The Psychology of the "Selfie"
Australia’s “The Age” has a take on the impact of the “selfie” written by an eleven year old girl (!). Well worth a read.
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Dark undercurrents of teenage girls’ selfies
If social media only caused narcissism, it wouldn’t be the worst thing. Instagram and Facebook are social networks that not only breed narcissistic tendencies but transform relations into a sexual rat race.
On these ubiquitous portals, the popularity of girls is hotly contested over one big deal: how sexy can I appear and bring it off with everyone’s admiration?
That’s the reason we see mirror shots, pouting self-portraits of teenagers (typically female) and sexually suggestively posed girls in a mini-dress ”before a party last night”. They’re showing how much they like themselves and hoping that you’ll hit ”like” to reinforce the claim.
This isn’t just an interest in vanity but vainglory, being high up on a scale of ”likes” . There isn’t anything inherently wrong with uploading self-portraits. Everyone likes receiving compliments and it makes us feel awesome that our own appearance can provide us with an ego boost. But what kind of photos produce an epidemic of ”likes?” Nothing with too much creativity but hip, titty and kiss. It’s the true scourge of the selfie.
Why are we girls competing to be the Queen of Pouts? Why do we scour through photos of celebrities and all our ambitious friends to find out who is the new princess of prurient poses? Even demure girls are tempted to strike sexually suggestive poses. But they must be careful, not because parents are looking but because they might not score any ”likes” and might then feel a failure, unworthy among their peers.
How confident can you appear at being lascivious? How credible is your air of lewdness? A girl who is just a try-hard will lose credibility and become an outcast. So a lot depends on how much support you can get from other girls.
Girls zealously scroll down their Instagram or Facebook feeds. In Instagram, they might cleverly hashtag the most popular tags, such as #me, #selfie, #instacute to get an influx of ”likes” while they are on the most-recently tagged photos, then delete all the tags as though nothing’s happened.
They’re manipulating their image into popularity. Girls spray their ”likes”. They comment: ”Wow, you’re a model”; ”Oh my god you babe”; ”F–k you’re hot”; ”You’re perfect”; ”Best body”. Occasionally it’s genuine and supportive but it can also be very calculating.
Girls fake flattery to get higher on the food chain. In my mind a comment such as, ”Oh my god, you’re so beautiful!” really means: she has to ”like” and comment on my photo! Then behind her back: ”What the f—! She is such a slut … I heard she hooked up with heaps of guys and got really drunk at a party and in every photo she poses with her tits out and a push-up bra.”
It’s tense because it’s duplicitous. We’re faking it, so that we get to be among the most popular, get to be ”liked” by the most popular and thereby gain popularity.
Seeing some of these images can feel too intimate. It’s almost as though we’re peering through a window. Some photos may be of girls showing skin, or girls lying on a bed. Just about all are seeking some sort of approval from their friends. The aim is not to communicate joy but to score a position.
It’s a neurotic impulse, not a happy one. I’m anxious that girls are higher up on the ladder than I am: boys are looking at her, not me. I have to look like her to be worthy of boys’ attention. Boys’ tastes are not always sophisticated. The aesthetic yardstick is what they see in pornography. So girls have to conform to what boys see in pornography. And then girls post photos to ”out-hot” the other girls by porn star criteria.
Who do we blame for this moral mess? As feminists, we correctly blame patriarchy because boys are securely at the top of the status game. Boys end up with the authority. They have their cake and eat it.
From the moral high ground, they can damn a girl for visual promiscuity, yet enjoy the spectacle at the same time, both with the same misogynistic motives: I like your form but I’m able to scorn you. You’re what I want but you’re less than me. Girls try to conform to this ”ideal” stereotype in their photos and these boys sarcastically comment, ”Nice personality” – really implying that the cleavage is their only attribute. Yet they also click the ”like” button. The boy who mocks a girl showing her cleavage is in fact the same boy who craves sexual opportunities with her.
A common adult reaction to social media is to restrict things, as if that could ever be possible. You can’t force kids to be nice. The real problem isn’t something tangible like sexting or bullying, which adults focus on in patronising and unimaginative ways. The real problem relates to conformity. Kids are compelled to act the stereotype, because those who opt out commit themselves to social leprosy. Social media doesn’t need adult control. What we need is some good taste.
