Let's start with a definition:
Narcissism:
nar·cis·sism [nahr-suh-siz-em]
noun
1. inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity.
Synonyms: self-centeredness, smugness, egocentrism.
nar·cis·sism [nahr-suh-siz-em]
noun
1. inordinate fascination with oneself; excessive self-love; vanity.
Synonyms: self-centeredness, smugness, egocentrism.
You may have noticed that your Twitter and Facebook feeds are cluttered with a slew of "selfies" with the hashtag #nomakeup. A large number of these selfies are being posted to raise cancer awareness. How a #nomakeup selfie actually raises cancer awareness is beyond me. What does raising awareness do for those afflicted with cancer or those that will get cancer in the future? Long story short, NOTHING. Cancer needs research and research costs money, so cancer charities are always trying to raise money for more research in order to find a cure. Posting a picture of your unmade up face will not necessarily bring donations into cancer charities. However the recent narcissistic practice of selfies is being justified (at least in the UK) by claiming to raise awareness for cancer and it did lead to a slight increase in donations to cancer charities. So "Yay" for that.
However, there is a larger issue that is not being addressed. There are still a plethora of poorly lit, out of focus #nomakeup selfies being posted on the interwebz for no other reason than to say, "Look at me!" It's not surprising that narcissism levels are on the rise, and have been for years. The increases were noted before "social media" was even in the regular vernacular. However, narcissism has clearly skyrocketed since the advent of social media. At the same time, it seems that there has been a steep decline in kindness, charity and empathy levels since the advent of Facebook and Twitter. Even though we are more connected than ever, we are less interested in other people, unless those other people have opinions on us! "Enough about me, what do you think about me?" It's almost as if having electronic accessibility has made us all a little more antisocial.
I believe the reason the #nomakeup selfie becoming a trend is not only so participants can believe that all of Instagram actually thinks that a blurry and poorly lit selfie is what one really looks like, but to also benefit from getting "likes" and comments on "how cute" they look, thereby reassuring those with fragile egos and those with narcissistic behavior that the practice of posting these types of pictures is acceptable. Let me allow you in on something...it's NOT acceptable.
What irks me so much is that people applaud and remark how "brave" one is to post a picture with no makeup. That's not brave. Capturing a spider int he bathtub is brave. The whole #nomakeup selfie trend seems to imply that women are so dependent on their makeup that the very thought of photographing themselves not completely made up is some sort of super human or super altruistic thing. This is not only ridiculous, but it's insulting. Worse yet, some participants in the #nomakeup selfie craze have accused those that DON'T participate in this ridiculous mockery of bravery, of being vain. Vain? Because they chose to not take a self serving picture sans makeup? Pluheeze!
The core of the issue here is shaming women for wearing makeup. I am here to say that there is NOTHING wrong with wearing makeup. Women wear makeup for many reasons. The majority of them wear makeup because they LIKE makeup! They like the way they look in makeup, they like the ritual of the application, they like the colors and the artistry. I'm not saying women, like myself, don't like the way we look without makeup and it's the only reason we wear the stuff. Not at all. That's like saying that women only wear clothes because they don't like the way they look without clothes....wait. Bad example. It's like saying men grow beards because they don't like the way the look without one...Men grow beards because THEY CAN. Women wear makeup because THEY CAN! It's just that simple.
It's fine to post a #nomakeup selfie, but if you are going to do it, do it for real. Good lighting, in focus no filter. THEN let's see how many "brave" women there are. Stop lying to yourself and stop shaming your fellow females for wearing makeup.
Now if we can just stop taking so many selfies that would be a step in the right direction. Let's not focus so much on yourselves and start to focus more on our world and what's going on in it. If people dedicated half the time they do to taking, editing and posting selfies, and instead focused on local and world events maybe the world would be a batter place. Maybe we would care more for each other. Maybe words like "selfie" and hashtags like #nomakeup will become a passing fad and words like Altruism and #MakingADifference will fill our social media feeds instead. There is always hope!