Selfies have long been connected to narcissism, but a New York writer is offering a different spin - could selfies really progress the feminist movement?
Rachel Syme. Photo: Instagram
Rachel Syme is a writer, reporter, and editor currently working on her first non-fiction book and her latest essay, Selfie, has just been published in the online journal Matter. Selfie makes the case that women who take and post selfies of themselves on social media are making up for lost centuries of female invisibility.
While women in the past have had their image and stories concealed, selfies are a way of allowing women to write their own stories - to show the world how they wanted to be seen, says Syme.
“I think deciding that you deserve to be looked at and have your body and space on somebody's feed is a pretty feminist action. It can start a dialogue about your own self-image and self-representation. I think it can be a lot more than 'hey, I look super hot today'.”
Selfies can be problematic if they were the sole way of boosting a person's self-esteem, Syme concedes, but they are also a way for people to express themselves and communicate.
I think deciding that you deserve to be looked at and have your body and space on somebody's feed is a pretty feminist action.
Syme, who used social media herself to post selfies, called out for people to send her their own selfies with a description of what they meant to them.
“Almost 200 people emailed me with stories as various as 'this is a selfie right after I got out of chemo', 'here's a seflie of myself in my most saddest, most depressed moment', 'this is the first time I ever felt beautiful', 'this is the first time I ever accepted my body size', and some people who are transitioning gender and using selfies as a way to express their gender identity - I got so many different kinds of stories I couldn't believe it.”
The editing processes many people use - such as adding filters and smoothing skin with Photoshop - are viewed by some as obscuring or modifying one's true self. But Syme says women, including herself, could still edit their photos without playing into the perfection complex. Ultimately, the selfie-taker is in control, and that is what matters. Though many young women she interviewed told her they preferred to see original photos of their friends online, versus edited versions.
“[Selfies are] somewhat discouraged or thought of as a kind of shameful or narcissistic practice," says Syme. "And yet it's something I think [women in history] would have loved to have partaken in.”
Listen: Rachel Syme chats with RNZ's Kim Hill on Saturday Morning.