“I Click and Post and Breathe, Waiting for Others to See What I See”: On #FeministSelfies, Outfit Photos, and Networked Vanity

Abstract

This article critically examines the political uses and potential of "networked vanity." While popular online practices of self-regard and selfpromotion have been disparaged as examples of "digital narcissism"-a new culture of self-absorption wrought by social media-this article insists on a more historically and politically nuanced understanding of the politics and practices of self-composure. Analyzing the #feministselfie hashtag campaign that emerged on Twitter in November 2013 in which women (and to a lesser extent, men) silently but powerfully declared their self (or rather "selfie") love and RAISE Our Story a project of

Towards a theoretical understanding of the selfie: A descriptive review

“…In the dramaturgic framework, the interpretation of the selfie is centered around subjectivity, self‐presentation, and self‐performativity. As a starting point, this framework underlines the proposition that subjectivity is the “primary representational object of visual media” (Pham, 2015, p. 224). As far as analysis of the selfie is concerned, the dramaturgic enterprise is guided by this central question: what shifts does the selfie culture bring to our understanding of the self?…”

“…While the motivation of narcissism was evident, studies also revealed that the selfie is associated with perception of body image (Grogan, Rothery, Cole, & Hall, 2018) and personal development (Diefenbach & Christoforakos, 2017). In addition, self‐expression and identity construction have been considered to be the two main contributing factors to selfie‐taking and selfie‐posting (Boon & Pentney, 2015; Pham, 2015).…”

“…As such, “examining the interactional aspects of the selfie provides insight into these acts of visual communication, but also into the selfie as a symbol of social transformation” (Walsh & Baker, 2017, p. 1189). In the same context, employing a sociocultural approach, Levin (2014, Section 2b para 6) defines the selfie as “the representation of the self as a product of the system of interpersonal relationships through which it is articulated online.” As a social rite or social practice, the selfie thus represents a meaning‐making process of self‐representation that is produced within a system of interpersonal relationships that governs the dynamic of power relations between “the object of looking and the looking subject” (Pham, 2015, p. 225). The sociocultural rite and practice of the selfie present a sociocultural construction of an interactional structure that involves not only the selfie‐taker but also the situational space, social networks and selfie recipients.…”

“Papo de mulherzinha”?! O cuidado de si como hedonismo feminino e os blogs de moda como modelo de negócios

“…As postagens nem sempre apresentam a blogueira produzida, mas, por vezes, o processo de produção dessa imagem, o "antes e depois". Pham (2015) esclarece que as imagens produzidas pelas mulheres nas redes sociais, sobretudo as selfies, tendem a objetificá-las, mas, nesse caso, elas se sujeitam a ser objeto de si mesmas na interação com sua audiência.…”

Agencing femininity: digital Mrs. Consumer in intra-action

“…Rocamora (2011Rocamora ( , 2012 has discussed how female fashion bloggers dissolve distinctions between subject and object by both posing in, and producing, objectifying images. Likewise, the phenomenon of the 'fatosphere' has been described as challenging beauty norms (Connell 2013, Gurriere and Cherrier 2013, Harju and Huovinen 2015), whilst 'selfies' are interpreted as a colonization of the visual space that aggressively takes power over representations of the female body (Murray 2015, Ehlin 2014, and/or of representations of 'femininity' and 'race' (Pham 2015). Similarly, and as I will show below, by turning (i) the home into a work place, (ii) consumption into work, and (iii) bodies into businesses, these women perform acts of resistance against a mainstream culture that does not value feminine beauty and caring practices.…”