The Kardashians often make waves with social media posts, and a recent video from Kim Kardashian’s Instagram page sparked some controversy for showing off a corset that cinched her waist in beyond belief.

The video is from a trip to Paris last year, Kardashian explained in the caption. While there, she had a corset made to replicate the one she wore with her dress at the 2019 Met Ball. It was somehow misplaced that night, but Kardashian wants one “for her archive,” she said in the post. Apparently, it’s as uncomfortable as it looks.

Her post got mixed responses in the comments. Some complimented her extreme hourglass figure, but others commented that it’s “unnatural” and “damaging,” although Kardashian clearly didn’t intend it to be.

One such commentator was comedian and activist Jameela Jamil, who has been vocal about how harmful celebrity endorsement of products like diet teas and appetite suppressants can be.

In a post on her own Instagram, Jamil shared a screenshot of Kardashian’s video and revealed that she’d already received more than 1,000 DMs about the post.

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I’ve received over 1000 DMs asking me to address this. The reason I didn’t jump on it immediately isn’t because I don’t think the post was damaging and disappointing. I do. It’s because the fact that you’re all messaging me about it, shows my work is done. I havent been trying to cancel Kim K. I was always trying to arm YOU with the knowledge to recognize for YOURSELVES that this is a bullshit expectation of women, developed by the patriarchy. If YOU know that it’s problematic, reductive and irresponsible for her to perpetuate such a heavily impossible beauty standard to her impressionable fans… then you’re empowered and conscious and don’t need me. Kim, like many of us, has had decades of body image issues and obsession. This has been HEAVILY perpetuated by how much the media scrutinized her and her sisters over their appearances. She isn’t actively trying to harm you. She’s just so harmed and deluded into thinking this is what SHE needs to look like to be special and beautiful and she’s spilling it out onto her following. Is this wrong? YES. But I’m not sure she realizes that she’s doing to others what her idols did to her, in making her think a tiny waist is the key to femininity and sex appeal. We grew up in the era of Heroin Chic, where we were told you HAD to look like an addict starving to death, so to go from that..to being bullied about your body by the world? This toxicity from someone who is smart and knows better, is a sign that this is harm she can’t stop doing. So there’s no point in screaming at her. The smart thing to do is to protect YOURSELF. YOU have the power. YOU control every Market. YOU choose what and who is trendy. Unfollow the people who tell you things that hurt your self esteem. Don’t let the debris of their damage spill out onto you. Unfollow people/brands that don’t make you feel powerful and happy and grateful for what you have. You’re the boss and none of them are shit without you. THE PATRIARCHY WANTS US TO FOCUS ON OUR WEIGHT INSTEAD OF POWER, EQUALITY AND PSYCHOLOGICAL FREEDOM. FUCK ANYONE WHO ENCOURAGES THIS. BLOCK. MUTE. DELETE. REPEAT. Follow activists, writers, artists and comedians instead❤️

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In her caption, Jamil explained her reasoning for not addressing the post sooner.

“The reason I didn’t jump on it immediately isn’t because I don’t think the post was damaging and disappointing. I do. It’s because the fact that you’re all messaging me about it, shows my work is done,” she wrote. “I haven’t been trying to cancel Kim K. I was always trying to arm YOU with the knowledge to recognize for YOURSELVES that this is a bullshit expectation of women, developed by the patriarchy. If YOU know that it’s problematic, reductive and irresponsible for her to perpetuate such a heavily impossible beauty standard to her impressionable fans… then you’re empowered and conscious and don’t need me.”

She explained to followers that it’s clear Kardashian means no harm by her post, but that Kardashian and her sisters have been scrutinized over their looks for so long that she’s “deluded” into thinking she needs to look a certain way.

“I’m not sure she realizes that she’s doing to others what her idols did to her, in making her think a tiny waist is the key to femininity and sex appeal,” Jamil said.

In the end, it’s a toxic cycle that keeps women striving to achieve an impossible body, and it has nothing to do with improving health or fitness.

Instead of “screaming at” people like Kardashian who perpetuate unattainable standards, Jamil encourages simply muting, blocking, or unfollowing anyone who shares content that negatively affects your self-esteem.

“The smart thing to do is to protect YOURSELF. YOU have the power. YOU control every Market. YOU choose what and who is trendy,” Jamil wrote. “Unfollow the people who tell you things that hurt your self esteem. Don’t let the debris of their damage spill out onto you. Unfollow people/brands that don’t make you feel powerful and happy and grateful for what you have.”

 

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