Culture

“Kyfluence” – A reflection on Kylie Jenner’s impact on modern culture

Illustration by Rachel Gordon.

There are times when I have thought to myself- why can’t my lips be bigger? Why isn’t my waist so tiny, and why isn’t my ass so huge? I have looked in the mirror and not necessarily didn’t like myself, but wondered why and how all these things could naturally be enhanced. These thoughts were constantly followed by me seeing Kylie Jenners obnoxious Snapchats, Instagram photo’s- or perhaps one of the many Snapchat articles that are published daily.

Kylie Jenner is not doing a damn good thing for this world. Millions of people are constantly looking up to her- she is everywhere. I don’t look up to her, but I do follow her. It saddens me when I hear my own friends saying they wish they were as perfect as her. I for one am lucky enough to now realize that everything about her is extremely fake. It is one thing for people to look up to girls with nice bodies because those girls worked for them. In the end of the day everyone should love their own body and be proud of what they own, but my point is that people are looking at the un-natural, and unachievable. Her body is completely un-natural. I don’t let her constant flaunting of her body bother me as much as it once did, because I know how fake it is- but not all know this. I am concerned for younger girls as they don’t realize this, and it will only cause them to be more critical of themselves for something that is not attainable.

Kylie Jenner is completely aware of the influence that she has- there is footage of her even saying how she now realizes how many people do look up to her; she abuses this power. Majority of her Snapchat stories consist of her showing off her body- literally taking videos moving her phone throughout her body to show-off her “perfect” figure. This makes me sad, because in the end of the day what is the purpose of that? She can’t possibly think that it is benefitting girls who are watching, because how could it? To me, its really just a slap in the face. Sure she is only 19, but Jenner is not stupid- she knows exactly what she is doing.

Her image is entirely centered on materialism. Along with her provocative Snapchats, she additionally shows off her new swag. This goes anywhere from a new car, diamonds, purses, clothing, anything. I could understand if she was doing this occasionally – but this is all the time. Again, people are looking at this and just wishing what they had the same. This all brings me to the same question, how does this benefit people? I understand she was spoiled all her life, but why does she constantly need to show off her new things that are just handed to her? This isn’t helping the world, in fact I think it makes people obsessed even more with materialism.

I applaud her on her success with her makeup line, I really do- then again, her formula that she “put her heart and soul into” is the almost identical to Colour Pop’s if you check out the ingredients. It just costs more because of her name- smart move Kylie. However, she is good with business and marketing with the product. I could understand how some people could look up to this but, this is only a more recent thing. Before her makeup line, she had absolutely nothing going for her aside from her photos on Instagram. Her large following came way before this makeup line, and this was only because of her unrealistic and un-attainable looks.

The world is aware of this negative influence, there are many girls on Youtube complaining about this. In my opinion, the media is only making it worse. Even if I were to delete her on Snapchat, featured updates posted by publications such as The Daily Mail are constantly posting articles about how good her ass looked in her new bikini, or some other shit like that. It’s sad how much other important news is going on in the world, and this is what they choose to make their feature article on a social media platform that is huge? Are you kidding me? From a professional publication, the most interesting news you could possibly find in this entire world is how good Kylies boobs looked in her dress?

I wish Kylie could see and realize how negatively she is affecting peoples self esteem, and I wish I could tell her to take advantage of all the attention she has earned herself. Instead of showing off your body, why don’t you do something good? Talk about something important and useful, something that will inspire people to do good. There is nothing wrong with being confident and I applaud her for that, but its gone overboard. It would be cool if she could check out this article, but she’s probably too busy taking a selfie.

About author

Lifestyle Editor & Music Writer at Live in Limbo. Freelance Music Journalist, aspiring to be as good as William Miller from Almost Famous. Indie/Alternative music fanatic, and a Media Studies student with some chill vibes.