A few weeks ago, I wrote a tweet about how I didn’t like the new Snapchat filters because they distort the facial features in a way that is inhumanly pretty. Like the old filters were funny or cute, but the newer ones actually distort facial structure while still being subtle enough that people try to pass them off as real selfies. I had just been seeing a lot of my friends on various social media posting these pictures and something just struck me as bad or maybe even unhealthy about these pictures because they are really a subtle distortion of reality.
A couple of people jumped on me for my tweet accusing me of being misogynistic. Though I definitely didn’t mention gender in the post whatsoever (I think the exact wording of which was like “I don’t like the new snapchat filters. They distort faces so much I can barely remember what my friends’ actual faces look like”), people drew connections with the type of guys who complain about makeup being fake and stuff like that. I thought it was a misunderstanding and I tried to explain myself and only made the people even more angry with me. I deleted the tweet, worried that I had said something accidentally offensive.
But then I saw an article this morning talking about how cosmetic surgeons and dermatologists are concerned with the amount of people trying to come in to get surgeries to look more like their filtered selfies. They’re actually calling it “Snapchat Dysmorphia” based on the popularity of the filters on the app.
This has made me realize two things. First off, I have to stop caving into public pressure. If I’ve thought long and hard about something and have good reason for what I’m thinking, I shouldn’t delete it because it is an unpopular opinion or because it makes some people mad. More often than not, I’ll say something that people disagree with and I’ll back down, but then later I’ll be proven right and I just look like a fool for not standing my ground.
Secondly, why is our society so incredibly narcissistic and appearance obsessed? We’ve become so shallow that we actively defend other people’s right to be shallow. Feminists and other people used to fight against photoshop in magazines because it created beauty standards that are impossible to live up to, but now feminists defend snapchat filters even though they do the exact same thing! Like it’s okay to want to be pretty or whatever but if you’re actually trying to get surgery to look like a snapchat filter, you got your priorities wrong. What matters is your character and your personality. Are you kind? Are you funny? Are you honest? Are you dependable? Are you interesting? Are you smart? Do you challenge yourself? Do you have goals and ambitions? Like… these things matter so much more than looks and it bums me out that the world just brushes all that aside to focus on things that are only skin deep.
Anyway I just saw that article this morning and this mini-rant just sort of bubbled up naturally. If you got thoughts on this subject definitely jump into the comments! Until next time, my friends!
Sheldauntless 