Kendall Jenner gave a joint interview with little sister Kylie in the Sunday Times. I talked yesterday about the excerpts involving Kylie and Kendall’s fear of growing older (“old” meaning 20+). There were also some tidbits about how Kendall’s grown disillusioned with social media and wanted to throw her phone into the wall.
Thanks to Gawker, some new excerpts surfaced. In an interesting move, Kendall completely shut down the journo’s questions about body image. This was a wise tactic considering the Kardashians’ plastic surgery addiction. Kendall couldn’t say much without dragging her sisters, intentionally or not. Kendall also discusses exactly why she doesn’t like the internet anymore. It doesn’t have to do with bullying. Kendall wants to experience life without being glued to a phone (like Kylie). Kendall’s description of events is very surreal, and there’s some stuff about feminism too:
Why she had her internet epiphany: “We had a two-hour drive from the airport to where we were staying, and I’d left my phone in my bag, so I didn’t touch it the whole way. I looked out the window at everything, and I saw people who live in huts and have dogs that were, like, withering away. And all their food, meat, was hanging in front of their house. It was very sad. Then we pulled up to this amazing house we were staying at, and I looked over and Kylie was on her phone the whole time and didn’t see one thing that I saw.”
Is she a feminist? “I don’t know much about it, so I can’t really speak on it. I get what you’re saying, but I’m not gonna say much because I’d like to be more educated.”
[From The Sunday Times]
Should we give Kendall any credit for straight-up admitting she doesn’t understand
feminism? She wants to be more educated, which is difficult in the Kardashian family (where looks, not books mean everything). That’s a huge step. Kendall’s not rejecting feminism because she misinterpreted the meaning (like Evangeline Lilly, Kaley Cuoco, Mel B, or Shailene Woodley). Kendall knows she doesn’t get it, and she doesn’t want to make dumb statements. I’ll give her some points for that awareness.
Photos courtesy of WENN
Read a book
She can’t read.
Stop. There are celebs we consider well read (or at least marginally educated) who give dumb responses on the subject of feminism.
If kendall is willing to admit she doesn’t know, let’s not put her down.
This! I agree @Nola. Her honesty is refreshing.
I agree. At that age, even with the more formally educated celebrities, it has to be very difficult to have your evolving ideas and thoughts be public. If 10, 20 years down the line they still sound like idiots, it’s another story…
It’s not nice to snarkily say “read a book,” but from a more literal perspective, Kendall SHOULD read a book. She has nothing but time and resources, and she says she would like to be more educated… so educate yourself!
It’s nice she’s being honest, but let’s not pat her on the back for choosing to be uneducated and lazy.
She doesn’t know much about it? Great job parenting there, Kris and Caitlyn!
My parents never taught me about feminism. In fact, they don’t even believe it’s real. And yes, my parents are college educated professionals and yet believe that. ( I’m a feminist! but it was through self-education.)
Kendall grew up with so much privilege that she probably never thought “hey am I getting equal pay?” etc. We can’t fault her for that. Of course I hope she brushes up on the subject and is a feminist.
But did your parents push you into plastic surgery as a teenager? Did they brainwash you into believing your ability to sell yourself as a sex object was your only value in life? Your parents may not have taught you about feminism, but if they didn’t actively turn you into a sex bot before your 18th birthday, they were a lot more progressive as parents than hers are.
I’m not sure which is worse, saying this or saying “I’m not one I like men/cooking/make up”. What’s stopping her educating herself about it? Coachella?
I prefer Kendall’s answer. Actually as far as this family goes, it seems like a pretty good interview. Not that this is saying too much.
Maybe one day she will manage to pick up a book and educate herself about the topic.
Yeah, a lot of people a lot older and more educated can’t bring themselves to say “I don’t know. I need to learn more about it.” I don’t mind that answer.
I prefer her answer than to say Meghan Trainor who makes me want to bash my head into a wall when she talks feminism.
We all know the Ks aren’t into education but Kendall can learn. So yea kudos to admitting it and hopefully she has friends that can help. Someone like Willow Smith would be a friend that could probably educate her. The Smith family are open feminists
I’d side-eye any person who looked to Willow Smith for EDUCATION on anything, unless it’s how to be born into insane privilege, which Kendall already accomplished.
