To the selfie haters

This morning Cancer Research released a lovely little handwritten note to inform the world of social media that the hashtag #nomakeupselfie has raised a staggering £8 million pounds. Surely this should be enough for the ‘selfie haters’ out there? Well apparently not. Apparently it just shows what a self-aware group of vain bimbos we all are. The recent tweets and Facebook statuses questioning what our bare, intrusive and pale faces will actually achieve has shocked me. Why should we take a picture when we can just donate? As if your face could cure cancer?

That’s the problem with social media. It gives many the opportunity to have their say, even when it is not warranted.

Many of the tweets I witnessed were not only in need of a spell check, but more importantly in need of a quick google search in to what the ‘nomakeupselfie’ is trying to achieve. Incase you don’t have a computer right now, let me tell you. Awareness. One simple word, one very big effect. What is awareness? The Oxford dictionary states awareness as a ‘concern about a well-informed interest in a particular situation or development’ and a ‘knowledge or perception of a situation or fact’.  In layman’s terms, informing others. It really is that simple.

So to the idiot who said ‘your face won’t cure cancer’, no my face alone isn’t going to cure cancer. But the other million selfies that have been uploaded in the last six days since Cancer Research started their campaign could. Most importantly my selfie is raising awareness. I am inviting my fellow followers to join me through the use of a special nomination to wipe away their safety net and to take a picture of what lies beneath. I hope I made that sound scary because for some women it is. I know many women who use makeup as a mask, to cover their insecurities and to present a more acceptable image of themselves. My friend has been with her boyfriend for 7 months and he still has not seen her without makeup. She wakes up at 7am just to fill her brows and bronze her face because she is worried he may see the ‘real’ her which is nowhere near as attractive as the made-up her. We are a vain generation. We want to look good constantly. Why do you think Instagram has 20 filters? Just to make us feel that little bit better about ourselves. 

It is hardly unexpected that we are like this when all we see is beautiful, surgically enhanced celebs in every magazine or blog we read. As soon as Kim Kardashian is seen sans makeup, her face is zoomed in on and blown up so we can all have a giggle at that one tiny spot on her left cheek. ‘Oh she’s human. She has dark circles, bags and spots. Hallelujah’. We take pleasure in seeing a celebrity looking bad because finally they are one of us. The ‘nomakeupselfie’ puts us on par with every other woman regardless of their celebrity status. Now people can see us for what we really are. Beautiful and courageous individuals.

Obviously there is always going to be someone who cannot for the life of them understand this concept and this has been well documented on my timeline full of twits. Look we all love a moan. I am not a saint. I hate it when people ‘like’ their own pictures. We know you bloody like it, you put it up! I also hate the ‘like this and you will receive good luck in half an hour’ pictures. Never works. However, it is not feasible to moan when people are coming together to raise awareness for a disease that continues to rise and devastate lives. I am not one to stop a creative and engaging campaign that has captured a generation of selfie takers. I am all for originality and if this gets people talking, good or bad then Cancer Research’s PR team is having a field day. Most importantly, if this campaign allows women to say we are beautiful with or without makeup, with or without breasts, with or without hair then why shouldn't we take part? It's time us women unite and appreciate the one thing we all have – beauty.

So let us unite in the hope that the £8 million both us women and men have raised will help find a cure. I have inner beauty, so do all the women who have been brave enough to face the cruel judgement from social media sites to support such an important cause.  So yes this selfie is a big ask for certain women and if it continues to raise money then yes I will continue to promote it. 

A question- would you men like to take a picture of your winkle before you have ‘warmed’ it up? No I didn’t think so.

  Text BEAT to 70099.