Kylie Jenner, the toxic influencer

Internet influencers are numbing the brains of young American women. Today, too many influencers thrive from pop culture while its biggest consumers suffer as they obsess their physical appearance and compromise their mental health. One the biggest influencers at fault is Kylie Jenner.

Many women today suffer from body dysmorphia because they idolize surgically changed bodies as social media blurs the fine line between fakeness and reality. Kylie Jenner has had numerous surgeries over the past several years to change her face and body to look more like a woman of color when she is a white woman. From watching the earlier seasons of Keeping Up with the Kardashians, one can see Kylie Jenner naturally with pale skin, thin lips, and a skinny body. Now, she has darker skin, plumped lips, and curves. Physical traits women of color were bullied for just ten years ago.

Body trends change constantly, and just in the 2000s, white and skinny women were praised in anti-hero era. This made women of color feel physical insecure about themselves since they were constantly told what they were born with was not enough. Now in the 2020’s, after women of color decided to love themselves naturally and recognize their true beauty on the internet, white influencers like Kylie Jenner copied their looks for social media attention to get richer in a capitalist society.

White people copying and stealing from people of color is nothing new. Black musicians have had their music stolen for decades. Elvis Presley admitted to taking songs from Big Mama Thornton, and Little Richard recalled Elvis singing his songs without permission. The fashion of the “hippy” era of the 1960’s appropriated indigenous culture. People in of color in America for the longest time have not been credited for their appearances and accomplishments. Kylie Jenner making herself look more like a Black woman should not be surprising. It is another symptom of toxic western media only giving the lucrative spotlight to the dominant majority as minorities struggle for representation.

Kylie Jenner is not someone to look up to either. She has never stood up for any cause legitimately with her ginormous platform (except posting black squares). She posted on her Instagram expensive Australian furs while Australia endured their disastrous wildfires and did not even donate until she was pressured from the internet to do so. She expected her working-class followers on Instagram to pay for a 20,000-dollar fundraiser for her make-up artist’s brain surgery after a near-fatal car accident when she makes about the same amount of money in one hour. Kylie Jenner sets up a bad example for young girls and women to only care about money and oneself.

“Reality” is not even the appropriate word to use when describing reality shows. Reality shows are edited and manipulated to fit a certain a narrative female audiences take at face value. Kylie Jenner is not genuine person. She is a selfish, narcissistic, and stingy person who puts profit over people. Many of her fans don’t even realize she would treat them terribly in a public setting because of social and economic status. Her sister Kendall has been infamously known for this; Kylie would not be any different.

Young women in America need to stop praising white influencers because they part the toxic culture that is pushing society back. Young women in America need to turn off their phones and television screens and focus on themselves to give back to world in a positive way. Kylie Jenner does not care about your existence.