I actually don’t think this is a bad answer. At least she’s admitting that she doesn’t know and would like to learn more.
I don’t mind her answer, because for all we know, this question might have encouraged her to google it or grab a book for the first time. It’s not like her sisters or friends discuss serious issues around her and she didn’t go to high school. If she still won’t have a clue months from now, then we’ll snark.
I’m fine with her answer, she doesn’t know and wants to learn more about before talking… Nothing wrong with that… It’s not ike we all know everything all the time; one thing I’ve learnt and I’m a teacher is: I’m always learning new things on a daily basis, even from my own teenage students. Why is it wrong to not know about something at 17? I’m sorry, but I find it far worst being an adult and being judgemental on others or believing we know everything…
In my honest opinion, it’s really refreshing someone saying they don’t know something, opposite to not pretend to know and talk about it and pass on misinformation..
On one hand, I think it’s the best possible answer to give if you genuinely don’t understand what feminism is, and I wish the others mentioned would have said something similar, rather than spouting a pile of misinformed nonsense. On the other hand, feminism is mentioned in almost every single interview with a woman ever. It means equality. It’s not hard.
+1
I agree.
To be honest, even as someone much older than her, I’ve stopped understanding what feminism means these days, and I’m a bit afraid to ask, because it’s a great way to get attacked. Equal rights sounds reasonable, but why isn’t it called “equal rights” then? Why is it called feminism? It’s confusing.
I do find it a tad ironic though that the same people who talk about feminism and empowering women, seem to feel superior to someone like Kendall because she’s not as educated as they are.
I usually tell people I’m an Egalitarianist which then prompts screaming about how I’ve betraaaaaaayed the cause. Ok.
A friend uses the term “equalist,” which I quite like. Though feminists would say that one-size-fits-all terms diminish the problems that are particular to women. I would say I’m both an equalist and a feminist.
I am in the camp that prefers feminist because at this point, I do feel other words diminish the gendered struggles that woman face. That being said, patriarchy does constrain the agency of men as well (although obviously not to the same degree due to power dynamics).
I will say that I appreciate her answer. It would be nice of she educated herself, but this is WAY better than spreading misinformation, or those people that say they aren’t feminists but then spout off every feminist talking point. Unlike other celebrities, I don’t get the impression that she’s scared of the label and is trying to remain safe, I think she doesn’t want to look stupid. (Although one could say it’s too late for that. BOOM! Had to get one Kardashian joke in there.) 😉
The usual pattern on these threads when feminism is referenced is that some one comes on and slags off white and / or middle class feminists as not knowing anything about true oppression etc etc etc, all a bit disappointing and divisive I think. The list of topics that Kendall would be qualified to talk about is probably quite short. But at least she didn’t say she wasn’t a feminist.
@wonderbunny: I like what you are saying about “feminists” feeling superior to Kendall. True that.
+2
I think her answer is more honest and smart that those of many celebrities who end up sounding quite ignorant. And this is coming from someone who really dislikes this family. That being said, I think it is important to stop the stigma attached to feminism. I know I have to thank all the feminists that struggle, many of them giving their lives, for the life I have now, for the options I have. I feel sad when people talk about feminism as if it was a theory of hate or exclusion. If you read closely feminist theory, it is basically, the opposite of that. When feminism challenged ideas about what it meant to be a woman, what it meant to be a man and when it demonstrated how patriarchy worked, I think that was the biggest revolution of the 20th century. I think it has given women and men an incredible ammount of freedom to decide what makes them happy, to search for their identity, to choose. But, at the same time, it pointed out men’s priviledges, not with the purpose on hating on all men, but with the purpose of changing that. Yes, the goal is equality, but if we stop using “feminism” as a word, we are ignoring all the history behind this equality struggles, and most of all, the role of women creating a new world for us. History has already pretty much erased women and their contributions, please don’t erase feminism and how wonderful it has been for women’s and men’s lives.
Google it.
That might be even more confusing given that everyone has their own version of feminism these days yet forgets the core of it all: Equal rights for men and women.
Yeah, unless someone has already provided some links to good feminist websites, starting with google may not be the best idea. Sure she could get the most basic definition, but there is so much hate for feminism on the web with all that “feminazi” crap, it could be more confusing – and disillusioning – for a beginner to start there.
