Kim Kardashian is a sociological figure who was born 21st October 1980, in Los Angeles, in California, U.S.A. She is an American television personality as well as an entrepreneur who managed to garner international fame actually for her private lifestyle, much of which got chronicled on the famous reality show Keeping up with the Kardashians (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2018). Kim Kardashian was the second child of the 4 children – her older sister was Kourtney and Robert and Khloe were her younger siblings. Robert Kardashian, her father, became popular as the member of the legal team of O.J Simpson during his murder trial in the year 1995 while Kris, her mother, served later as her manager following the couple`s divorcee in the year 1989. Kim Kardashian first gained the attention of the media as the stylist and friend of Paris Hilton, before receiving a broad attention after the sex tape with Ray J. got leaked in the year 2007. Later in the year 2007, Kim Kardashian and her family commenced appearing in reality television series known as Keeping up with the Kardashians. The success of this reality series resulted in the creation of the spin-offs including Kourtney and Khloe Take Miami and Kourtney and Kim Take New York. Soon the personal life of Kim Kardashian became subject to the broad media attention (Chamorro-Premuzic, 2018).
Kim Kardashian in recent years has actually grown an influential social media and online presence, including millions of people who follow her on Instagram and Twitter. She has released many products that are tied or attached to her name that includes the successful mobile game – Kim Kardashian: Hollywood of the year 2014, diverse clothing and products as wells as photo book selfish of the year 2015. Also, her relationship with Kanye West has made her obtain a considerable media coverage (Harvey, 2018).
The lifestyle of Kim Kardashian, however, has received criticism by some people who believe that she is simply encouraging young women to actually aspire to cars and coats only and indicating that flashing one`s crotch as well as baring a bum is, in fact, a good way of obtaining all this. Kim Kardashian has leveraged on the power of social media to earn a living. She posts her nude photos and discloses much of her personal life to her millions of followers (Ramos, 2018). It is argued that Kim Kardashian can be worshipped by many of her fans across the world but at the same time she is reviled as the representation of a very worst of the modern womanhood, exemplifying all of the basest assumptions of the western culture concerning women, that they, in fact, are simply walking blow-up toys. The vacuousness and inaccessibility of Kardashians also is a problem for a number of feminists. They present that simply this is not an accessible way for women to be successful in life. Kim Kardashian encourages a distinctive form of loathing perceived as the glossy mascot for the generation that is infatuated with aggressive self- documentation, more self-absorbed, fame-hungry, vain than ever and materialistic. Some have even suggested that the recent armed robbery by Kim in Paris was a karmic comeuppance form for being an abysmal role model for young women (Abad-Santos, 2018).
Although now the world is acquainted with each cranny and nook of Kim Kardashian`s body, in fact, she has peddled almost a prudish image. She poses nude in addition to wearing clothing that is provocative despite being a mother, married and monogamous. Kim Kardashian`s body is a tool that she uses to make money and she has established a standard that is new which is regarded as the desirable female body. Her shape of the body really assisted in changing the stereotype regarding what individuals think is sexy and beautiful. Clearly, she is not the size of a size six in addition to being regarded as the sex symbol. (Abad-Santos, 2018) Some women have in fact heralded the body of Kim Kardashian as the celebration of curves whilst others hold a belief that Kardashian look encourages dangerous extremes apart from urging women to go for cosmetic surgery together with other treatments so as to realize the desirable beauty and be sexy. It is important to note that the physical look of Kim Kardashian has changed the perception of young women who are in their 20s and 30s regarding beauty and desirable body shape. Kim Kardashian`s look intensely has inspired an extraordinary grooming level, with dramatic neutral hazy eyes, strong brows overlined nude lips and heavy contouring becoming the norm and acceptable among the Irish women.
According to Chattopadhyay (2018), women are the worst enemies of women basically because in most cases, they act against other women`s interest. Kim Kardashian is a popular celebrity who has in many cases acted against the best interest of women in society. For instance, in the year 2015, Kim Kardashian made headlines in a magazine cover where she posed in the editorial spread for Spring/Summer edition of the LOVE magazine. Essentially, the spread centered on the most recent collection of shoes of Prada but instead it gained the attention since, besides wearing designer heels that were latest, Kim Kardashian was nude thought the shooting. Principally, this image that she projected to the world can be explained by the concept of Patriarchal bargain from the Feminist theory of economist Deniz Kandiyoti. Kanduyoti examines two male dominance systems under patriarchy – the modified form of the classic patriarchy from the Sub-Saharan Africa as well as the classic patriarchy from the Middle East, and East and South Asia.
