The Great Selfie Prohibition May Be Upon Us

What happens when society makes a self-indulgent behavior so ubiquitous it has its own name and reputation and hashtag? Revolt against it, naturally. Just when selfies hit their prime, it seems more and more people are dropping the act of self-portraiture in the name of supposed self-respect.

In light of a University of Alabama sorority’s banning of the selfie, Daily Dot has a comprehensive list of events and settings where self-portraiture was banned, including Nelson Mandela’s coffin, some bars, and Michelle Obama’s birthday party.

Sure, it’s probably a good decision to ban selfies in a context where the petty act of holding a phone in a certain manner to get the best angle of your own face would sort of rob the greater circumstance (like a fucking funeral) of its own power. But banning selfies in any context simply to maintain some sort of respectable image just is an empty gesture. Selfies might be a glimpse at socially acceptable vanity, but they’re not the sole indicator of respectability.

Unless, of course, you take all the time spent preparing and posing for a selfie and use it to volunteer at a homeless shelter or teach middle school girls how to maximize their Pokémon stats. Then get up off your selfie-taking butts and get the young women leaders of tomorrow on a strict Effort Values regimen!