Jezebel.com recently posted an article arguing that selfies aren't empowering but a way that society teaches women that their most important quality is their physical attractiveness. They argue against selfies being a source of pride by saying that selfies don't often contain job letters or successful grant applications, only a picture of a woman's face not talking. They sum up their argument bu claiming that young women take selfies because they don't derive their sense of worth from themselves, they rely on others to bestow their self worth on them.
While I'm sure that there are women who post selfies just to get validation from others I don't agree with Jezebels argument. Our culture has these very strict guidelines for what is beautiful and what is not and these guidelines end up leaving a lot of women out. I see taking selfies as a way to express personal self love by saying I'm confident with how I look and to me that's empowering. Seeing some one else who doesn't fit conventional beauty standards post selfies might inspire other women to challenge those beauty standards as well and it might even inspire society as whole.
So, are selfies a cry for help?
Source: Selfies Aren't Empowering. They're a Cry for Help.
I also disagree with this article. I can understand that viewpoint if the author didn't understand the pop culture relevance but selfies have a way different meaning then what the author is coming up with.
ReplyDeleteThe article talks about the four female marines who passed the infantry training and it's here that I think a lot of the logic kind of falls apart. I feel like by saying that selfies often don't contain any personal accomplishment, the author discredits these marines' selfie when in fact that WAS celebrating an accomplishment. I disagree with their argument as well.
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