Confessions of a Social Media Junkie

Late December 2013, just a day or two before New Year’s 2014, I came across some chatter on Instagram about the #365feministselfie project and I was intrigued.

@VeronicaEye had put forth a photo challenge to women everywhere: take a photo of yourself every day for a year. This photo challenge wasn’t just in response to the anti-selfie movement, though certainly it played a part.

What Veronica invited us to do is share the many facets and layers of womanhood through our own eyes and on our own terms.

With selfies, we own our own story and identity

Over the course of last year, a lot of people asked me what the #365feministselfie project is about and why I was participating.

As see it, this project is about celebrating womanhood in all its glory and inelegance. I have met so many incredible women and every one one of them with their own unique story. What these women shared was sometimes happy, sometimes full of anger or sorrow. Sometimes it was gleeful or silly. Other times their photos expressed acceptance or rejection of the mundane, of the banality of life.

When media and society misrepresent and under-represent women of colour, and/or push a distorted message of what a women should or should not be, it’s disheartening and in the extreme, sickening. We all know this and yet, it’s difficult to stop.

The #365feministselfie project provided me a window into the lives of women from all walks of life. And the opportunity to do the same. All on our own terms.

All of these photos women are interesting! The experience? Amazing.

 

Taking a selfie a day is hard!

I will say that taking a photo of yourself every day gets tiring. There were quite a few times I forgot and had to catch up with multiple selfies in one day. I know, I know…woes me.

😛

But it was important to me to take these photos – even though there were many, many days I didn’t want to take a selfie at all.

I’m proud that I participated in the #365feministselfie project because it is one of the few times in my life where I finished something I started. And that feeling of accomplishment is pretty sweet.

Celebrating the awesomeness of women everywhere

The #365feministselfie project is continuing in 2015. I don’t have any plans to participate this year – at least not on a daily basis. But there are tons of women who are continuing or who are joining for the first time.

Here are a few examples of the really cool women I met through this project:

#365feministselfie

A photo posted by Magic Wanda – #41 (@b0nstance) on Oct 10, 2014 at 10:41am PDT

And…

Walking down Short Street selfie, on the way to downtown. 3 minutes after a nice tired overburdened looking lady told me , “You are beautiful.” Without knowing me at all. I think this Feminism “thing” is maybe working… Here and there! #365feministselfie A photo posted by Nan Jørgensen (@njorgy) on Feb 2, 2014 at 5:54pm PST

And…

A ride to the grocery store and Starbucks for a little work (choreographing and listening to music) @nutcasehelmets @inknburn #inknburn #minivelo #365feministselfie #nutcasehelmets

A photo posted by Steph (@stephiedub) on Sep 9, 2014 at 7:31am PDT

And…

259/365: It was a weird day at work yesterday. I’ve officially been here six months and have now watched a coworker come and go. Being a grown up, man, let me tell you. #365feministselfie #vscocam #vsco #vscogram #latergram #purplehair #alternativehair #redlips #motd #lotd #ootd #wiwt #instafashion #workflow #stolenfromsnapchat #thisis30 A photo posted by Tabatha M (@so_tabulous) on Sep 9, 2014 at 6:15am PDT

But seriously, there are so. Many. More.

Go check out Instagram, Twitter, Facebook and Flickr to name just a few places women are sharing small pieces of their lives on a daily basis.

Happy 2015, everyone!