Hopefully as Caitlyn continues her journey Kendall will have more access to and contact with gender and LGBTQ activists.
Yeah. Heaven forbid she get links to Tumblr. That would be the worst possible way to learn about feminism!
Google it? She can’t! She put away her phone for, like, two hours this one time.
LOL. You beat me to it 😉
http://bfy.tw/9Lo
Maybe if she’d finished Junior High she would know about a few topics. It’s disgraceful the lack of education with this whole bunch. I do give her credit for not rambling on and being honest.
They don’t teach you about feminism in junior high school- or at least they didn’t when I was last there, which had to be in like 2007 or 2008. They’ll teach you basic things like when women got the right to vote, and they’ll even teach that women were paid a lot less than men, but they don’t really delve into the meaning of the word feminism and all the issues and inequalities facing women and girls today. So you’ll end up being a kid who is for equality, but doesn’t fully understand the word feminism. If you have a teacher who happens to be a feminist, she’ll go a little farther into it though.
googled “what is feminism?”
fem·i·nism
ˈfeməˌnizəm/Submit
noun
the advocacy of women’s rights on the grounds of political, social, and economic equality to men.
synonyms: the women’s movement, the feminist movement, women’s liberation, female emancipation, women’s rights; informalwomen’s lib
“a longtime advocate of feminism”
Or Wikipedia. Both are brain trusts.
Huh. Kendall does come across as kind of a ditz, but she also has some decent (even if not well worded and kind of clueless) insights. The story about her and Kylie is sort of tragic-comic. She comes off like a clueless but kind of well meaning first world rich girl, while Kylie comes off as s even more clueless and self-absorbed. Her parents pushed all this superficial crap on her, and it will be interesting to see if she grows in the future. I hope she educates herself on feminism and becomes a feminist.
I don’t understand this “trend.” How could any woman not understand or support feminism? This is insane to me.
Because she has everything she wants. So she doesn’t care.
BINGO! She wasn’t exposed to the concept of feminism because she didn’t have to be. She has wanted for nothing. The family lifestyle has provided her anything she has ever wanted. She didn’t work for an hourly wage like most teenagers. She didn’t go to college, graduate and compete for a job against others and then realize later that her co-worker, performing the same job as her, is paid 20 percent more because he is a male. She hasn’t been exposed to that sort of inequality because every day of her life she lives on the other side of inequality. Sadly, a lot of uber wealthy women don’t care about feminism because the lack of equality doesn’t touch their lives. It’s a fallacy to assume most men/women learn about feminism from their parents and/or school teachers. A lot of people don’t pay any attention to equal rights until they or someone they know is affected by inequality. It’s a sad situation. I do give her mad props for making efforts to live in the present moment and experience the life around her versus living life through a screen.
Growing up rich and spoiled could definitely be part of it, but the fact that there are also rich women and girls who do know what feminism is and some poor or middle-class women and girls who don’t make me think it’s more of a lack of education about the movement than anything else. Sometimes even people who face different pressures, inequalities and forms of misogyny won’t stop to think: “This is a feminist issue” if they don’t know what it means. And sometimes it’s a person’s other influences. I wonder if ANY of the famous Kardashians know what feminism means and have discussions about it in their homes?
Because she’s 19 and was raised by wolves. Seriously, she’s swimming upstream in that family to learn anything at all, so kudos to her for being able to grasp she doesn’t know enough to speak intelligently and understanding that sometimes it’s better to keep your mouth shut.
goof comment
I can’t blame her, the Kardashians are the exact opposite of feminism. I’m sure Kris banned this word from her daughters lives. Don’t forget that we’re talking about the family where girls looks like whores (and find it great) and where they make money playing sex dolls and being objectified.
The internet “epiphany quote” is actually quite sad and intelligent-sounding. I definitely think she’s the least vapid Kardashian sister (even though she’s the model).
Agree with you. Kendall seems like she actually has a heart.
I found it sad too. It also came across as very, very lonely. I feel for her.
I think I like Kendall best out of all of them but that’s not saying much. At least she tries though.
She made me feel hopeful for her with this interview. In ten years from now we may be surprised by what she ends up becoming.
Agreed. I’ll give her credit for answering the way she did – if she did have a grasp on it, but not a huge one, we’d be dissecting everything she’d said. It’s better to admit your gaps in knowledge, and just give the answer she gave than pretending to know what it means and forever putting yourself out there as the girl who said x instead of y.
