Washington – Locate shot glass. Insert lips. And suck.
Congratulations: Against some medical advice and all reason, you have just taken the Kylie Jenner Challenge – artificially plumping your lips to look more like the 17-year-old reality television star, the daughter of Bruce Jenner and Kris Jenner (formerly Kris Kardashian and the mother of Kim and Kourtney, among other Kardashians, though that’s not important right now).
Like the Ice Bucket Challenge, taking the Kylie Jenner Challenge is a thing that people do – and people are being warned against.
“Very young girls – significantly younger than Kylie, who is only 17! – are participating,” Emily Orofino of Pop Sugar reported. “After placing their lips into the shot glass, they suck the air out of the glass, creating friction. However, because the glass isn’t flexible... the shot glass can break under all the pressure, causing serious injuries that require stitches to repair.”
There are many objections to the Kylie Jenner Challenge. First, there are the doctors.
“The new trend in trying to DIY lip plumping is quite concerning,” Dendy Engelman, a dermatologic surgeon, told Seventeen. “Not only can significant pain, swelling, and bruising result from these suction techniques, but there is potential risk for scarring and permanent disfigurement with repeated attempts.”
Then, there are those who say women – particularly young women – should not be modifying their bodies in painful, potentially dangerous ways to emulate Hollywood’s notion of what a woman should look like.
“I am not against body modification by any means,” Orofino, who preferred to “plump her pout” with a product called CandyLipz, wrote. “I am against young women – who aren’t fully developed (physically or mentally) – making uninformed decisions that could change their looks forever. If you’re looking to try this big-lip trend, I recommend doing so by overlining your mouth with lipliner (that’s what Kylie claims she does!).”
And finally, there are those who say that when women try to look like a white girl with big lips – emulating a feature of some black women sometimes targeted by racists - that’s, well, sort of racist.
As one Twitter user put it: “Don’t forget, these are the features they tried to teach you to hate.”
For the record, Kylie Jenner – who did not respond to a request for comment – says her pillow lips are au naturel.
“I’m like, ‘Stop talking about my lips,’“ Kylie told Britain’s Grazia Daily. “I haven’t had plastic surgery. I’ve never been under the knife. People flashback to pictures of me when I was 12 and say ‘Kylie’s so different’ but how can I look the same from 12 to 18?”
So: Perhaps the challenge is one that should not be taken?
“The moral is that even Kylie isn’t participating in the Kylie Jenner Challenge,” the Inquistr wrote. “So, what is everyone involved doing to themselves?”
Washington Post