New Study Suggests That Kim Kardashian's Social Media Image Might Be Harmful

For more than a decade, the Kardashians have transformed their beauty into their business. For the women in the Kardashian-Jenner family, their looks have become just as famous as they are, as the "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" ladies have popularized a specific body type on their rise to superstardom.

The Kardashians' curves are a signature of their brand. "I'm half Armenian, so in Armenia, a lot of the women are really curvy," Kim Kardashian explained to host Ashley Graham on the "Pretty Big Deal" podcast. "I, like, had huge boobs when I was 11. I used to cry all the time, like, 'Please don't grow, please do grow.' Kourtney [Kardashian] didn't. It was so embarrassing, they'd make fun of me." Kim said her late father assured her that her body type was nothing to be insecure about. "My dad was really sensitive to that and just wrote me this letter like, 'I know you're so uncomfortable now, but you're going to love your body,'" she recalled.

It's safe to say Kim has definitely gone on to embrace her curves, with her famous backside "breaking the internet" for Paper and countless other body-confident photoshoots over the years. Meanwhile, the Kardashians have also been scolded by the public for promoting unattainable beauty standards via plastic surgery and deceptive photo editing on social media. A new study even suggests that Kim's image on social media may be the most harmful compared to other stars.

A study conducted by York University in Toronto suggests that "slim-thick" body imagery leads to the most unhappiness among young women about their own appearance, the New York Post reported. The study called out Kim Kardashian and her sister Kylie Jenner as icons of the "slim-thick" figure, defined by "a small waist and flat stomach but large butt, breasts and thighs." Their image on social media is only pushed further to the extreme by heavily FaceTuning their photos, which the study said makes "the thin ideal even thinner and less attainable for the average woman."

Kim famously swatted accusations that she and her sisters contribute to unrealistic beauty standards on the "Keeping Up With the Kardashians" reunion special in June 2021. "No I don't," Kim responded to host Andy Cohen when asked if she believed the ladies perpetuate unattainable body ideals, according to ET Canada. "Because I think we get up, we do the work, we work out." Kim's sister Kendall Jenner added, "We all really enjoy taking care of ourselves and being healthy, so I think if anything, the only thing we're really trying to represent is just ... being the most healthy version of yourself."

It seems the Kar-Jenners are not immune to the beauty standards they may have shaped over the last decade. "It's almost unbearable trying to live up to the impossible standards that the public have all set for me," Khloé Kardashian wrote about her body image on Instagram.