Dear Friends Who Take Selfies,
I want you to know that I love it when you post pictures of yourself. I know selfies get a lot of bad press, but I think they’re rad. They give me a little window into your life, and you’d be amazed at how much I can get out of one little photo.
I love your pictures because I love seeing what you’re wearing – the outfits you build give me ideas about how to mix it up with my own wardrobe, and seeing you work your shit gives me courage to try clothing that I otherwise might have thought was too outlandish or revealing.
I love seeing how you do your hair and makeup. You look like a hot babe and I wish you would make YouTube tutorials explaining how you get your eyeliner just so. I want you to post pictures every time you change your hair, because seeing you cycle through all those neon colours gives me great ideas about what to do next with my own hair.
I love when you take selfies in your house. It’s neat to see where you live. When your place is cluttered, it makes me feel better about my own messy apartment. When your house is neat, it encourages me to get my shit together and do the damn dishes already. I like seeing the things you own and the art you put on your walls, because those things tells me so much about who you are and what you care about.
I love when you take selfies while on vacation. I don’t get to travel often, so your pictures allow me to live vicariously through you. The excitement on your face when you take a selfie at the Trevi Fountain or by the Arc de Triomphe is perfect and beautiful. I’ve seen a thousand pictures of the Louvre Pyramid, but the most interesting ones are the ones with you in it. If I wanted to see a picture of the Great Wall of China all on its own, I could just google the damn thing. You’re what makes those pictures special.
Mostly I love your selfies because I love seeing you feel good about yourself. I love how your face glows when you look like a million bucks and you know it. I love when you celebrate yourself. You deserve to be celebrated.
It’s easy for people to roll their eyes at selfies and make jokes about girls who just want attention, but the truth is that for lots of women – especially women of colour, trans women, disabled women and all the other women who see their existences erased in mainstream media – posting pictures of themselves is a way of challenging our culture’s narrow beauty standards.
Selfies are a way of saying, “I love myself, and I will fight anyone who tries to change that fact.”
Selfies are not a question. They’re not asking “Do you think I’m pretty?”
Selfies are a statement: “I am here.”
I see you.
I love you.
You matter.
Your selfies are inspirational. That might sound corny, but it’s true. When I see you love yourself, it helps me love myself. I suspect the same is true for lots of other people who see your pictures.
So please keep taking selfies. Please fill my Facebook and Twitter feeds with your wonderful face. Every picture you post fills me with so much joy. I love seeing you.
Obligatory selfie because what else would I add to this post?
The Belle Jar 
I agree too. I absolutely loved this! 🙂
Reblogged this on N. L. DeBruyn.
“Mostly I love your selfies because I love seeing you feel good about yourself. I love how your face glows when you look like a million bucks and you know it. I love when you celebrate yourself. You deserve to be celebrated.” Perfectly put. :’)
All I read was the words of a stalker that was memorizing where you live, what you wear, and prized that art piece you had hung on the wall that may not be there when you got back from the vacation you photographed.
This is wonderful! You really touch upon the most important part which is self-love. Beautiful!
What a beautiful piece… I confess I went into it feeling a little skeptical and ready to disagree, but I think you’ve actually changed the way I perceive these posts. Thanks for helping me open my mind 🙂
“I love myself, and I will fight anyone who tries to change that fact.” I love that! I agree with you, 100% that’s what I think of selfies too. This is be, I love myself ! Not in a conceited kind of way… but in an almost refreshing kind of way
Am I the only one that thought this was a sarcastic rant?
I too love taking selfies. My friends call me selfie king. Lol. Just joined WordPress. U can follow me on Twitter @pranav_thk, on Instagram @pranav.thk and Tumblr @pranav-thk
Very well said 👍
do you really see lots of selfies of disabled or trans women?
Honestly, I don’t.
I don’t see them at all and I can’t say that making selfie is the way of saying “I am exist” or “I am here” for them. Just because there is no need to prove to the whole virtual world that you do exist in real one.
Not only for disabled women or men, but for every every one.
And I strongly believe that the best way to know how does your friend feel like, or what clothes/makeup does he/she wear, where he/she travel and live…. is just simply meet them, visit them in real life, at the bar, cinema, home, parks….
Selfies are just the picture. And not always they show the Real Thing.
Now that I know you were being serious I suggest that this article was written to justify yourself posting endless selfies rather than to celebrate the uniqueness of people.
Selfies are for the most part narcissistic and appeal only to the posters vanity.
I find Selfies ridiculous and pretentious and no amount of romanticism is going to change the fundamentals reasons why people do them. Society has become ‘me’ oriented where people have become lovers of themselves. There’s nothing great that has come out of the selfie craze. In fact you could sit here all day and list the negatives.
