None of us are strangers to taking selfies. At some point we’ve managed to take at least one selfie and we may have noticed how good it felt to have taken one that we liked. The invention of the front-facing camera has produced a word that has permeated our everyday discourse. Many people today know what a selfie is. The word has managed to find its way into the English dictionary, has a song written about it, and it even has an invention made specifically for it – the Selfie Stick. What is also accompanied with this word, despite its popularity, is a mixed bag of largely negative sentiments regarding the people who take selfies frequently and post them onto their social media accounts. Selfies have been deemed annoying by many. Whereas, some have expressed no concern with the pictures people take of themselves online and don’t find it to be bothersome.
I stumbled upon an interesting post on Facebook that had altered my perspective on the selfie. Although it was not an academic document or some other scientific source, lessons can be learned anywhere. Essentially, the post described how art masterpieces historically have been for the pleasure of man. The post contained a photo of a statue Photoshopped with an iPhone in its hand to make it seem the sculpture was taking a selfie. It was then that the writer claimed that the sculpture would then be deemed vain or conceited. The writer concluded that it is appropriate for someone else to gaze at a photo of you for their own pleasure. But taking one of yourself because you find yourself to be beautiful is considered to be annoying. The post then followed with an insightful quote from an illustrious author.
“You painted a naked woman because you enjoy looking at her, put a mirror in her hand and you call that painting ‘Vanity,’ thus morally condemning the woman whose nakedness you depicted for your own pleasure.” – John Berger, "Ways of Seeing"
It’s both interesting and perplexing to think that an act of displaying confidence in one’s beauty has been deemed inappropriate by dominant culture and it may be difficult to perceive it to be so. Even I was scratching my head over the possibility. When we take into account our societal beauty standards that have been internalized for both women and, increasingly, in men, it leaves little room for anyone to feel fully confident in their outward appearance and it doesn’t leave any room for internal beauty to emerge unless the outward standard has been fulfilled. Then why would we criticize someone for the one opportunity to feel good about themselves just for that moment? I must digress, I am guilty of having passed negative judgement to those who frequently take selfies. But, I will admit that it really does not matter if the photo was taken by the hand of the individual in the selfie or by someone else. It is trivial. We all know the pleasure of having been in a good photo. We probably do not have to even post them online to really enjoy them. We capture moments where we feel good with the people around us. Why not capture moments where we feel good about ourselves? Of course our outward appearance will fade, but the memories of how good we feel about ourselves won’t be forgotten. How we feel about ourselves now carries itself forward into our later years. Ask yourself, do you want have memories of how insecure you felt during your youth knowing that your received criticism over expressing your confidence? Or would you like to have memories of fulfillment knowing that you consider yourself to be beautiful?
