Taking Selfies For Positive Body Image; Good or Bad?

Jan 28 2014

Do you take selfies? I do, because if you look through my photos, I’m missing. I’ve found taking selfies is a great way to get myself into my scrapbooks. But have you thought about taking selfies for a positive body image?

I have always been very impressed with the Dove body image campaigns. Body image is something I struggle with daily so the campaigns speak directly to me. I have mixed feelings about the Selfie campaign. First watch the Selfie video and then we’ll discuss it.

I never thought about taking selfies for positive body image, but if you are afraid to put yourself out there, selfies CAN be a great way to start.

Do Selfies Change What Beauty Is??

I see all the points that the Selfie video makes about how we define what beauty is and I agree with them all. This video does an awesome job of showing us that the things we dislike about our own body is what makes us unique and makes us beautiful.

In an environment like the one in the video, you are going to get positive comments, but what about Facebook, Instagram, Twitter? If someone tries this on their own and posts the photo online, what type of feedback are they going to get?

My concern is that people are not always nice, especially young girls. This could backfire. The one girl states that nothing bad happened when she posted a selfie. What if everyone posts mean comments about her?

I’m curious what a therapist thinks about the video above. Does it help or hurt a young woman’s self-esteem. Are selfies good or bad for our body image?

Mothers and Daughters and Body Image

I love that Dove talks about how a mother’s body image directly affects their daughter’s body image. I struggle with setting a good example for my daughters every day. I look back at photos of me when I was a teen and I wonder why I thought I was fat. I looked awesome!! I hated my calves because I could never wear high boots. I looked so muscular and athletic.

A few years ago I did used Daily Mugshot app to take a photo of myself every day over a year. When I go back and look at those photos, I am much less critical because time has passed.

I Love Selfies

I post selfies because it’s fun to go back and see myself in the different places I’ve been and the different things I’ve done. If I get a haircut, yep…I share a selfie. I also love seeing selfies from others.

When I connect with friends and family on Facebook or Instagram, I don’t want to just see photos of their kids and pets, I want to see photos of the person I connected with. I want to see how my high school friends look now. Seeing everyone’s smiling faces in my Facebook stream is the closest I come to seeing everyone in person.