In recent weeks I’ve been asking first years, sophomores, juniors, and nearly-graduates what they would tell their first-semester first-year selves about body image at Bowdoin. Some of the most poignant conversations I have had regarding this question have to do with the pressure of the “pre-game pictures.” What this means is those thirty minutes before every party where girls (and maybe guys, too) line up and do their best to look fabulous and camera ready.
While certainly we still take pictures and want to document our nights, the phenomenon of taking pictures in full make-up and outfits with your roommates appears to reach its height around winter of freshman year. Perhaps this is because you have just arrived at college and you want to prove to all your high school friends that you actually do, in fact, have friends and are, in fact, attending college just like you’re supposed to.
College House parties don’t ease this sense of appearance-based anxiety. When you are out, you are banking on appearance, just like when you are in the classroom you are banking on your ability to listen and learn. That’s a crass and probably reductive statement, but you get the point. Appearance tends to feel more important after 9 p.m. on a Friday, especially when you are headed to a party. Or, at least it did for me. And what’s more concerning is that the series of momentary choices you make on the weekends—say, what outfit you choose—become immortalized on Facebook.
Sure, you want to be able to document your time here at Bowdoin—but at what point is it too much? By some strange phenomenon, we now face the constant threat of being photographed. Your friends, at any minute, could become paparazzi. Every big event can become a red carpet affair, where we are asked to document each moment, each outfit, each group of friends together. No one is safe
And we all know that if you’ve made a new friend or have a new crush, the first instinct is to look the person up on Facebook and stalk all the pictures back to 2007 (if you’re doing it right). Social media like Facebook and Instagram do not allow us to share our experiences per se; rather, they allow us to carefully construct a public image, to decide what will or will not become a part of what people see when they do their research. While posting pictures used to be a way to show off what you’ve done, it has now become more about showing off your image—how you physically look.
Photo editing apps have undoubtedly doubled even in the past few months. It’s rare for someone to post a photo that hasn’t been edited in some way. We’re only seen through various, convenient filters. Even the selfie craze, for instance, seems to take experience out of the equation. We become more concerned with the portrayal of the self than the actual event.
Everyone thinks about how they look in some way or another. But to focus so heavily on the exterior, to make each day an opportunity to prove something about your appearance, adds a kind of anxiety that just isn’t healthy or necessary.
As Ivies weekend fast approaches, I think it’s important to strike a balance between documenting fun and having fun. I know I will fall victim to the picture-taking to some extent, and maybe that’s okay: it’s my last Ivies and it’s something I will want to look back on. But, I don’t want to spend my weekend feeling the need to prove that it’s actually happening. A picture doesn’t tell the whole story. Take a few and then live your life.