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Runninghead:BECAUSEYOU’REWORTHIT 1

Because You’re Worth It:

Narcissism, Kim Kardashian, and the Selfie as a Commodity

Rachel E. Davis

University of Tennessee at Chattanooga

BECAUSEYOU’REWORTHIT 2

Abstract

Selfies have become a common aspect of our daily social interactions, and they have also

become a source of income for many women. Kim Kardashian may be the best-known social

media mogul. By carefully curating and sharing objectifying selfies on social media, Kardashian

offers an example of the ways in which narcissism can be expressed and profited from in the age

of social media. Many young women on social media laud Kardashian’s undeniable business

savvy and suggest that she is empowered because she controls her own image. However, Sandra

Bartky’s notion of the fashion-beauty complex in her book Femininity and Domination is helpful

in understanding the oppressive and alienating labor involved in the production and

dissemination of selfies, while Beauvoir’s conclusion about the inescapable vulnerability and

dependence of the narcissist suggests that Kardashian’s independence and empowerment may be

illusory.


Because You’re Worth It:

Narcissism, Kardashian, and the Selfie as a Commodity

Selfies have become a common aspect of our daily social interactions, and they have also

become a source of income for many women. Kim Kardashian West, typically referred to using

her maiden name, may be the best-known social media mogul. She has to her name over 50

million Instagram followers, a published art book containing two thousand of her selfies, a

mobile role-playing game based on her life, and multiple reality television starring her and her

family. Many young women hail her as an empowered feminist icon, while critics denounce her

as shallow, vapid, and narcissistic. This disagreement is mirrored in theories about selfies, but

research has not been able to reach a consensus regarding a real correlation between selfie

posting and narcissism. I posit that this lack of consensus is due in large part to a mistaken lack

of differentiation between different types of selfie, which I will call “Experience Selfies” and

“Object Selfies.” The Object Selfie may be theorized to function much like the mirror image in

Simone de Beauvoir’s (2011) The Second Sex, but rather than remaining private a selfie can be

shared with the public through social media. By carefully curating and sharing Object Selfies on

social media, Kardashian offers an example of the ways in which narcissism can be expressed

and profited from in the age of social media. Many young women on social media laud

Kardashian’s undeniable business savvy and suggest that she is empowered because she controls

her own image. However, Sandra Bartky’s (1990) notion of the fashion-beauty complex in her

book Femininity and Domination is helpful in understanding the oppressive and alienating labor

involved in the production and dissemination of Object Selfies, while Beauvoir’s (2011)

conclusion about the inescapable vulnerability and dependence of the narcissist suggests that

Kardashian’s personal power may be illusory.


Literature Review

Articles and think pieces about selfies abound, and they range from dismissive to

alarmist. Some writers argue that selfies are harmless (Wortham, 2013), while others suggest that

they represent the decline of our society into a narcissistic dystopian surveillance state (Giroux,

2015). In every single piece about selfies, the common argument that selfies are narcissistic is

mentioned at least once (Best, 2015; Eler, 2013; Giroux, 2015; Gram, 2013; Hendry, 2014;

Murray, 2015; Sastre, 2014; Schlesselman-Tarango, 2013; Senft & Baym, 2015; Shipley, 2015;

Weiser, 2015; Wendt, 2014; Wortham, 2013). However, most writers adopt a more nuanced and

multifaceted perspective on selfies. Wortham (2013) has suggested that selfies are primarily a

way to make communication online more like face-to-face interaction. She writes, “Receiving a

photo of the face of the person you’re talking to brings back the human element of the

interaction, which is easily misplaced if the interaction is primarily text-based” (Wortham,

2013). Many writers have discussed the relationship of selfies to capitalism, and they all suggest

that some selfies are perpetuations of consumerism and commodification of one’s identity, while

others are radical struggles against a marginalizing and alienating culture (Best, 2015; Giroux,

2015; Gram, 2013; Murray, 2015). Many writers stress that a radical and revolutionary use of

selfies is possible and perhaps even common (Eler, 2013; Giroux, 2015; Hendry, 2014; Sastre,

2014; Shipley, 2015). Murray (2015) writes of young women’s selfies, “Viewed individually,

they appear rather banal, commonplace, and benign. Taken en masse, it feels like a revolutionary

political movement—like a radical colonization of the visual realm and an aggressive reclaiming

of the female body” (p. 490). Gram (2013), in “The Young-Girl and the Selfie,” argues that

social media and selfies allow teenage girls an opportunity to have their gendered labor—hair,

clothes, and makeup, which previously went unacknowledged by the general public—recognized


and to recognize the labor of others. This is not to suggest, however, that selfies are inherently

positive or empowering. In this theorization selfies simply serve to perpetuate the capitalist

system, albeit in a way that renders young women more visible within it. This theorization agrees

with Bartky’s (1990) notion of the fashion-beauty complex and the alienating labor involved in

women’s production of beauty.