Yea I like her the best as well. I hope she makes the effort to educate herself.
I’ll give her a bit of credit for admitting that she doesn’t know much about feminism, because at her age I didn’t know much about anything. 😛
That said, she hardly strikes me as the type who’s deeply into educating herself and expanding her horizons. If I’m wrong, then yay. But in all reality…doubtful.
Exactly. I appreciate her honesty instead of the idiotic quotes about feminism that have come out of the mouths of many female celebrities.
I like Kendall more after reading these portions of the interview. She is struck by the contrast of poverty and wealth, and so at least she has some feelings of empathy. And if you ask most girls her age about feminism, a lot of them have the same response. Feminism is not the “thing” it used to be, for many reasons (cultural and sociological). Also, Kendall is a teenager, and it’s not her fault she was born into a vapid, self-centered family. So let’s give her a break — she may mature.
Feminism is not an issue that this family is concerned with..the women rule! Look at poor Rob & Bruce.
Kendall it’s very simple, it means that men and women should have equal rights: pay, vote, career, parenting, reproduction, body image, ect. Very very simple.
I think she responded to the question perfectly. If you don’t know what you are talking about then STFU!! I hate when celebrities think we should listen to them because they are so important and smart. Most are undereducated or uneducated altogether to be pontificating to the masses. At least Kendall has the sense to admit it.
Yes! I agree. Feminism is complicated and has become controversial in a lot of ways. It’s possible she does have an opinion and was just not sharing so as not to ruffle feathers. At any rate, this is easily the least offensive thing she or anyone in the family has done. Cut her some slack. She and Kourtney seem to be the most reasonable out of all of them.
It’s sad she doesn’t know anything about it, although not exactly surprising considering her family’s priorities and lack of education, but it is certainly refreshing for her to admit she’s not comfortable speaking about it with so little understanding. Personally I find her response preferable and infinitely less frustrating than people misunderstanding it and dismissing it entirely. At least she’s open to the concept and expressed a desire to learn more.
She probably just knows every young woman celebrity gets asked this question (which is vaguely sexist if you ask me) and then most of them screw it up and get called out. She doesn’t want to take the risk.
+1. At least she gave a smarter answer than Shailiene Woodley, or any of the other pop tarts who exclaimed “I’m not a feminist because I LURV MEN,” when asked about the subject. It’s not a Nobel-prize-winning response, but at least she was self-aware enough not to put her foot in her mouth.
My thoughts as well. Eh, she’s the least annoying person in that klan and seems to have some degree of self-awareness. So no cookie for her but she gets points for media savvy.
Yeah I thought that as well.
I’d rather someone say they just don’t know, instead of being misinformed and tearing down something they don’t understand.
Now I hope she DOES get educated about it, but the chances are slim.
I give her credit for knowing her limits but hopefully she educated herself after this interview.
I like Kendall’s answer, because there really is no answer. The definition of feminism today is different than it was in my day (60’s and 70’s). I don’t think there there is a right or wrong answer and it bugs me (a lot) that people try to “define” it. Feminism is, to me, a woman being treated the way SHE wants to be treated and being able to do what SHE wants to do. Not all women are the same. We’re not some homogenous group. We’re individual human beings that share a common biology. What really bugs me is how women have turned on each other in recent years. We’ve become our worst enemy. So her answer is good. She’s too young to really know the answer. The answer comes with experience. And the answer may change over the course of own’s life.
I like your definition and I agree with everything you said.
You make some terrific points.
Agree.
i don’t care for this girl, but she’s saying she can’t answer bc she doesn’t feel she can, as she needs to educate herself more. it’s a good answer, provided she does educate herself more.
Honestly, at 19 the fact that she didn’t screech and go “nonononono I’m not a feminist! I don’t hate men!” is actually a relief given the distortion and slaughter of that word by MRA types.
On the one hand, with that answer, she’s showing that she’s bright enough and possibly curious enough to see beyond what she’s been spoonfed by the family, and some of that could be the accidental education she’s receiving as a result of travelling the world as a model. Her eyes are opening unlike her siblings who haven’t travelled at all and are laser focused on their little world. Kendall has really pushed to be in the world, even if it’s a modelling world and she meets very privileged people. Not everyone in modelling is privileged and nepotism doesn’t keep you working if you don’t have the talent which means she’s actually learning things. Or trying. She might surprise herself and actually pick up a book!!!
