Well, that headline should say, “Why #365FeministSelfie is Important To Me,” but I won’t bog you down with semantics. What I will say is I came across this hashtag on Twitter, was intrigued, and Googled. I came up with a post at Viva La Feminista and the rest, as they say, was history.
Today marks Day 1 of this project for me. And it’s simple enough: snap a photo of yourself once a day and share. You can see today’s photo (and other photos of my cats and darling babe) on my Instagram.
But to get to the title of this post, I find this hashtag and the project itself important because so many women are pushed into hiding because of what society says they should look like. Because if you don’t match the standard, ew, why would you show yourself ever? Why are you hurting our collective eyeballs?!?
I know I’ve been afraid to leave the house without foundation on for years. If I do post a photo of myself online, I critique every little part of it, notice every little flaw, and pick myself apart until there’s nothing left. I also know that as a female small business owner, how I look plays a much larger role in my success than it would for a man.
Because of all these things, I’m participating in #365FeministSelfie. I’ll post photos with makeup and without. With my daughter, with my husband, with my cats, and with my laptop. I’ll post photos inside and outside. On good days and bad days. I hope to look back a year from now and view a woman in flux–a work in progress–and be very much so okay with what I see.
Are you participating? Do you find this selfie movement empowering? Please let me know in the comments!