe Kardashian openly admitted to photoshopping her photos. She said I'm going to keep on doing it and she can do what she wants, like I said. But again, you're sending this out to over 200 million people. You're sending out that message as well, and that image as well, where they may not know that that is actually photoshopped. But think of it. Someone who has had all this work done is still not comfortable with their image. That they have to photoshop that image after. She's saying that she worked out so hard, right, so why don't you want to showcase that in this natural state? Why do you want to put all these filters over it? And then you're upset when something goes out with you in your natural state and there isn't that filter. That is not someone to role model yourself after. And if someone is that insecure about their appearance and they're still struggling with it after all of these things that they've done, don't look to that person to lead you or compare yourself to.
Speaker 6:Just don't believe when you see in social media, especially when it comes to this kind of celebrities, a lot of their pictures or videos are photoshopped right, they use filters, they use tons of makeup, they use tons of products that we don't have access to like just everyday people, right, and when you compare, you inevitably, like most people, are going to compare yourself to them. You have to know the standards are not only unachievable, but also med, with a lot of help from the outside. People aren't just born this way and there's a lot of hard work that goes into it, but also a lot of people that help these individuals, whether it be with their makeup or editing their videos, their photos, or plastic surgeries. So you have to make sure you know that what you're seeing is not necessarily what you would see in real life.
Speaker 5:And also, adding on to that, you should also just accept your body type and recognize that everybody is different and it's just how it is. You don't need like there's no perfect body type in this world and because beauty is really subjective, so it's basically what you accept and what you think it is. And celebrities and influencers like the Kardashians, when they try to idolize a specific body type, they're only doing that to market it or to gain something out of it. So, whenever you see a social media post, just don't think of it as a truth.
Speaker 4:Recognize that that social media post has been planned, photoshopped and carefully put together in a way to sell this image of that celebrity to you, and that's not something that you should compare yourself with, I think to summarize what's already been said just finding out what works for you and what your version of healthy is, and trying to be guided by such posts that are, as was said was marketed and strategically planned to promote someone in this body type that is just not always achievable to everybody. And just figuring out what works best for you and what you can do to promote your own mental health in a way.
Speaker 2:I just say, the most important acceptance you need is from yourself, because you can't go looking into outside sources in order to find peace with the way that you are. Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 3:And you have to realize that you are enough. And I know it can be very demeaning when you hear the Kardashian-Generes talk about that. They got their body. That's some hard work and you know you're putting in hard work but you're not getting that body type. But you have to know the work you put in is enough and that you are enough and you don't have to rely on anyone other than yourself to tell you that you're OK and you don't have to have the slim, thick body type or whatever body type will come in the next 10 years.
Speaker 1:Yeah yeah, body acceptance and body diversity is so important and that's the message that we need to be putting forward not us all trying to be clones of this particular body type and look that's in style right now, because your body isn't something that should be a part of a trend Like accept yourself for who you are and you're beautiful as you are. I really appreciate all of you joining me to have this intervention. I really think it's so important because we need to shine a light and expose these unhealthy and unrealistic beauty standards. And, like I said, with great power comes great responsibility, and I hope that the Kardashians realize that with their immense influence, they can perpetuate great, immense harm and they are by doing these ridiculous posts. So use your power for good and not to dupe people in order to make you some money.
Speaker 1:And beauty is an abstract concept that has evolved through time and will continue to so. Just remember that true confidence doesn't come from how flat your stomach is or how big your lips or your booty is. It comes from within. And beauty is the opposite of perfection, because we keep hearing a lot of these statements having to do with perfect. It has nothing to do with perfect. It's about beauty has to do with your confidence and your character. So thank you all for being here today and for joining me. Thank you for having us.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much.
Speaker 1:Thank you. Thanks for listening to Learn to Love. If you enjoyed our episode today, make sure you subscribe so you're notified when a new episode is posted. Feel free to leave a five-star rating, a comment or review and share with your friends to keep the conversation going. Until next time, remember, beauty is not about looks, makeup or clothes. True beauty comes from being yourself. Music.