An ode to sexy selfies

You know those mornings when you wake up, put on some makeup, and are really feeling yourself? You look in the mirror and think “dang, I look fine as hell, I better document this moment.” So, you take out your phone, and start snapping selfies.

Around eight selfies in you think you have a decent one, but you convince yourself you can do better, so you delete it, and spend the next eight trying to take one even half as good as the one you just deleted. Sixteen selfies later and you finally have one that almost does you justice. You swipe to find the perfect filter, swiping back and forth between two for a few seconds before you ask a friend which one she likes best just to make sure you don’t make the wrong choice.

You momentarily contemplate posting a selfie on your story, but don’t want to face any judgement for being “the girl who puts selfies on her snap story”, so you refrain and send it to everyone in your contacts instead.

You probably have at least one douchey guy friend who makes fun of you for this process. “You’re so basic,” he says, “it’s really self-centered to do that, you know?” Maybe you have a hipster friend who tells you to put down your phone and live in the moment.

These people make you feel self-conscious about your selfie taking habits, but you’re also self conscious about yourself, because as a young women it’s nearly impossible to have a healthy self-esteem when you’re constantly comparing yourself to the models you see when you scroll through your Insta, like the seemingly flawless Alexis Ren or Gigi Hadid.

Guess what? These gorgeous models have low-self esteem days too. Sometimes they have to take 45 pictures before they find one they think is good enough to post, and I’d be willing to bet even Gigi Hadid faces the occasional snobby comment about how she’s narcissistic for posting too many selfies.

Do these women let anything stop them from sharing their gorgeous faces with the world? No, and neither should you because a selfie is a moment captured in time where you felt cute, happy, or just plain sexy, and you deserve to share those moments without feeling guilty or getting harped on for it.

You deserve to feel happy when your friend comments on your Instagram saying “girl, can we please switch faces”, or when the cute guy snaps you back with a heart eye emoji. This positive affirmation is good for your self-esteem, and you should never feel bad for capturing a moment when you’re feeling hella fine.

You can look back at these sexy snapshots when you’re feeling frumpy, and be reminded you don’t always look like a potato.

There’s science to back this up too. Computer scientists at UC Irvine recently found a correlation between snapping selfies and happiness.

You’re a selfie queen, and you don’t have to worry about what anyone thinks about it. In fact, you should feel bad for them, because they don’t understand the happiness and confidence boost a good selfie can bring.

The point is take the selfie, post it on your snap story, send it to everyone you know, find the best lighting and perfect angle, spend 20 minutes picking the best filter, hell blow it up to an 8×10 and frame it in your bedroom if you want to.

If it makes you happy, who cares what anyone else thinks?

@TheTab