Why Kim Kardashian’s new look has sparked concern

No one will admit it out loud, but people love to look at before-and-after photos of celebrities who have undergone dramatic transformations. These images are guaranteed to get clicks, whether they are posted o Instagram, TikTok or gossip magazine websites.

But one apparent celebrity transformation has sparked concern. When reality TV star Kim Kardashian appeared on The Late Late Show with host James Corden, what interested viewers was not their skit called “The Targashians Take Over Westeros,” a spoof of the TV show House of Dragon, but rather Kardashian’s slimmer figure. A photo on Twitter comparing the celebrity’s looks now to when she appeared on the same show five years ago quickly went viral. Soon, even sports websites were wading into the debate over whether she had undergone breast reduction surgery.

For those of us who struggled through our teenage years aspiring to be like Kate Moss and all those bony, gaunt, white girls on magazine covers who exuded an unattainable mystique, it’s not the size of Kardashian’s boobs that’s of concern. What terrifies us is realizing that if the woman who has most influenced and shaped beauty canons in the last 15 years is slowly disappearing before our eyes, it’s because the scourge of the white anorexic ideal, the one that had my entire generation sucking in its stomach and ignoring grumbling tummies, is back in our lives.