Osmarly Franco

English 370 AU20

Fill-In-The-Gaps Final

Photo Essay

Embodied Rhetoric: The Kylie Jenner Influence

Embodied Rhetoric is when someone or

yourself, uses their body or their own

experience to persuade others. Kylie Jenner

is a multi-billionaire who claims to be self

made. She owns Kylie Cosmetics and Kylie

Skin. She is one of the most followed people

on social media today and because of this,

she has a huge influence on many young

women. Jenner is more known for her

hourglass figure. If you scroll through her

Instagram account, you will notice that a

wide range of her photos are all centered around her body and her curves. Kylie

represents embodied rhetoric because of her influence on young women and I’m going

to explain why:
 Her Lips.

In an article titled ‘’The Kylie Jenner

Influence’’ written in 2019 by The Body

Bible, the author of the article talked

about Kylie’s lip enhancements and the

challenge that caused controversy: The

Kylie Jenner Challenge. The article

states: ‘’One of the most outstanding

trends Kylie perpetuated to her fans in

recent years….but some attempts have

gone awry, where girls ended up with bruises, soreness and even torn skin.’’ (The Body

Bible, 1) This quote expands on our idea of embodied rhetoric because of Kylie’s ability

to influence other young women through changes within her own body.
There are many things that we need to know and pay attention to in regards to this

issue. Young women are being brainwashed into believing that they need to have big

lips, Kylie’s body, etc in order to be beautiful. There are songs being written about Kylie

which also has an influence on women. For example, the songs:

‘’Uber Everywhere’’ by Madeinyto has a line that goes: ‘’Shorty bad as hell, yeah, with

them Kylie Jenner lips.’’

‘’Trippin’’ by Migos: ‘’Shorty a stallion, she looking like Kylie Jenner’’

If you’re constantly hearing music about how men want you to look like a celebrity,

dress like a celebrity, then you’re going to have it in your mind that this is what the

beauty standards are. This is what you need to appear in order to be deemed ‘’likeable’’

or ‘’worthy.’’ We need to pay attention to how women are portrayed on the media

because we are in control in regards to our own appearance. This issue can lead to many

women feeling as though they need to get surgery or they need to change things about

themselves that they wouldn’t normally change. A prime example of this is from the

essay ‘’Body Negativity’’ by Irby, She had said: ‘’''loving yourself is a full time job with

shitty benefits'' This quote in significant because her entire essay was all about the many

different ways that women are supposed

to take care of themselves from waxing to

your hair to your nails and your skin. Irby

had said that her life did not change at all

after pampering herself endlessly and I

truly believe that this is a perfect example

of the beauty standard that is set for

women.
There is currently a popular trend right now on Tik-tok about body positivity. A sixteen

year old Influencer by the name of Sienne Mae Gomez sparked this trend when she

accidentally posted a tik tok video showcasing her normal stomach. An article written

by Buzzfeed titled ‘’Meet Sienna Gomez, The Body-Positive Queen Blowing up on

TikTok’’ by Andria Moore states: ‘’Sienna’s posts, which almost always include her

confidently dancing with her stomach out, are inspiring thousands of other women and

young girls to feel good in their own skin, and sparking debates surrounding what

constitutes a “healthy” body.’’

 Sienna is a perfect example of our next steps into thinking about embodied

rhetorics and how bodies are represented in the media. These are REAL bodies and

Sienna sparking a movement is exactly the type of influence that is needed for body

positivity and to stray away from the beauty standard that was set by Kylie Jenner. We

can use writing to reshape and rethink our understandings of bodies and identities by

reading body positive articles or short stories or essays.

An example of an essay that can help reshape our understanding of bodies is the

short essay titled Black Beauty by Irby. She had said, ''But beauty is this fixed thing. At

least conventionally, and either your face and body are constructed in a way that fits

those parameters or they aren't.'' (Irby, 111) This quote is significant because it's true.

beauty in this society is all about if you fit the standards. you have to be skinny, have a

nice body, curves, etc. You're brainwashed into thinking that these standards need to be

met if you want. I've encountered this all the time growing up which is why I'm

accustomed to always doing my hair, always doing my nails, my lashes, and wearing a

waist trainer.