That women controlling our own images—especially Black women, women of colour, queer women, trans women, disabled women, fat women, poor women (and women whose identities involve multiple intersections) etc.—is met with disdain, claims of narcissism, or even abuse, is not a coincidence. It’s often women whose identities/appearances are not regularly considered “beautiful” that face this ire. “Beauty” is more than presentation/consumption of aesthetics, but is in fact privileged, social currency, and used to determine humanity where that said concept of beauty and humanity itself is juxtaposed against Blackness.



With selfies, women (as well as other marginalized people who are non-binary, genderfluid or intersex and still may face misogyny) get to be the authors of our own visual stories and especially so with social media. I mean, as a Black woman, it has been clear to me that social media allows an aspect of self-definition that was previously unavailable to many Black women, which seems to cause a crisis of sorts for people who need to see us their way and no other way; their “lens” is misogynoiristic and anti-Black, while our “lens” is one that reflects how we view ourselves for who we are. The fact that they cannot reconcile their misogynoiristic socialization with our lived reality is often the crux of the reason for their abuse and especially so against Black women who are hypervisible online. And as I’ve stated before, Black women do not have to reject mentions of beauty to be “feminist,” especially when demanded to by White women whose very existence gets to be the definition of “beauty.”



The tweets above are ones that I’ve sent over time in support of selfies; as a Black woman and as a photographer. Yeah, as a photographer (who used to do professional portraiture etc.) I still support people creating their own images; many people know when to hire a professional versus when they can do it themselves. Being that so many people deride selfies yet refuse to respect photographers as small businesses and pay for the work, that explains the sentiment in my last tweet above. And self-portraiture is by no means new in terms of photographic history; what is new is accessibility to create them and speed/reach at which to share them.



There is seriously no reason to harm people for wanting to capture their own image and self-define, especially in a society that forces definitions on many of us; ones uncomfortable for some, ones oppressive for some, ones literally genocidal for some. Women, especially women experiencing intersecting oppressions, post the hell out of your selfies, if you want. Fuck misogyny, misogynoir, and transmisogyny etc. Black people, enjoy #BlackoutDay if you want. Fuck racism and anti-Blackness. However, some people are not comfortable with creating selfies. It could be for safety reasons, self-esteem reasons or simply personal disinterest. This is also okay. The choice to create or not create one’s own image should not be met with trolling or abuse, when some people–especially women who have/are experiencing domestic abuse or stalking and/or are undocumented–maybe cannot risk making selfies public.

It cannot go without saying that many industries in a capitalist society rely on the consumption of goods that are based on women chasing an unattainable aesthetic, usually a cis, thin, able-bodied White one; self-definition can hurt bottom lines. Thus, selfies continue to be derided in the same type of media spaces that simultaneously advertise “beauty” in a limited scope with products attached. I know as a Black woman, my joy and self-esteem are treated as direct threats to patriarchal domination, to White supremacist beauty standards, to the very definition of “womanhood” from which Blackness is deemed “exempt.” This is what Black women face in a White supremacist capitalist patriarchal society.



As I’ve stated before, while much of the commentary against selfies tends to have a very misogynistic lean and is shaped by the resentment that people who aren’t regularly seen in the mainstream as “beautiful” are able to create, control, share and praise their own images, I think selfies are important. For me, selfies are more than self-expression and self-affirmation; they are radical acts and are reminders and proof that I do have happy times, amidst a complex and at times very painful life. They are records of my own existence…on my own terms.