The concept of patriarchal can be used to comprehend the reasons as well as how women actually turn oppressors against the other women whilst being oppressed simultaneously within the patriarch. Further, this concept of patriarchal can be used in explaining the idea behind the actions of most female celebrities in the society. The patriarchal bargain is the tactic where women in the misogynistic culture strengthen the notion of superiority of men so as to get ahead and some time for survival purposes. Actually, it is the decision of women to accept the gender roles which disadvantage them in exchange for power which one can basically gain from the system with no alteration to the system itself (Kamphoff, 2010). It should be remembered that in one way or another, indeed this is an aspect that all women in society are urged to take part. Nevertheless, women of the celebrity status such as Kim Kardashian in relation to other women in the society have an experience that is unique in regard to taking part in the patriarchal bargain. Celebrity women can actually shock the world with the bold actions which they take and they are capable of benefiting from them on a larger scale compared to the other women in the society. As a matter of fact, these women can become famous from those actions, just like the Kim Kardashian`s sex tape of the year 2007 and the nudity of her body on social media, among others, all of which have made her famous, besides influencing the society to a larger degree in regard to perception of beauty.
Kim Kardashian has made conscious choices to make use of her body as the tool of making money through gaining fame in the society. She has decided to make the concept of patriarchy work to work for her and this has taken her to where she is today. This is not to imply at all that Kim Kardashian is the role model or beacon of feminism by any means. Essentially taking part in patriarchal bargain needs an individual to compromise her own basic humanity in order to wrest whatever power that comes from the system. Kim Kardashian has, in fact, succeeded in making the whole career out of the bargain that she has made (Kamphoff, 2010).
The work of Kim Kardashian is actually being implemented in contemporary society in different aspects. Despite many people looking down upon Kim Kardashian, her impacts on today`s beauty standards are evident and beyond question. Every woman now is looking or is struggling to look in an exact manner as Kim Kardashian. This is enhanced by social media platforms such as Instagram and Facebook that have impacted the self-image of women. Basically, social media has accomplished many things for women. It permits them to connect, facilitates communication of their various messages, provides a meeting venue for new mothers and has united women. However, in regard to matters of beauty, it has done more harm compared to good. Through social media, women are influenced to use diverse beauty products in order to realize certain desired looks. They are taking selfies on daily basis and posting them on social media so as to update on their new looks or to seek advice on how they can achieve better looks (Milostivaya, 2017). All this effort illustrates Kim Kardashian`s work in progress in the contemporary society.
In conclusion, it is abundantly clear that Kim Kardashian is a sociological figure who has left a huge impact on the contemporary society, especially in relation to matters of beauty. She has influenced the young generation who are now struggling to obtain nice looks and utilize them in obtaining fame and even riches. Kim Kardashian exemplifies the concept of patriarchal from the feminist theory of economist Deniz Kandiyoti as she made a choice of accepting the gender roles of the society such as nudity that disadvantage her in exchange for power.
References
Abad-Santos, A. (2018). The Kardashians and their brilliant, unparalleled genius, explained. Retrieved from https://www.vox.com/2015/7/28/9060683/kardashians-explainer
Chamorro-Premuzic, T. (2018). Kim Kardashian: why we love her and the psychology of celebrity worship. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/media-network/media-network-blog/2014/aug/14/kim-kardashian-psychology-celebrity-worship-social-media
Chattopadhyay, S. (2018). Analysing 'Women Are Women’s Worst Enemies' Or Patriarchal Bargain. Retrieved from https://feminisminindia.com/2017/07/03/patriarchal-bargain-women-worst-enemies/
Harvey, A. (2018). The Fame Game: Working Your Way Up the Celebrity Ladder in Kim Kardashian: Hollywood. Games And Culture, 13(7), 652-670. doi: 10.1177/1555412018757872
Kamphoff, C. (2010). Bargaining With Patriarchy. Research Quarterly For Exercise And Sport, 81(3), 360-372. doi: 10.1080/02701367.2010.10599684
Milostivaya, A. (2017). Celebrity as Hero of Mass Media Narration (by Material of Articles about Kim Kardashian). Nauchnyy Dialog, (8), 84-103. doi: 10.24224/2227-1295-2017-8-84-103
Ramos, J. (2018). Libra Eminent Personalities: From Vladimir Putin To Kim Kardashian. Science Trends. doi: 10.31988/scitrends.19597
