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Women don’t take selfies for the motives that men do: here’s why

Men don’t cross our mind when we take a picture

Madelaine Lucy Hanson
5 min readDec 3, 2024

I got a new dress today and I bloody love it. It’s dark navy velvet with gold and bronze brocade print. It’s knock-out. I feel very main character. I’ve been wearing it all day, with pearl earrings, lipstick, and a silver tulle petticoat. Why? Well, why not. I feel fantastic. I feel chic, glamorous, and beautiful. I look exactly the way I want. So I pull out my phone and; snap. Selfie. The women loved it. Where was it from? Did they come in plus sizes? The blue was gorgeous. The gleam of the gold lit up my photograph. I looked like a 50s film star. The men’s comments were universally weirder: I had a great rack. They didn’t know where to look! Cor, what was I trying to do to them? Where were there eyes supposed to be? Crushed and a bit alarmed, I looked at the shots again. Yep: I was showing about 3 inches of decolletage and the bottom end of a knee in one shot. Honestly, I’ve shown more skin at the supermarket. It hadn’t even registered to me that anyone could sexualise a picture of me wearing a knee-length dress in my kitchen. But they had: because men think we take pictures to be sexy.

Pretty not sexy: the feminine aethetic

Men (straight men, I apologise to my gay audience) view women primarily through the lens of sex: they’ll lie to you about this but the more…

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Madelaine Lucy Hanson
Madelaine Lucy Hanson

Written by Madelaine Lucy Hanson

The girl who still knows everything. Opinions entirely my own. Usually. Enquiries: madelaine@madelainehanson.co.uk

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