The thing is, she did look beautiful. Beautiful in a way that few of her 136 million Instagram followers had ever seen. Sure, her hip to waist ratio may be a bit less extreme, her face less contoured, her skin less glistening…but if this thirty-six-year-old mother was your friend, you'd applaud her for her fantastic figure, gorgeous smile, and confidence. 

Khloe—whose clothing label Good American claims to represent "body acceptance," took to Instagram to explain her concerns with the picture. Her followers got a show of her stripping naked, covering her breasts with her hands. She joked in the caption that she went live, so she couldn't be accused of retouching anything.

Along with attempting to set the record straight about her appearance, she wrote a lengthy diatribe about how the ridicule, pressure, and judgment she receives "has been too much to bear." Khloe asserted she would continue editing her photos as she sees fit, comparing it to makeup, nails, or a pair of heels she might wear to be seen a certain way. 

The Fallout: 

Many fans felt Khloe was sending mixed messages. On the one hand, she acknowledged the heavy burden of the standards she feels pressure to meet. On the other hand, she wants to be seen "accurately." 

Khloe wrote that critical comments motivated her to get in "the best shape of her life." One might take her message to mean that working on your body image means working on your body. 

(It doesn't.) A few commenters pointed out how the Kardashians themselves bear some responsibility for the same standards Khloe was railing against. 

I couldn't help but feel sad reading Khloe's statement. It reads like someone desperate for love and acceptance that she can't yet give herself. Like many women, she has contempt for society's impossible beauty ideals while still struggling daily to live up to them. Many felt Khloe missed an opportunity to free herself from the burdensome façade she created and initiate a very different conversation.

The Moral 

Two studies from 2018 and 2019 demonstrated that Instagram causes a negative self-perception and a tendency for young women to objectify themselves.^, Another study published in the journal New Media and Society (2019) found that young women felt happier, more satisfied, and appreciative of their bodies after viewing body-positive content on Instagram.

Try curating your online experience so that you're only following accounts that make you feel good. Comparing yourself to people on social media will only leave you feeling dissatisfied. You're not them, and that's actually your superpower. They might not be them either— see what I did there? People who hide behind these editing tools and techniques are maybe the least happy of all. Along with their clear disapproval of certain aspects of their appearance is the emptiness of receiving praise for a manufactured version of themselves. One of the bravest and most beautiful things you can do is to be YOU. Unapologetically, irrevocably, take me or leave me, YOU. Once you wholly accept yourself (with or without injectables!), it won't matter what anyone else thinks. That goes for you too, Khloe.

XO,

Dina B.