Kardashian’s delight at ‘anorexic’ remarks prove she’s a noxious role model
LET’S face it, Kim Kardashian has never been a paragon of body positivity. When she’s not on social media suggestively sucking on an appetite-suppressing lollipop, she’s being filmed chomping on a calorie-neutral salad while discussing the circumference of her waist for her reality TV show.
To be honest, the only thing I’ve ever found to admire in Kim has been her (and her manipulative momager’s) ability to turn a cringey teenage sex tape into a multimillion-dollar empire by doing little more than pouting, posing and posting nude bathroom selfies that may or may not have been digitally enhanced.
However, I have to admit I love to gorge guilt-free on ‘Keeping up with the Kardashians’ (also ‘Love Island’ and ‘Made in Chelsea’). It’s offered as mindless entertainment and I consume it as such.
But Kim’s found herself atthepointyendofthe social media backlash this week that reminds us just how dangerous these kinds of shows, and these kind of ‘celebrities’, can be if consumed as reality, rather than the semi-scripted, frequently staged plug fests they are.
Kim has been flaunting a noticeably skinnier figure of late and had a jokey discussion with her siblings about it over the weekend. (It was videoed and posted on Instagram because let’s face it, if your 100 million followers don’t see it, did it ever really happen?)
Supermodel sister Kendall tells Kim she doesn’t think she’s eating and is “really concerned”.
A delighted Kim squeals: “Oh my God, thank you!”, in the manner of someone whose dinner guest has just told them that their lasagne is the best thing they’ve ever eaten.
Another sister, Kourtney, tells Kim she looks like a human FaceTune doll (for the blissfully ignorant, FaceTune is an app used to photoshop selfies), before sibling Khloe says that while her booty and boobs are fine, her waist, arms and legs “look anorexic”. Cue more squeals of delight and cutesy rebuffs. There are plenty of diet-related jokes about flavoured oxygen and lettuce thrown in for good measure, but the only serious message is one of admiration for Kim’s new ‘anorexic’ look. Now the reality star is receiving a serious amount of payback for this horrific little contribution to the world in the only currency I suspect she understands, negative press. Butformany young girls, I suspect the damage has already been done. As hangover TV for a thirtysomething like myself, the Kardashians offer a banal and largely benign glimpse into their ludicrous LA lives. It’s silly and untroubling, giving my cerebral cortex a mindless massage while the rest of my brain processes the stresses of everyday life. But as this week’s video reminds us, when it comes to young girls, they are frighteningly toxic.
New study reveals.. humour
‘NEW study reveals” must now be among the most printed words in the English language, with a deluge of research- related stories flooding our news feeds every day.
Generally not known for their comedic credentials, these studies favour dry, academic titles that not so much trip off the tongue as leave it tied up in knots.
So a special shout-out to the clever (and funny) folks at John Hopkins University who recently published their research into your pet’s capacity for empathy.
They found that not only will some dogs comfort their owner, but they’ll also overcome obstacles todoit.Andthenameofthe study? Timmy’s in the Well, of course…
Allez les blues
NEXT time you’re feeling a little blue, you can now sootheyoursoulwitha drink to match your mood.
I’m not talking about Blue Nun, that 1980s staple that was once the height of sophistication but now exists only as byword for naffness. No, I mean actual blue wine.
A few weeks ago I found myself in a hotel in the west of Ireland that is this country’s only stockist of blue wine, and asked for a little taster.
It was extremely sweet. As the waitress suggested, it probably works best as a dessert wine or digestif.
Then this week I read that those bastions of old-word wine, the French, have succumbed to the allure of this bizarre tipple, which starts off as white wine but takes on the peculiar hue when it’s passed through the pulp of red grape skin.
Brave entrepreneur René Le Bail made the wine, though he subsequently relocated across the border to Spain, no doubt driven out his home country by a sea of horrified Gallic shrugs.
Undeterred, Mr Le Bail is now selling the drink back into France, and seems intent on converting his fellow countrymen. Sacre bleu, indeed!