Will there come a time where selfies could achieve something meaningful? Or does it already?
hey..That’s a really honest revellation ..Thanks for the share ..made me feel good about myself 🙂
Interesting! I never thought of them like that before. Usually I write them off as a bit of narcissism, but this is a fresh take on them, no pun intended. I do find it a bit much if someone posts a bazillion of them, particularly as I’ve found that if they’re always posting about themselves, they tend not to have too much time for anyone else and it’s very one-way, but it’s really a matter of degree.
This is a positive message that will go over the heads of people who wish to see so many others as narcissistic, infected by a narcissistic culture.
Sharing how you look is not remotely like narcissism.
Narcissism is unrealistic self-evaluation coupled with devaluation of others. It’s acting like you are better than other people for reasons that don’t make sense then holding it over them.
Narcissistic thought tinged with misogyny is all I hear when people talk shit about selfies.
Every woman should be able feel good about who they are and where they are right now in their life. They want to put their best face forward.
No one believes you when you sneer and say that you don’t need that kind of validation.
A girl who is smiling to herself in the camera for a picture she wants to share with her friends? She’s enjoying her day a little bit more for it. Maybe she isn’t what you think of as good-looking but she’s someone’s cup of tea. Her friends and family can see in her eyes something that was otherwise missing from cold online exchanges, they can feel her specific beauty and the human connection radiating from her
That we should all be more eager to share.
Selfies are not a problem. Complainers are. People can take their vitriol elsewhere.
Live and let live. The only time people should really butt in is when someone’s action is harming someone else.
Nice very positive
Amen, and perfect look at the power of the selfie 🙂
Reblogged this on msvidaculturalattache and commented:
I second this! and I take a lot of selfies so…yeah, keep doing it!
This is awesome. Thank you so much!
Reblogged this on pointblanklife.
Reblogged this on artofbrooks and commented:
Great post. Great look at the positive side. Love it.
Reblogged this on Michaelmercy.
Loved it! You gave me a different way to look at selfies, very nice 🙂
Reblogged this on hippiesororitygeek and commented:
I used to have mixed feeling about selfies, but this makes me really like them. This is very well said.
Reblogged this on hopeshi and commented:
Love this
Your beautiful
Whatever happened to privacy? I understand that it is every individual’s need to be validated yet i hope that we also realize that validation starts with ourselves, not with people. To see girls posting in skimpy outfits to almost naked in their selfies need to evaluate themselves if that is still a healthy part of connecting to people or a mental problem. Sad generation… 😦
wow ❤ beautiful message 😀 :3
Reblogged this on IntermediateGirlsStudyGuide and commented:
THIS AN AWESOME POST BY THIS GIRL/PERSON!
Loooooooooved it !!! this is so awesome
Selfies are a way of saying, “I love myself, and I will fight anyone who tries to change that fact.”
Selfies are not a question. They’re not asking “Do you think I’m pretty?”
Selfies are a statement: “I am here.”
Cool – love the writeup
At first I thought it was another article bashing on selfie takers. Enjoy reading it, despite that I don’t take that many selfies or enjoy having my TL filled with them. These are what they are and people should do whatever they enjoy.
This is great! Really inspiring for those that don’t feel pretty enough to post their pictures on Social media sites! We are all beautiful and we all should be proud enough to show the world! Bravo!
Reblogged this on bears goats and strawberries and commented:
Me too!
Reblogged this on creativityandconfidence and commented:
It’s like saying, go girl, u look great
Reblogged this on Schaeffer M Grierson.
beautifully said
Reblogged this on Hit the roads and commented:
Neat write up
Nice one
For me through selfie, one gives a message of happiness and confidence to others.
Taking selfies and admiring your beauty and then sharing with others and then expecting others to like it as well, is not a bad thing. It’s human to share happiness with others just like it’s human to desire compliments. But it’s abnormal when you overdo it…
I have seen myself changing my Whatsapp profile pic atleast 2 times daily when I have been upset. On days when I’m content in life, I don’t bother looking at my own dp! I change it once in a week or so. My fb pic is the same since the last one year. well that’s probably because I’m not very active on fb. But the point is, no one is interested in your selfie beyond a second or two. except if someone admires you or is interested in you. You would want to know about someones wall art if you can (a) see it and (b) want to see it. pretty rare conditions in selfies. Till the time the intention behind clicking and sharing a selfie is spreading the happiness it’s ok. The moment a selfie is clicked to catch attention and/or make an impression… It is showcasing you in a light of futility.
Amazing post, congratulations!
Selfie isn’t really bad I take selfies too, but being obsessed about showing it to others, as in, posting on social websites is..! No one is bothered about other’s lives. They might like your selfie out of courtesy. So take slefies when you feel like capturing the moment, not cause you want to keep updating you display pictures every other day. Trust me its torture.!
Reblogged this on making sense.
I love this post, thank you!
Reblogged this on The Chasm.
Reblogged this on knolo0505.
Reblogged this on samandrose312.