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Selfies are Self Love
Whenever someone I care about posts a selfie it fills me with glee. I like it, I comment, I generally react with delight! Selfies are a moment in time preserved, and I think they are important for so many reasons.
A selfie is a moment in which the selfie taker felt so good about themselves that they wanted to capture it forever. It’s a moment of self-love, a declaration of confidence, for even the briefest moment they loved themselves and wanted to share. How rare is it that someone really thinks that they look awesome today, or that their makeup is perfection?
I never used to take selfies. Photos were for occasions or events; they weren’t for me, because I never felt like how I looked deserved documenting. I wasn’t pretty, or interesting, or even cute, so I didn’t take selfies. I was boring and I never really looked at myself and thought ‘look at me today! I look good!’
So when I finally did have those moments, I fell in love with selfies and myself. I took photos from every angle, I took photos of good hair days, hilariously bad hair days, adorable outfits, new makeup, anything and everything. And I shared them on Instagram and I felt good. I learned to love myself slowly, and selfies were such an important part of that. They showed me how I looked and I learnt so much about myself.
I learnt that I have one eye more closed than the other, and that the gap in my front teeth has widened over the years. I was surprised by how much my hair grows, and by how different my face looks on the left side to the right. I realised that I loved the scar on my face from a clumsy fall at 16. And I discovered that people love my smile, and that I can make other people smile with it, which is amazing.
People think selfies are vapid, and self-obsessed, but I think they are far from it. Is there anything better than seeing your friend share a photo of themselves because they felt good? Society conditions us to pick at our flaws, to want to change and to hate ourselves. Selfies are our rebellion. They are our screw you to beauty standards, our fight against the notion that plus size bodies can’t be loved, they are our own personal battleground against those that think we shouldn’t love ourselves.
Women in particular are told that how they look is for the male gaze, not for us. We are constantly told that we aren’t in charge of how others perceive us, but selfies let us be in control. With selfies we can present ourselves however we want, we can be whoever we want to be. We take the photos, we choose where to share them and how. We are in control.
So take those selfies, be cute and silly and sexy, pout and smile and smile, be unapologetic in your love for yourself and share them. Because you deserve to love yourself, and so do I.