7 Reasons You Should Stop Hating (And Start Embracing) Selfies

In May of 2014, Merriam-Webster Dictionary announced it would be adding the word “selfie” to its books. Turning your phone around and taking some photos of yourself has become a norm for many people; however there are those who say that this is nothing but another way for Millennials to show how self-absorbed we are. Here are some reasons why you should keep snapping those selfies.

  1. It’s nice to see your friend’s faces. Isn’t that part of the reason we have social media in the first place? As Ezra Koeing of Vampire Weekend said, “I could Google image search ‘the sky’ and I would probably see beautiful images to knock my socks off. But I can’t Google, you know, ‘What does my friend look like today?’ For you to be able to take a picture of yourself that you feel good enough about to share with the world – I think that’s a great thing.”
  2. It’s a good thing that the person you’re following feels beautiful. Self-confidence can be hard to attain; so if your friend feels so good about herself that she wants to share it with you, be happy for her.
  3. It’s time to look inwards and love the way you look, too. Are you really THAT disgusted that your friend loves the way she looks? Maybe that’s because you don’t feel the same way about yourself. Find what makes you beautiful and embrace it.
  4. They’re a good way to document your life. Some people write in a journal, some people blog, and some people take selfies. It’s a solid way to remember exactly how you were feeling, what you were wearing, and where you were when you took the photo.
  5. They help challenge traditional beauty standards. We are inundated with photoshopped, unrealistic photos and images of women on magazines and in the media. When we post our faces and bodies for the world to see, we are challenging those images. We are saying THIS is beautiful too. WE are beautiful and we are real  and we won’t be hidden in the background anymore.
  6. They’re empowering. We live in a patriarchal society that depends on women feeling like they are only beautiful if others (read: men) believe this to be so. Whole industries depend specifically on our insecurities; razors, acne cream, panty hose, wrinkle cream, diet pills, the entire cosmetic surgery industry. And while not all of those products are inherently bad, many times their marketing preys on our self-doubt. On top of that, society wants us to feel like we have to be so modest that we can’t even acknowledge our own beauty without being called a stuck-up bitch. Well, pardon my French, but screw that. We are humans and we are beautiful; acne, cellulite, and wrinkles included.
  7. They help build self-confidence. Selfies help us realize we don’t need anyone else’s opinion to believe that we are beautiful. We are the photographer, the makeup artist, the stylist, and the editor– let’s hang ourselves up in our own art gallery and enjoy.
Tiffany is a New Orleans-based boudoir photographer (lushboudoirla.com) and freelance writer. Follow her on instagram: @onesmallflower or view her boudoir photographs: @lushboudoir
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