From Filters to Reality: A Plea to Use Your Platforms to Promote Authentic Beauty

Written by Liesl Ma from Massachusetts, USA

Dear Kim Kardashian, 

You are a beautiful person, and teenage girls like me admire your ambition and success. You’ve built a billion-dollar empire, redefined celebrity influence, and shaped modern beauty trends. Yet with such power comes responsibility. You are in a position that very few women will ever be in: you can define the global beauty standard.

I follow you on social media. I use your products, but I can’t shake the feeling that I’m being lied to. Your brand suggests that if young women buy SKKN or wear SKIMS, they will achieve your level of beauty. But your flawless face and sculpted body are not the result of skincare products or tight shapewear; they come from privilege, top-tier cosmetic enhancements, and treatments that cost thousands of dollars (and accrue so much more in pain). The message you send, intentionally or not, is that your look is achievable with the right products. You even seem to suggest your beauty is what we should aim for, but as a girl of Asian descent, I can never look like you. Are you suggesting that I am ugly? And what about your brand’s tagline: “Solutions for Every Body”? Can you see how this implies women’s bodies are problems to be fixed?  

Your company describes itself as promoting “body positivity and inclusivity.” If SKIMS stands for these values, why does its branding revolve around you alone? Why not feature more women in your campaigns—those with natural, unique bodies? If your products work for all women, show us. 

You have roughly 356 million Instagram followers, 26 million on Snapchat, 9.8 million on TikTok, and 35 million on Facebook. Currently, you use these platforms to post edited photos of yourself, a body that is enhanced in ways that average women cannot afford. But just imagine how empowered women of all ages and body sizes might feel if you widen the visualization of beauty you promote on these platforms, using models from a variety of backgrounds.

Unfortunately, when you advocate a filtered, surgically-refined look without acknowledging the privilege behind it, you push a dangerous idea, one that tells women that natural beauty is not enough. A National Library of Medicine study shows that cosmetic procedures, especially Botox and fillers, have skyrocketed among women in their 20s, largely because of the pressure to match social media’s narrow beauty ideal. So what happens to the women who can’t afford these treatments? We are left feeling inadequate in our natural bodies. 

The authenticity movement is growing, with more women rejecting impossible standards and embracing real, unfiltered beauty. You have the power to lead this shift. Beauty shouldn’t be an exclusive club for the wealthy, edited, and surgically enhanced. Instead of selling an unattainable ideal, you can and should use your platforms to promote true inclusivity—one that reflects real women, real bodies, and real beauty. 

With Hope for a More Inclusive Future,

Liesl Ma, a girl who’s been told the wrong story about her body

Works Cited:

American Society of Plastic Surgeons. "Plastic Surgery Statistics." Plastic Surgery.org, https://www.plasticsurgery.org/news/plastic-surgery-statistics.

D’Amour, Alexandra. "Toxic Beauty and Its Impact on Girls." The New York Times, 24 Feb. 2024, https://www.nytimes.com/2024/02/24/opinion/toxic-beauty-girls.html.

Gill, Martha. "Social Media Isn't Driving the Plastic Surgery Boom. Who Doesn't Want to Look Better?" The Guardian, 6 Oct. 2024, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/06/social-media-isnt-driving-the-plastic-surgery-boom-who-doesnt-want-to-look-better.

Grace, Asia. "Women Feel Invisible at a Shockingly Low Age—Study Reveals Why They Blame Fashion." New York Post, 30 Jan. 2025, https://nypost.com/2025/01/30/lifestyle/women-feel-invisible-at-a-shockingly-low-age-study-reveals-why-they-blame-fashion/.

Green, William. "More People Getting Plastic Surgery." Botonics, 23 Sept. 2024, www.botonics.co.uk/blog/cosmetic-surgery/more-people-getting-plastic-surgery/. Accessed 23 Feb. 2025.