Like many people, I’ve often thought of selfies as artifacts of the
immature or self-obsessed. Granted, we all have pictures of ourselves,
including some taken at arms length. Similarly, we are all somewhat
preoccupied with ourselves and our appearance. But those who complain of
selfies are speaking of the daily posting of self-portraits to
social media. I don’t get too upset about them; I’ve never been tempted
to write a screed or shame anyone because of them. I agree with some of
the articles in a recent IJoC that we seem to be
in the midst of a media-generated moral panic. Ultimately, I find them
relatively harmless; as people mature they seem to replace them with
pictures of babies or pets! (That’s true of me.)
Recently, Val
and Noah,
two folks I respect and who often challenge my thinking, defended
selfies as a type of self-acceptance. I’ve also been watching YouTube
beauty videos from atypically beautiful people including Princess Joules,
Stef Sanjati,
and Lizzie
Velasquez. I think “good for them,” even if I cringe a tiny bit at
the cosmetically-dependent notions of femininity.
I am sympathetic to some of the selfie defenses. In my article on Fake Geek
Girls, I followed Kristina
Busse in noting how women’s and girls’ expressions of geekiness is
often policed by men. I don’t know if empirically women are more likely
to post selfies, but that seems to be the presumption. Accordingly, Se
Smith argues
that selfie policing is another example of the discounting of women’s
activities. Similarly, some argue the selfies are often low tech, and
those who criticize them do so from the privileged position of a
high(er)-brow culture. I’m happy when more women are behind the
lens, even if they remain in front of it too.
I’m especially sympathetic to calls for self-acceptance given my own
manifold insecurities. I’ve never considered myself near the circle of
the “beautiful people.” Even so, if we accept that selfie shaming is a
gendered type of policing, does that mean we must condone all selfies?
Aren’t some selfies still a reflection of a narcissistic or
celebrity obsessed culture? Also, aren’t they still kind of annoying
when they dominate our feeds? And aesthetically, many are blurry and
dull. This led Aanand
Prasad to argue we should “take better selfies”; “Also, take more of
them. But better.” While I sometimes appreciate a selfie, I’ve never
wished my feed had more of them. And to say we need more selfies only
heightens the complaint most people have with them.
If I simply took my own portrait, people might think it odd, but
that’s about it. Selfies are controversial because their posting is a
social act. Maybe the poster is asking for some type of acceptance,
validation, or support? But when does this cross the line into fishing
for flattery? We should be cautious of selves built upon flattery. The
poster also might be seeking to make others envious? I’m comfortable
with the policing of nakedly vain or invidious displays. Another theory
is that the poster seeks to transcend acceptance. In posting a selfie,
they are saying: this is me, deal with it. I think my punk styling was a
bit like that: I’m going to dress in a way that is comfortable for me
but freaky to you, and I don’t care what you think anyway. However, I
accepted the weakness of this argument when a friend asked me if I’d
still have a mohawk if I lived on a deserted island. No, I probably
wouldn’t. The palm trees wouldn’t care if I was different, so I doubt
I’d bother. I do care what people think, even if it’s only to tell them
I’m trying not to care.
In short, the self-acceptance argument could be understood as: we
accept the importance of appearance, but we want to diversify or queer
the standard of what is celebrated. The counter-argument is that we
should move beyond
appearance all-together.
I’m continuing to reconsider my (largely uninformed) view on selfies,
but I’m not yet convinced that they are all wonderful manifestations of
self-acceptance. As Senft and
Baym wrote, “celebrating all selfies as empowering makes as little
sense as denigrating them all as disempowering.”
There are comments.