Women who aspire to squat their way into Kim Kardashian-like haunches are “problematic” and maybe even engaging in “cultural appropriation,” according to one Metro UK writer.
The ubiquitous Kim Kardashian indeed has ample buttocks, which are perhaps her most overexposed feature, as our feature image photo by Juergen Teller illustrates.
But the Kardashians are “of Dutch, English, Irish and Scottish decent,” writes Miranda Larbi. (She fails to mention their Armenian heritage.) However, Larbi apparently associates “chunky arses,” “peachy, plump behinds” and “shapely bums” with women of color—and from that assumption, she backs into an odd argument.
“Where does this big bum worship start crossing the line into a particularly difficult form of cultural appropriation? …. Picking and choosing racial features to replicate is problematic, “ Larbi writes.
She’s happy that cultural standards of beauty have become more diverse, and that female strength and athleticism are in vogue. She’s less enthused that her gym is full of women “squatting, jump squatting and lunging.”
Larbi asks: “How can someone from a distinctly white background understand the societal issues that come with being part of an ethnic minority, just because they’ve been doing 100 squats a day? Or gone and got a tan? Or had their lips filled? They can’t.”
Also upsetting to Larbi: that celebrities she thinks have “ethnic traits” haven’t become outspokenly political in the way she would expect.
“I’m not saying that you have to be a political activist to follow a beauty trend,” Larbi writes. But literally one paragraph earlier, she complained that Kim Kardashian, Kylie Jenner, Iggy Azalea and others of their ilk have failed to hold forth about Black Lives Matter, as well as Trump.
(Because what this world really needs, apparently, is more celebrities hellbent on airing their political opinions.)
In reality, women’s political ideas are as diverse and adaptable as their bodies, regardless of race. It’s baffling that Larbi would try to impose limits on women’s physicality, but it’s insulting that she seeks to prescribe what ideas are acceptable for them to have– especially based on something as stupid as the butts they have or lack.
