Reality Television

                It goes without saying that the women in the Kardashian family are highly feminized. Even the men, mainly Scott, aren't so called "manly men." The episode I watched was the second part of when Kim and Khloe go to Armenia, Kendall and Kylie host Billboard, the girls do their Cosmo cover photo shoot, and Kim takes Bruce's old clothes from Caitlyn's closet to give to the rest of the family. Due to watching it on TV and unable to find online for free, finding images was not easy. Also, due to the nature of the show trying to split screen time evenly between the multiple sisters, it's difficult to pick one person in the show to look at and analyze.

                The episode begins with Kim, Khloe, and Kanye entering a church in Armenia. At the church the women are instructed to cover their heads, a traditionally thing, while the men are able to wear whatever they want. This happens again when the family goes to Jerusalem to baptize North in an Armenian church, the women have to cover their heads. While still in Armenia, Kanye decides to give a free concert at night. Kim comments that she had to leave her hotel in sweats and makeup. During the concert, the camera heavily focused on Kanye and there was only a short snip of Kim in her sweats without makeup, possibly because she didn't want the camera to record her in that state. 

notice Kim's head covering

                While the Kim and Khloe are in Armenia, back in LA Kourtney and Kendall decide to go out to lunch/dinner. While there Kendall gets a cream based soup and pizza while Kourtney gets a salad, showing that Kourtney is following the gendered ideas of food (women eating light), while Kendall completely disregards them (heavy and fatty foods are normally for men). When the Billboard awards come, Kylie wears a dress and heels with long, wavy, loose hair, while Kendall wears a more masculine look, an oversized top, thigh high boots and leggings made to look like pants, slicked back hair, and strong but subtle makeup. Although she is wearing a dress and thigh high boots, the look is overwhelmingly masculine. 

 

                At the Cosmo cover photo shoot, it's a highly glamorized affair. The girls try on many different outfits, all in white, and their hair and makeup are done up to the T. They show the girls without makeup, but only for a brief moment. In this scene Khloe, Kendall, and Kylie are doing a photo with just the three of them and Khloe, in the middle, says something along the lines of "you better Photoshop me next to these skinny bitches," emphasizing women's traditional focus on being skinny. You could even say that this is a small moment of competition between the sisters. 

                During the whole episode, the woman are often seen wearing dresses or skirts, not so often seen wearing pants. Even if the girls are wearing pants or a more "manly" outfit in some pictures, the outfit is often re-feminized by dramatic feminine hair and makeup, the few contradictions being Kendall's Billboard outfit and the scene where Kylie doesn't wear makeup while talking with Kendall. Even in the Cosmo photo shoot, some of the girls are wearing pants, but they are dressed in all white, a traditionally feminine color representing purity. For all the girls, their gender is highly feminized all the time, in all aspects of their life.

                In some degree, this is all reality. I'm sure that some of the more dramatic moments may have been scripted or made more dramatic, but for the most part, it's all reality for them. Kim and Khloe really went to Armenia, they really baptized North in Jerusalem,  Kendall and Kylie really hosted the Billboard awards, and the girls really did do the Cosmo cover.