When the trailer for the third season of The Kardashians got here out in April this yr, it teased us with footage that gave the look of the family was finally going to handle, and perhaps even try and reckon with, the impact that they’ve had on beauty ideals, body image and other people‘s self-esteem. “All of us just must have an even bigger conversation concerning the beauty standards that we’re setting,” Kylie Jenner is shown to be saying to her sisters. Well, the episode in query was released yesterday and we now know this was all, if not a straight-up lie, then highly deceiving.

It starts when Kylie goes over to Kourtney’s house to do her make-up. Khloé can also be there and the three sisters start talking about imperfections and wonder standards. Based on the setting and outfits, that is clearly the discussion shown within the trailer when Kylie says they should have an even bigger conversation. Except she never says that, since the comment has been cut from the ultimate scene. Kim and Kendall are also not present, as they were made to look within the trailer.

Kourtney kicks off the conversation by saying, “I do think try to be confident, even in your imperfections. I used to be just eager about the sweetness standards on the planet today…” Kylie then adds: “I just think we have now huge influence. And what are we doing with our power?” This doesn’t lead anywhere, nevertheless, and it is unfortunately the last self-aware comment anyone within the room will make for the remainder of the conversation. It’s because the discussion quickly descends into them framing themselves as victims and placing the blame on everyone but them.

“I see so many young girls on the web now fully editing. And I went through that stage too but I’m in a greater place. And other people can instil insecurities in you,” says Kylie. Khloé follows this up with: “That’s how I collected all of mine, is from other people. I had essentially the most confidence. I used to be chubby and in a skintight body-con dress. Society gave me insecurities.”

Of all of the sisters, Khloé specifically likes to color herself because the victim of beauty standards. In 2021, she spoke out about her right to photoshop, edit and use filters on her social media posts due to toll that criticism of her appearance has taken on her self-esteem. “It’s almost unbearable attempting to live as much as the not possible standards that the general public has set for me,” she said. Undoubtedly, Khloé has been subjected to years of cruel harassment and torment – and on a private level, we must always feel a number of sympathy for that. But she needs to just accept and admit to herself that she has now grow to be the villain, and she or he is the one who’s actively working to uphold and perpetuate the ideals that she felt so harmed by previously. 

Throughout the conversation with Kylie and Kourtney, the three call out various other people who find themselves chargeable for making them feel insecure, from mother Kris, who Khloé blames for making her need to have a nose job, to one another – Kylie says she never thought of her ears until her older sisters would call her Dopey and it made her not feel comfortable wearing her hair up. To maintain placing the blame on others but then never examine their very own impact on people is, at this point, willfully ignorant and downright insulting. The family has profited hugely from their influence over beauty standards and the pressure they placed on others to stick to them. These are individuals who have made thousands and thousands from promoting waist trainers, detox teas, food plan supplements, shapewear, make-up and skincare products. Khloé had a TV show called Revenge Body, which saw jilted participants placed on intense weight reduction regimes and makeovers to rework themselves to inflict ‘revenge’ on their former partners. 

The Kardashians have also contributed to making a beauty tax that’s higher than ever, because of the role they’ve played in popularising cosmetic procedures like injectables and surgeries. Throughout the conversation, Kylie makes a degree of claiming that she has never had surgery on her face (her body is conveniently left unaddressed), just fillers. “One among the largest misconceptions about me is that I used to be this insecure child and I got a lot surgery to vary my whole face, which is fake,” she says, claiming that she’s had “only fillers”. Creating this strange moral distinction between surgery and injectables doesn’t absolve Kylie from the part she is playing in upholding beauty standards. “I at all times want everyone to only love themselves,” adds Kylie, who has a billion-dollar cosmetics company.

It’s a frustrating conversation to be a viewer of – to observe them skirting around the problem, getting so near the actual problem but then refusing to acknowledge, let alone accept, their very own part in it; to see them co-opting the language of self-love and turning it into empty, deceiving rhetoric to justify the damage they’re inflicting. The wonder system is rigged against us all, however the Kardashians have the ability to try to change the system, quite than upholding it and pushing the standards ever higher. 

As Kylie says, they’ve huge influence and so they must admit to themselves that they’re a part of the issue; that they’re an enormous a part of this vague nameless “society” they keep blaming. It’s time they stopped complaining about being victims and interrogate their impact in a meaningful way.

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