Because the concept of the selfie is so new, scientific research on the topic is in its

infancy. Only a handful of studies have explored the relationship between the two, and the

results have been inconclusive. Some studies have shown that there is a correlation between

narcissism and selfie-posting frequency, but only among men (Fox & Rooney, 2015;

Sorokowski, Sorokowska, Oleszkiewicz, Frackowiak, Huk, & Pisanski, 2015), while one has

shown a correlation between both genders (Weiser, 2015). Sorokowski et al. (2015) suggest,

“Inconsistencies in studies examining links between narcissism and social media usage may be

due to the possibility that narcissism is related to the posting of only a specific picture type, i.e.

‘selfies’” (p. 124). The mixed results of studies based on this assumption suggest that studying

selfies as a homogenous communication medium is overly simplistic. Senft and Baym (2015)

write that “for all its usage, the term [selfie]—and more so the practice(s)—remain

fundamentally ambiguous, fraught, and caught in a stubborn and morally loaded hype cycle” (p.

1588). In order to better understand the relationship of narcissism to selfies, we must first gain a

better understanding of selfies by offering more solid definitions of what they are.

Types of Selfie

The lack of consensus in research on selfies might be partially due to a lack of

differentiation between what I consider to be two very different types of selfie, which I will call

“Experience Selfies” and “Object Selfies.” The Experience Selfie depicts the subject in a specific


context, such as the one in Figure 1 showing Kardashian with her sister and nephew in New

York City, and is intended to capture a moment in time. This type of selfie is typically defined by

context, which may be provided by the caption of the photo, the background of the photo, and/or

by the other people appearing in the photo. Sharing this type of selfie is a way to share an

experience, whether it is an accomplishment, an emotion, or just a moment in time. This is the

most common type of selfie. I am concerned with the Object Selfie. This type of selfie depicts

the subject as a passive object and may be sexualized, such as the one in Figure 2 emphasizing

Kardashian’s breasts. Often, this type of selfie is offered without context, with no meaningful

caption and with nothing of significance in the background. Sharing this type of selfie may play

a role in modern narcissism and may be objectifying and alienating.

Object Selfie

In Beauvoir’s (2011) book The Second Sex the narcissist objectifies herself, and the

mirror plays a central role in accomplishing this objectification. Beauvoir (2011) suggests that

little girls are encouraged to identify themselves with their dolls, leading them to make a

connection between the doll’s passive and objectified body and their own (p. 668). In this way,

the doll is the materialization of the doubling of the self as Other and object, as alien and passive.

Beauvoir (2011) suggests that once girls leave their dolls behind in adolescence, they are

encouraged to use a mirror reflection as a way to recreate the experience they had with their dolls

(p. 668). The reflection in the mirror may be experienced as alien to oneself and as an object.

The Object Selfie might serve the same purpose that the mirror does in Beauvoir’s

theory, but the selfie is different because it can be shared with others, while the mirror reflection

must remain private. Kardashian, by using selfies and other modern technology to broadcast a

form of narcissism, has managed to make this labor hugely profitable. The selfie in Figure 3 is in


many ways the ultimate expression of the selfie as mirror. This selfie is a perfect example of the

Object Selfie because there is nothing in the background, which has been deliberately obscured

by a screen, and the main purpose of the photo is to emphasize her buttocks and her breast. This

photo has reached near iconic status largely because of her husband Kanye West’s (2013)

response to it, which read “HEADING HOME NOW.” This evokes a quote from Beauvoir about

the power of the mirror image:

The whole future is concentrated in this rectangle of light, and its frame makes a

universe; outside these narrow limits, things are no more than disorganized chaos;

the world is reduced to this piece of glass where one image shines: the One and

Only. Every woman drowned in her reflection reigns over space and time, alone,

sovereign; she has total rights over men, fortune, glory, and sensual pleasure. (p.

669)

By sharing this mirror image on social media, Kardashian was able to create an iconic image

recognized by millions of people, and her famous husband’s response to her image cemented her

total rights over men, fortune, glory, and sensual pleasure. In this way, the selfie has made the

mirror image profitable by making it shareable on social media, and Kardashian has capitalized

on that profitability in a big way.

Narcissism

Many of the characteristics Beauvoir (2011) assigns to the narcissist conjure a

remarkably clear image of Kardashian. Beauvoir (2011) writes that some narcissists

“systematically create a figure whose role they consistently play: it has already been said that

women have trouble differentiating this game from the truth” (p. 672). Kardashian has

systematically created a role for herself, not only in her reality show, which by definition blurs


the lines between what is true and false, but also in her mobile game in which she is a main

character. Beauvoir (2011) writes of the narcissist, “Her whole life is transfigured into a sacred

drama. In her solemnly chosen dress emerges both a priestess clothed in holy garb and an idol

attired by faithful hands, offered for the adoration of devotees” (p. 674). Kardashian regularly

posts photos on social media of herself being dressed and pampered by an entire team of people.

