Day 5, Some Thoughts on Selfies

"Selfie" seems to be a pretty divisive word these days. Since the OED named it the 2013 word of the year, we've gotten everything from a great New Yorker article "Selfie" (which turns out to be a history of narcissism with almost no mention of the selfie phenomenon beyond the implicit suggestion that they are equivalent), a Slate article that claimed "Selfies are Good for Girls"  (byline: "think of all those photos they post of themselves as tiny bursts of pride") and a strong (just shy of scathing) Jezebel rebuttal "Selfies aren't empowering. They're a cry for help."

Divisive, no?  

I'll admit that I've tended towards the latter a lot of times, but mostly in the context of what I perceive as narcissism. I cringe a little inside every time I sell a copy of Kim K's Selfish, but maybe that's the wrong response. (I do have to say, my favorite incident was when a young woman bought Selfish and Father Greg Boyle's Tattoos on the Heart at the same time. I was rather confused.) My judgment/horror about the book is directly related to my perception of Kim K and her selfies as exactly what her book title says--selfish and narcissistic. But having never met her, am I really in a place to judge her emotional state while posting selfies? While I would find it hard to believe if she had crippling self-image issues, my not believing something does not make it any less true. (Lena Dunham posted a great Instagram with the book captioned,"selfie with selfish #yeahiboughtit (I support experiments in female identity exploration/am a student of pop culture/will not be shamed).")

At the same time, I do believe that selfies have a great potential to be empowering. In a culture where we are bombarded daily by images of air-brushed perfect people (many of whom also spend a lot of time and money on their pre-photoshop bodies), posting a picture of yourself not looking like you've been photoshopped within an inch of your life can be a pronunciation that "I exist; I have a body that is good and does not need to be hidden from view."

And while I'm still developing my thoughts on the phenomenon (and could mention and explore a billion more articles, books, and other media around it), for the moment I'm going to do what Kim K would do, and leave you with a selfie.

-KP