The Kardashians Were Asked If They Encouraged Unattainable Beauty Standards And This Is What They Said

If you regularly check your social media feeds, it's quite possible that you've seen the hashtag #KeepItKardashian. The trending topic refers to Keeping Up With The Kardashians celebrating its 10th anniversary of gracing (although that could be debated) our TV screens. Over the years, we've seen sibling rivalry, marriages, divorces, births, and Kim ugly-crying a lot.

As to whether the show is actually any good or not is up for public debate (we've probably all gone through our die-hard KUWTK phases), but it's not just the family dynamic that's changed over the past decade. Society as we know it has felt the effects of 'Kardashian Kulture' in some capacity, whether it's in the form of caught-on catchphrases, the Kardashian Collection (hey UK, remember when Dorothy Perkins stocked that leopard print-heavy clothing range?), or even just the family's mutual love for a selfie. One thing that the seemingly 'perfect' looking family does have to be held somewhat accountable for the way that beauty standards have become increasingly unattainable, with their lifestyles and ever-changing looks being fed to the world via social media channels.

So when Megyn Kelly from The Today Show sat down and spoke with matriarch Kris Jenner and her daughters Kourtney, Kim, Khloe and Kendall, their influence on beauty ideals became the topic for discussion.

Addressing the family, Kelly said: 'Now the people who don't love [the Kardashians] say: "My daughter doesn't look like a Kardashian, she feels pressured to be perfect and look like they look."'

Kendall chimed in quickly, simply saying: 'none of us are perfect.' Khloe gave a lengthier response and touched on how she was compared to her sisters Kourtney and Kim and branded 'the ugly one' for a really long time. 'I grew up with sisters that everybody else was comparing me to, but I had such an amazing core base that I never felt less than. If [anybody] is comparing themselves to somebody else, that's your responsibility at home to teach them what core values are, and to be a good person from within.'

Kim, on the other hand, vented her frustration over people seeing the Kardashians for the negatives rather than the positive, also mentioning how their love for beauty and cosmetics comes under fire constantly.

With nobody's answers going beyond how we would really come to expect the women behind the Kardashian empire to respond, it's unsurprising, but disappointing. However, they're not the only modern-day role models we need to be asking about society's ideals of beauty.

Whilst women shouldn't be criticised just for wearing make up (or equally importantly, not wearing it), celebrity culture is damaging. The beauty standards that we so often see coming from public figures via the media can permeate young girls' self-esteem and create problems that healthier and more realistic ideals wouldn't. Even in their most subtle forms, standards that influence women to criticise their appearance are easily internalised because of how concentrated our direct engagement is, with our excessive use of social media playing a major part.

It's going to take more than just asking the Kardashians whether they're saints or sinners to put an end to unrealistic beauty ideals, but having celebrities remain open about the importance of self love and ignoring how bodies (and beauty in general) can be manipulated by the media would definitely be a good start.