Topic > Kardashian Case Study - 1094

The human experience is characterized by comparison with what is believed to be standards, and gender roles perpetuate the idea that there is something uniform about each member of a certain sex. Gender is everywhere. Even something as simple as a razor, a universally used object, experiences gender categorization. Society doesn't know how to function without relentlessly promoting the "sex binary," and the Kardashians have capitalized on this "fundamental unnaturalness" by creating a line of products, including a clothing line and a perfume brand, that target female gender performance and to sexuality. (Butler, Gender Issues, 190). Does their gender exploitation make them immoral? It is up to personal interpretation whether the Kardashian philosophy is corrupt or not, however it is undeniable that exploitation for commercial gain is a traditionally male action. “Masculine” Tactics Produce a Profitable Brand and Hyper-sexualized Kardashians Take on Feminist Agency; Butler's notion of the world “produced through the constitutive acts of subjective experience” is indisputably demonstrated (Performance Acts and Gender Construction, 522). The Kardashians' ability to push gender expression to a level that virtually becomes a parody and subsequently make a fortune by exploiting gender roles demonstrates that character and intellect are not compatible.