Selfish Selfies?

/ RedheadRambler

I’m hoping this post doesn’t turn itself into a rant instead of being a ramble, let’s hold thumbs…

As I’m sure everyone who is on a social network site has seen, many women have been posting pictures of themselves without make up in aid of cancer research, and then nominating their friends to do the same. I am all in favour of raising money for this cause, we all know someone who has been affected by cancer if not ourselves personally and we need to bolster the fight against as much as we can. I just don’t understand the narcissistic angle. Now, I know I write a blog that’s all about what I think, so who am I to point a finger, and this is certainly not an attack on any participants – in fact I say well done, but bear with me.



This ‘nomination’ idea (from my experience) was popularised with the drinking game ‘Neknomination’ where individuals or groups would down a drink, post a video online, and then nominate friends to better their actions and so on and so forth. In essence a dangerous form of modern chain mail. Some people took this way too far and have actually died from downing ridiculous amounts of alcohol. Whilst horrific, I feel these people were sadly victims of their own stupidity.


Turning this negative influence on its head is fantastic. Getting people to donate to a worthy cause is fantastic. The selfie ‘campaign’ has raised around £3 million pounds the last time I checked which is amazing. I just wish it didn’t involve women posting bare-faced pictures of themselves – which seems pointless.


The point that becomes apparent to me is that in this socially connected age, our awareness of a cause is only piqued when self-promotion is involved. I have seen some posts where the women have not uploaded a picture of themselves, but of evidence they have donated to the charity, which is clever, but also has a slight whiff of ‘look at me, I’m charitable’.

I just think, don’t wait for a nomination. If you want to donate, just donate. If you need a cause follow the first link below. A colleague of mine is running an insane race through the Sahara (an exercise in masochism if you ask me) in support of Macmillan Cancer Support who care for those affected by cancer. Their web page link is also below.



Maybe I’m way off base and have missed the point, anyone else agree? Anyone wishing to challenge my opinion? Let’s open the dialogue.