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And lets not forget about the Bro side of the equation either.
EDIT: Pic is the famously obnoxious selfie of Mylie Cyrus, not the author of the piece.
EDIT #2: Whoops, make that a seventeen year old girl who is “year 11” in school. Weird Aussies. Props for the correction go to FredN. in the comments thread.
Captain Pubing Sings "I'm Douching Away"
I’m douching away,
Set an open course for the virgin hotts,
‘Cause I’ve got to be free
free of groin itch,
that’s been bothering me,
I’m bored, I’m the captain,
so touch my schwang,
We’ll search for your boobies,
And make sure you don’t have a schwang,
And I’ll try, oh Tebus, I’ll try
to fonnnnndllllleeee my nipssssss… in public.
I look to the sea,
reflections in the waves spark my rectal itch,
Some happy, some sad,
I think of doing jello shots,
And a DJ named Snitch,
we boinked happily forever,
so the story goes,
But somehow we missed out,
On smoking pot that’s old
So we’ll try, best that we can,
to watch me dress like an asswipe in the hoppppeeeessss… of getting some booty.
A gathering of hottie suckle thighs,
appeared above my nood,
They sang to me this song of boobs,
and this is what they Wooo’d,
They Wooo’d, “Come douche away,
come douche away, come douche away with me girls,
Come douche away, come douche away, come douche away with me….
When Suburbia Tries to Get Wild on a Saturday Night
Lemme guess, you guys went extra wild and ate at Chilis instead of Flingers?
Not that I ever discourage the dressing up of hott into slut-wear via some socially codified ritual of performative masquerade. For, as Mikael Bakhtin famously argued in the 1920s, carnival is where social power is reclaimed through caricature and exaggeration.
Old Brotha Mel Sings the Hit the Road Blues
Even Evil Yellow Sunball realizes that Old Brotha Mel is not a ‘bag. He is the Mack.
Connie and Priscilla giggle politely. Little do they know that Old Brotha Mel still brings it.
80s Preppies Live on In Europe
Europe has always been a few years behind on the douche trends. But three decades? Seems a bit much.
Scandanavian Hott giggle sounds like a newborn wildebeest eating a truffle. Fact.
1988: The Year We Made Douchebag
1988. The number. Another douchebag. Sound of a trust fund asswipe.
— Public Enema
I see you, Coquettish Monica. Your self consciousness about your teeth and propensity to bump into coffee tables when you try to walk around them to go to the kitchen to get another Zima make you endearing, not awkward. I celebrate your wholeness of spirit and bobble fondle by following you through CostCo with binoculars and an ostrich feather, and my awkward sniffing of your Prius driver’s seat while you run into the bank to deposit a check is meant only as a sign of respect. And booble fondle humpty hump. Boobs.
Breaking: Anna Benson is a Psychopath
Remember Kris and Anna Benson? Yeah, me neither.
Apparently he’s a (not very douchey) athlete of some kind, and she’s a hottie. Or make that a Bleeth.
As there’s marital bliss. And then there’s entering your husband’s home with a gun and a bulletproof vest and demanding money.
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Former “Baseball Wives” star Anna Benson — the estranged wife of ex-pitcher Kris Benson — was arrested this morning in Georgia … after allegedly raiding Kris’ apartment with a gun and a metal baton, all while wearing a bulletproof vest.
According to law enforcement, Kris—who filed for divorce last year—reported that Anna showed up in a rage last night after being forced by the court to vacate their marital home. Kris says Anna arrived and immediately whipped out an “expandable metal baton,” threatening to hit him.
But it didn’t stop there … Kris told police Anna then pulled out a handgun and demanded money. She must have been expecting Kris to pull a gun on her too … because she was allegedly wearing a bulletproof vest at the time of the alleged assault.
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Lesson learned: Not all hot chicks are worth it, kids.
Hair Jordan And Ref Tina
To white belt or not to white belt?
Mullet over and get back to me.
The Dragon Fondler Takes a Break From Fondling to Consider A Life Unexamined
The Dragon Fondler aspires to become a philosopher.
The Dragon Fondler will not succeed in this quest.
Yeesh, between this pic and yesterday, it’s like a 2-frame animation of the creepy oil slick from Creepshow 2 eating away at my soul.