The power of the selfie

Although the term ‘selfie’ has only become standard vocabulary in the last few years, selfies have existed for hundreds.

The first selfie (referred to as a self-portrait at the time) has been credited to Robert Cornelius (one of the American pioneers of photography) in 1839. The term it’s self is defined as: ‘a photograph that one has taken of oneself, typically with a smartphone or webcam and uploaded to a social media website’.

People of all genders can be keen selfie-takers but the phenomenon is particularly associated with young women. A Pew Research Center report in 2014 found that 68% of millennial women had posted a selfie, compared to 42% of millennial men, and only 24% of members of Generation X. And a One Poll survey for the website feelunique.com claimed that the average 16-25-year-old woman spends more than five hours a week taking selfies.

Taking selfies is a cultural phenomena that is often dismissed as being vain, narcissistic and silly but at it’s core, what is a selfie but a piece of art? After all it is a creative visual expression that can take many forms. Why does a photo become more artistic when it's not of yourself? 

What makes a selfie unique is that it is a piece of art created by the subject, of the subject. In the case of women, this is particularly unique as historically the female image has been captured and controlled by men and the male gaze.

Throughout history men were the artists and women were the muses.  

This has resulted in much art created for the “male gaze”. This imaginary that invokes a sexualised way of looking that empowers men and objectifies women. In the male gaze, a woman is visually positioned as an “object” of heterosexual male desire. Her feelings, thoughts and her own sexual drives are less important than her being “framed” by male desire. The male gaze can be found in all visual representations, these include advertisements, television programs and cinema.

To take a selfie is to take back control of your own image from the male gaze and the male-dominated traditional forms of visual representations. It is a chance to present yourself and your image in the way you want, an opportunity which hasn’t been historically available to the majority of women. The camera phone has given women this power for the first time.

So perhaps the condescending contempt that many express about selfies may well be influenced by the fact that society views them as a predominantly young, female creation.

Throughout the history of art, forms of artistic expression regarded as “women’s work” were not considered as fine art. Quilting, embroidery, needlework, china painting, and sewing: none of these have been as deemed as worthy as the grand mediums of painting and sculpture practised more by men. Perhaps in the selfie could be seen as falling into this category and it is an art form that will be more appreciated as it evolves.

Of course we still exist in a patriarchal society, on social media where selfies are shared, women’s sexual expression is limited by the companies’ rules (#freenipple).

Also unfortunately because we are so indoctrinated in the male gaze, we tend to respond favourably to women who operate within it. Women whose selfies conform to social beauty standards often receive more praise and acceptance.

However this is not universal, the selfie allows women whose images have been omitted from traditional forms of visual representations to express and represent themselves . Women of colour, disabled women, fat positive women, trans women. Women who don’t conform to the narrow standards of men are using selfies to express and celebrate themselves. 

The jury is still out on whether selfies are empowering for those who view them. A body image survey by Today and AOL found that 65% of teenage girls said seeing their selfies on social media boosted their confidence. However, 55% said social media made them more self-conscious about their appearance and 58% agreed that “seeing pictures of other people living glamorous-looking lives on social media makes me feel bad about myself”.

But even if you are not so keen on selfies yourself, it is time we recognise the power of the selfie as a tool of self-expression and creativity. Women are finally wrestling creative control of their own images away from the men who have historically captured and controlled it. This has never been the case before, the selfie has given us that power. Personally I am exicted to see where women take this art form next.