Kim Kardashian has thousands of videos dedicated to her on TikTok. But unfortunately, they aren’t aimed at her colossal success in reality television, the business space, or her fight for criminal reform, but at her body instead.
Since the early days of her fame, there has been a massive emphasis placed on the Keeping Up With The Kardashians star’s image, both positive and negative. Whether her famous curves were being hailed as the “body ideal” or dubbed as unattainable and damaging to her young fanbase everywhere, Kim’s physicality has always been up for discussion, including by herself.
This year in itself, talk about the star’s body reached fever-pitch after the mother-of-four gushed about how much weight she had lost. With personal chefs, a state-of-the-art gym in her own home, and a bevvy of personal trainers, billionaire Kim declared she lost 16lbs in just three weeks to wear Marilyn Monroe’s famous crystal embellished Jean Louis dress at the Met Gala back in May. Then, she revealed she had shed a further ten pounds last month. And to be honest, Kim’s decision to speak so brazenly about her quest for physical perfection is entirely problematic, but why do we still feel the need to feed into the discourse on social media?
No matter how she looks, who are we to feel the need to comment on another woman’s body? While, on the whole, we are growing more aware of discussions around celebrities’ weight online and left toxic body-shaming tabloid covers back in the noughties, TikTok is still rife with divisive videos about Kim’s body.
One TikTok video shared by user @yourfavecelebs showed a comparison of Kim Kardashian laughing and smiling while on the James Corden show back in 2017, shortly after giving birth to daughter Chicago, to a current one where she appears to be far slimmer. While the video does not directly reference her weight, the apparent comparison pictures lent themselves to an unwarranted discussion about her weight.
Interestingly, some felt the need to stick up for Kim by coming to their own conclusion that others online thought the star didn’t feel she looked as good five years earlier. “Even if she hadn’t had a baby in the first one, she would still look completely fine. Being bigger isnt a bad thing,” one person commented, while another wrote: “Idk I think the first one is better”.
Others commented that she looked better now at her slimmest. One said: “She looks so much younger now”. A second expressed: “She looks fit now i like it.” Meanwhile, others tried to divert the attention away from her body talk. “As long as she feels healthy and is happy within herself” someone commented. While those words are valid, it still stems from us talking. about. her. body. It’s time to stop.
Our journey with our bodies is strictly personal. There are many more essential things in the world for us to focus on and much more important things for TikTok’s algorithm to promote than Kim’s weight.
And even Kim acknowledged in the August cover story for Allure: “I’m at peace with not being perfect, and I wasn’t like that before”. While Kim is coming to accept herself, let’s accept that we need to stop using her body as a platform to discuss a woman’s weight.