'Barefaced selfies' - why?

I am a little bit confused. So ok, the ‘barefaced selfie' nomination craze that quickly went viral last night is for a good cause, especially if people actually donate some money to cancer research. But, isn’t it just a little bit ridiculous? I mean, what exactly are we trying to say here? That wearing no make-up is so daring and out there and brave that it is reminiscent of the courage of cancer patients? Or perhaps we’re saying that by stripping down to our true selves we’re able to focus on what really matters such as inner beauty, or accepting our own pure physical finesse - free from the barriers constructed by abject social oppression and the media and Photoshop and gay fashion designers and the god damn Kardashians and school playgrounds.

I don’t get it.

It is not brave to take a picture of yourself on Instagram, run a filter over it and post it with the tag line ‘Man I was dreading being nominated, betches. But what goes around comes around LOL…I nominate XXX.’ Did you donate some money as you pondered the exact phraseology that would perfectly capture your horror at the world seeing what you actually look like? If so, my point is moot. However, I'm willing to bet many don’t because partaking in a trend that is so completely narcissistic often results in a mind blank on the reason you're doing it in the first place. No judgements here, ladies - I stood in front of my mirror this morning and snapped the shit out of my rather fabulous outfit. I feel no shame.

None-the-less, the positive product of such strange campaigns is the conversations they generate, which do the trick of raising awareness, although one would have to wonder who in the internet whoring world isn't aware of cancer. Regardless, bringing it to the forefront may spur a few to action and this is, of course, a good thing. But why can't these internet crazes be something more creative, like wacky outfit posts, grandest gesture videos, random acts of kindness. Instead we get all excited over barefaces and absurd alcohol concoctions, like we have to prove something yet none of us are ever exactly sure what that something is. I have no conclusion, it's an on-going bafflement. 

NB. Since writing this post I have noticed more ladies putting an image of their donation on Facebook alongside the selfie. This is brilliant and exactly the point I was making - if you're actually doing it for the cause then good on you, otherwise it's just another selfie. It will be interesting to see how much is raised from this and I will write a follow up as and when. However, I also donated but just missed out the 'bare selfie' part.