This is me.
No makeup, no flattering lighting or angles, no re-takes, not even a smile to make me look better. Just me, exactly as I naturally am. Posting a picture like this shouldn't as as unusual as it is.
Yesterday, I saw a video made up the daily pictures a guy had taken of himself for ten years. The transformation was amazing to watch. Like me, he took his pictures face on with a neutral expression. It made me want to do the same thing; take pictures every day over an extended period of time and look back on myself growing. But I was stopped by one thought:
"I'll have to look presentable every day."
I don't wear makeup every day, I don't do my hair every day, I don't even get dressed every day if I don't have to be anywhere. I'm sure that guy didn't feel the need to do all of those things every day either, but unlike me, he felt comfortable enough every single day to take a photo.
So what's the difference between us? The difference is that billions of dollars are made by making me feel insecure about my appearance, so insecure that I won't be happy with a picture of myself unless I look the way I've been told to look, unless I look like the "after" pictures I'm blasted with by people who want me to cover myself in their makeup, wear their clothes and swallow their diet pills. A lot of people make a lot of money if I don't like what I see in the mirror.
I'm not saying this doesn't happen to men- it's something that affects us all, but different grouos are targeted with different intensities. What needs to change in the world so that the idea of taking a photo of myself isn't daunting and I'll see the photo as a memory, rather than a reminder of my insecurities?