She is always dressed in designer clothes, the modern equivalent of “holy garb,” and these

photos are shared for the adoration of her “devotees” or followers. Beauvoir (2011) also writes,

“The narcissist’s generosity is profitable to her: better than in mirrors, it is in others’ admiring

eyes she sees her double haloed in glory” (p. 675). This is a good example of the way in which

Object Selfies function as a more profitable version of the mirror image. Rather than seeking the

admiring eyes of others outside of the mirror image, the narcissist can now gain the admiring

eyes of others through the mirror image by sharing it on social media. For Kardashian this

profitability is literal, as she earned an estimated 52.5 million dollars in 2015 alone (Forbes,

2015). Beauvoir writes, “An ambitious narcissist wants to exhibit herself in a more recherché and

varied way. In particular, making her life a play offered to public applause, she will take delight

in really staging herself” (p. 676). This is a particularly remarkable similarity between

Beauvoir’s (2011) characterization of the narcissist and Kardashian. Kardashian has quite

literally offered her life as a play to the public in the form of her reality show, Keeping Up with

the Kardashians, which is currently in its 11th season. Technology such as camera phones and

social media has taken Beauvoir’s characterizations of the narcissist out of the realm of the

hypothetical and into the realm of reality, making possible many narcissistic desires that were

previously unattainable.

Fashion-Beauty Complex


Expanding upon Beauvoir’s (2011) work, Bartky (1990) theorizes that feminine

narcissism is “infatuation with an inferiorized body” (emphasis hers, p. 40). This narcissism is

created and maintained by what she calls the “fashion-beauty complex,” a “vast system of

corporations—some of which manufacture products, others services and still others information,

images, and ideologies—of emblematic public personages and of sets of techniques and

procedures” (Bartky, 1990, p. 39). She writes that the fashion-beauty complex overtly “seeks to

glorify the female body and to provide opportunities for narcissistic indulgence” (Bartky, 1990,

p. 39). According to Bartky (1990), this indulgence can only be realized through “a sense of

successful adaptation to standards of feminine bodily presence generated by the enemies of

women” (p. 40). Kardashian is an enthusiastic participant in the fashion-beauty complex, using

her social media platform to share hair and makeup techniques, promote certain clothing brands,

and advocate potentially harmful weight loss techniques such as Premadonna waist trainers,

which many experts warn could damage abdominal organs and muscle tissues (Hinde, 2015).

Bartky (1990) writes of the alienation women experience as a result of the sexual objectification

inherent in the fashion-beauty complex:

Woman has lost control of her own image, lost control to those whose production

of these images is neither innocent nor benevolent, but obedient to imperatives

which are both capitalist and phallocentric. In sum, women experience a twofold

alienation in the production of her own persons: The beings we are to be are mere

bodily beings; nor can we control the shape and nature these bodies are to take.

(p. 42)

Kardashian seems to be in control of her own brand and image, and in many ways she is because

she produces and distributes her image primarily through selfies and social media rather than


through the more traditional route involving male photographers and male-oriented publications

(though her image is also produced and sold through those media). However, Beauvoir (2011)

raises a valid counter to this argument when she writes, “The American woman, trying to be an

idol, makes herself the slave of her admirers, does not dress, live, or breathe other than through

the man and for him . . . If she escapes an individual man’s domination, it is by accepting the

tyranny of public opinion” (p. 681-2). Kardashian has escaped domination by any individual man

by earning millions of dollars through the cultivation of a public image, primarily on social

media. However, the argument that Kardashian autonomously controls her image misunderstands

the very nature of social media, which enables us to determine a person’s worth through the

number of followers and likes they receive. So while Kardashian’s livelihood may not depend on

any individual man, it does depend upon public opinion, which is informed by the fashion-beauty

complex. Therefore, Kardashian’s control of her image through the use of selfies and social

media is alienating rather than self-actualizing.

Conclusion

Conceptualizations of the selfie as a revolutionary tool to reclaim women’s bodies are

valid. However, Kardashian is not a part of this revolution. She peddles the selfie as a

commodity and seeks to turn the self into a mass consumed product. This self must appeal to the

masses and will therefore represent the beauty standards of the day. Kardashian’s use of the

selfie is indicative of the selfie’s place in a capitalist market. Kardashian has pioneered a way to

be recognized for and profit from a type of labor that has long been required of but gone

unrewarded in women and girls for decades. However, the apparent autonomy and self-

determination afforded to Kardashian through selfies and social media is an illusion. Although

Kardashian may not be dependent on any individual man, she remains dependent on the fashion-


beauty complex and on public attention for her livelihood. And according to Beauvoir (2011), by

remaining so “she dooms herself to the most severe slavery” (p. 681).


Works Cited

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Figures

Figure 1: Kardashian with her sister and nephew in New York City.

Figure 2: Cover of Kardashian book of selfies.

Figure 3: Selfie shared by Kardashian on Instagram.

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