Photo: TikTok
What is Kim Kardashian's role in all of this?
By Isaac Serna-Diez — Written on Jan 23, 2023
On January 22, 2023, Kim Kardashian posted a video on the joint TikTok account (@kimandnorth) she has with her daughter, North West, following a recent trend on the social media platform where a camera filter is supposed to be able to guess your face age.
As part of their deal for being able to remain on the platform despite North’s age, the comments under their video were turned off, however, that didn’t stop people from criticizing the 42-year-old billionaire SKIMS founder for her reaction when the filter guessed that her age was 11 years old.
Fans are wondering when Kim Kardashian will embrace getting older.
From swerving plastic surgery allegations to repeatedly photoshopping her social media pictures, Kardashian seems intent on setting an unrealistic beauty standard for women her age.
Her recent TikTok video, albeit a lighthearted clip, has only added to fans' frustrations about the star's inability to be transparent about aging.
When the filter finishes doing its thing, the result declares that Kardashian's face is 11 years old. She looks at the number in shock, bursting out in laughter, and glances over to her side where North is likely sitting, supervising it all.
When the video was reposted to Reddit, critics of Kardashian had a lot (nothing nice) to say about the message she was potentially sending to women, or even young girls, everywhere.
One commenter suggested that she was trying to fit in with North’s crowd or audience on TikTok while another user joked that she was trying to replace her.
Many noticed that she was hiding her neck in case any wrinkled skin may have changed the age estimate, others commented that perhaps the plastic surgery she’s received may have had an effect on it as well.
However, this might point to a larger question and insecurity that seems to be plaguing the lives of middle-aged celebrity women and points to Kardashian’s role in the celebrity world.
Is Kim Kardashian responsible for ‘normalizing’ the aging process?
Although it is just a random TikTok that was likely just made for fun with a filter that holds no real bearing on society, it does tap into a controversial conversation that has been the topic of debate for quite some time now.
Kardashian is unmistakably seen as an iconic figure in today’s culture — many women likely look up to the socialite for standards of beauty or popularity.
However, that doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s beholden to the expectations of others for her to invite the aging process in and normalize it.
As someone who is always striving to look her best, look youthful, and achieve beauty standards, since society places a large emphasis on youthfulness, Kardashian is in the same toxic boat as everyone else.
Aging is a natural process and shouldn’t be affected by something as shallow as the standard of beauty, causing other women to feel insecure about their own roles or places in society.
But that also doesn’t necessarily mean it’s up to Kardashian herself to fix that — it may be the fault of some other key societal breakdown that no one person is able to solve.
At the end of the day, Kardashian’s TikTok was just that — a video she felt like sharing online.
Realistically, it might not be that deep, and reading into it may only create problems where none existed in the first place, but the conversation surrounding aging is a real one being had every day.
Isaac Serna-Diez is an Assistant Editor who focuses on entertainment and news, social justice, and politics. Keep up with his rants about current events on his Twitter.