On the other hand, it’s a pity that she isn’t bright enough to recognise the feminist role models presented by some of the women in her family.
Many of us didn’t learn about Feminism via books. I’d wager many women learnt from examples of the women around them. They might not have been able to articulate exact parameters of feminism, but they grew up seeing the examples all round.
YAY Kendall!!!!! YAY!!!!!! She put down her phone and then had enough introspection to say, hey maybe there is a world out here that I am missing. She also did not attempt to answer a question that she KNEW she would be pilloried for regardless of what and how she answered because we have become such a dumbed down society that unless the “textbook answer” is given you are excoriated for having an opinion which is “politically incorrect”, i.e. different from the mass media driven answer. Kendall is the Kardashian’s greatest hope. That may or may not be saying much, but it is a tiny sliver of light in an otherwise very dim situation.
Kendall is the only one who is remotely tolerable.
Totally.
She’s beginning to wake up and question her surroundings and her own knowledge (or lack thereof). These are all promising steps. Keep fluttering your baby wings, little bird, you’re heading in the right direction.
I found what she said to be quite hopeful too, and it almost brought a tear to my eye. That anyone her age found something positive about putting her phone away is astonishing. Go, Kendall!
I respect her answer.More people need to say,”I don’t know enough about X to discuss it”
At least she’s smart enough to say she doesn’t know enough to comment on something. Good for her.
Well Kudos to Kenny for being truthful…we don’t hear much of that from her klan. So now we know that Kenny can’t read as well as not knowing anything about history. Good parenting there Kris and Bruce Jenner. Lets hope Caitlin will do a better parenting job than the two boobs that brought her up.
Now that’s an honest answer. She’s nineteen and answered truthfully.
She’s being honest. We can’t get upset with her for that. There are adults twice her age that don’t know what feminism is.
When I was 19 I only had a vague idea what it meant. I don’t think it’s unrealistic in her gap of knowledge (and even more so with her terrible family’s influence).
I took a few women’s studies courses in university. My friends at the time who were also in university thought it was weird. Maybe their opinions have changed since then, but given her age, I don’t think it’s odd she wouldn’t know too much about it.
Although the word feminism is discussed a lot in the media, one of the few celebrities I’ve seen boil it down to its most basic, clear, and comprehensive definition is ….uh… don’t laugh….Jennifer Aniston. She defined the term as equality between men and women. When that definition is given I think it’s easy enough for people to understand. But the fact that so many people are confused by the meaning of the word probably suggests there have been some problems in how the message of what feminism is has been transmitted. I’ve wondered why people don’t do a better job of defining the word rather than convoluting what it means.
I realize I’m hanging on a limb by my ring (weakest on the hand) finger here but I have to admit Kendall has been surprising me for a while. Don’t think much of her as a model and I don’t think I ever will. However, she is making her own way. She appears to be steadily (stealthily perhaps?) distancing herself from her family’s influence. Hasn’t she cut her mother out of her modeling endeavors? She will forever be a Kardashian but she is being exposed to other experiences and environments which I hope are challenging the precepts under which she was raised. In short her view point is being widened, the bubble in which she lives has expanded. With the exception of possibly Kourtney everyone else in that family seems to exist in an exhaustively claustrophic (however affluent) self involved bubble.
She may be the one that actually breaks free.
Let’s not forget, she’s only 19 and has been living in that luxurious cave with practically zero outside influence. Neither parent was emotionally present and fended off their children’s education to home schooling. They seemed to exist only within the family unit. Outside friends are few and within the celeb community only. For all their wealth and privilege, they’ve led a somewhat cloistered life, and it shows!
This is the best post yet about Kendall, and the first time a Kardashian has spoken honestly. Hopefully, she will also realize they weren’t educated, they were ‘coached’.
Why is everyone getting so worked up? She was being honest, and she didn’t even say anything bad about feminism. Yes she could ‘read a book’, Google it, etc but she hasn’t and she doesn’t lie about it. I’d much rather see someone say “You know what, I don’t know enough about this to comment on it, I’d rather do so once I’m more educated” than “Oh no, I’m not that, I love men!” like so many of these other dimwits do. I hate the term ‘feminazi’ or this whole theory that feminists are crazy, unfair, judgmental people – but some of the people on this comment thread are giving weight to those insults. Just because she’d rather spend her time doing other things than reading up on feminism doesn’t make her a bad person – she’s not dissing it at all. Someone can be different than you and that’s okay.
I mean seriously, yall are turning me into a Kardashian/Jenner apologist and that’s much more awful than Kendall admitting she doesn’t know much about feminism! ha.
The majority of people who posted in this thread wrote pretty much exactly what you just said. Not sure where you see “EVERYBODY getting so worked up”?
Perfectly handled. This is exactly how you answer whenever you’re ignorant about something. Now It would be a great opportunity to get educated about It, though. Good for her nevertheless.
How refreshing. So many blather on about subjects they are so obviously ignorant about.
Love it! I love that she admits that she doesn’t know much about the subject and that she wants to educate herself before stating an opinion.
I also love that she noticed other people. That is huge in that family.
She might have hope yet!
I really appreciated her comment about the internet. I think there’s some hope for this girl.
As much as I cannot stand the Kardashian/Jenner juggernaut, I am developing a strange soft spot for Kendall. I liked the fact that she admitted she does not know something – so many celebrities are media trained to come up with SOMETHING in response to EVERY question asked. She is…bizarrely refreshing to me, especially when I consider her typical living and work environments.
But I must add that I find it incredibly sexist and insulting that journalists seem to only ask female interview subjects for their views on feminism. Why not ask some male celebrities for their opinions or if they think it is fair for male leads to make more money than their female counterparts? Or what they as men are doing to make things more equitable for women? JUST ONCE I would love it if a male journalist asked a male subject about male privilege and how being male has made his life easier! When only women are asked these kinds of questions, the takeaway messages I get is that women have to do all the heavy lifting to effectuate change and that men do not necessarily bear the same (or indeed ANY) responsibility to ensure equal rights for all.
National Organization for Women, you’re up.
Why she had her internet epiphany: “We had a two-hour drive from the airport to where we were staying, and I’d left my phone in my bag, so I didn’t touch it the whole way. I looked out the window at everything, and I saw people who live in huts and have dogs that were, like, withering away. And all their food, meat, was hanging in front of their house. It was very sad. Then we pulled up to this amazing house we were staying at, and I looked over and Kylie was on her phone the whole time and didn’t see one thing that I saw.”
Kendall’s Siddhartha moment.
I give her the “she 19 and an idiot” waiver. When I was 19, I didn’t consider myself a feminist. I was dumb in the way young people who have little experience of life are. Now, when someone calls me a “feminazi”, I go “SO”?
I’m okay with her answer. She didn’t respond to the question by just spewing whatever ignorant rumor she’s heard about feminism, like “I’m not a feminist because I like being feminine” or “I love men” or, what I probably would have said if asked when I was 13, “I’m not a feminist because I don’t think marriage and sex are bad things.”
I think the words feminism and misogyny are both both being used too freely and with too little regard to their actual meaning. I am a middle aged professional and I am having a massive re-evaluation of my views on gender politics, if I was forced to comment at this moment I would probably be a little incoherent and if quoted out of context on social media I would no doubt come across as a complete idiot. Education? I went all the way. Experience? half a lifetime. If I am uncertain, I can’t blame this young woman at all for refusing to engage on the topic. I would imagine she was thoroughly prepared by PR experts, but if she is expressing her own thoughts here, then good for her.
I wish more people who knew nothing about a subject would just say so instead of giving an ignorent comment. Kudos to her.
ITA with the posters that say this is a better response instead of rambling or saying she isn’t one and then proceeding to use a feminist argument. But I disagree that it was solely her privilege that kept her unaware of it. There are households/families that just don’t objectively talk about it. I grew up in a traditional, working class latin family and I had never heard the word in my household or in my family. My mother was progressive in the sense that she believed in working hard so that I never had to rely on a man and had liberal views on sexuality, BUT there were clear gender expectations that had to be fulfilled because “that’s just how things are”. I honestly started learning and objectively teaching myself about it in my early 20’s. Anything I knew prior to that was the stereotypical image associated with feminists.