Everywhere you look, there’s a picture of Stephanie Rice in a bikini. Look over there:
Last night Olympic swimmer Stephanie Rice tweeted this picture of herself lying on a sun lounge in a bikini, with a caption alongside it that read: “Life’s tough”.
Steph’s look-at-me-in-a-bikini shot is not the first she’s shared via social media. A couple of weeks ago she tweeted this picture, ostensibly ‘thanking’ a friend for buying her a new swimsuit.
It’s nice when your thank you note ends up on the front page of every news website in the country. But really, you could have just sent a card, right?
Photos of celebrities in swimmers is not new. Gossip mags are full of stalkerazzi shots of famous people, often on holidays, caught in their cossies. What’s new is that now the celebrities are taking these shots THEMSELVES. And sharing them with the world.
Have the hunted now become the hunters? Of themselves? And is this a bit weird?
Blame Demi Moore. She started it. Back when she was still married to Ashton Kutcher, we were all treated to the slightly sad spectacle of Demi taking a shot of herself with her phone while staring at her bikini-wearing self in the mirror.
Here are some of the latest celebrity sexy selfies.
Bar Refaeli
Not sure why she took it. Wait, yes we are. To prove that she may be 50 but she’s still hot. Ok yes you are. Now put it away.
Reality star Lisa Rinna jumped on board the sexy selfies train by taking a similar shot of herself in what she called ‘a tribute’ to Demi and tweeting it to her thousands of followers.
Ever since then, it’s been an avalanche of celebrities wanting to show us what they look like with most of the clothes off. It’s like a press release because they know it will be widely shared on social media and appear in mainstream media as well.
Body selfies. Self sexting. Sexy selfies. Matser-bexting.
Is it a way for celebrities to reclaim their bodies from the papapparazzi? Control their image? Or simply the latest example of extreme narcissism?
Comments
105 Comments so far
Aren’t we all a little guilty of selfies? Selfies in our household have now become part joke, part normal. Im guilty of posting my own holiday snaps from our recent trip to Europe!
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Has anyone seen the follow up to Steph’s picture by the pool? After all the ridiculous hype she took another one completely clothes with a hoodie and sunglasses. Hilarious!
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If I looked like some of those celebs, I’d be dedicating a website to uploading photos of myself and the website would be called “Look at my Kick Ass Body” =)
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While some photos are inappropriate to be posted, I think it’s great that people have enough confidence to put up their image online. Even if it’s just with friends and family, how great that young women are posting up, feeling confident and feeling that they were attractive, sexy, beautiful. Why do we have to shoot down people as “losers” and similar put downs?
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Ban the Selfie!!!
The Selfie: A picture taken of yourself that is planned to be uploaded to Facebook or social networking website. You can usually see the person’s arm holding out the camera in which case you can clearly tell that this person does not have any friends to take pictures of them. They post pictures of themselves, taken by themselves. A selfie is usually accompanied by a kissy face (or boobs out in this gallery) and the individual looking like an idiot.
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Does anyone else get the feeling, that although Stephanie may be proud of her body, she is ashamed of her head?? Lol
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I keep hearing Kath Day-Knight whilst looking at these photos “look at meeee, look at meee.”
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Ah you have to love such confidence don’t you?
A couple of weeks ago I wrote about something similar and people started sending me their own selfies. I love them – what do you think?
http://www.midthirtieslife.com/2012/06/art-of-twitter-self-portrait-part-2.html
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Why not post these pics? They have great bodies!
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Maybe I’ve been hanging around the feminist/body-acceptance blogs too long, but…. why shouldn’t these women be proud of their bodies? It’s their bodies, they’re not offending me, I think they can do what they like with it – including taking photos and putting them on social media sites. They shouldn’t be shamed for how old they are or how much/little clothes they’re wearing.
Narcissistic? How about just accepting of their bodies? Is that narcissistic?
May I go out on a limb and say that if Ryan Gosling/Channing Tatum/insert- attractive-male-celebrity took a heap of semi-clothed selfies and posted them, they would be accompanied by people’s comments about how hot they are?
But here we have women, taking control of their image, proud of their bodies. Exercising their agency.
And I think it’s awesome.
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agreed! I just posted up a similar thing!
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No such thing as hanging around body acceptance blogs for too long
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mostly i think it is narcissum. but i don’t think i’ve EVER seen a pic of stephanie rice out of swimmers or undies so im pretty sure that’s where she’s comfy…
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Holy Mackerel! When I saw the photo of Coco it took me a few minutes to work out what was in the front of the photo. At first I thought they were two sand dunes!!!
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I would never take a selfie of myself in a bikini because, quite frankly, I’m pretty insecure about my body. But I think it’s great that these women have the confidence to do so. For Stephanie Rice who probably has lived in a swimsuit her whole life, being seen in a bikini probably doesn’t worry her too much.
It is probably nice to be able to control the image of yourself in a bikini for once as opposed to having hundreds of paps swarming your tropical holiday every year.
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Another title change for another article! Were you concerned that the word “narcissism” was too … something? And the title changed from “Tom Cruise is not Pacey something” to “Things Katie Holmes once said” could be changed again to “Things the Dawson Creek scriptwriters wrote for Katie Holmes’ character Joey to say”.
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Hey Amanda, the beauty of the internet is that things aren’t set in stone – our headlines aren’t printed like they are in newspapers. So during the day we’re able to play around a little if we think of something we like more.
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That’s just a copout. I never see other websites change their headlines as often as Mamamia does. Changing headlines and content constantly seems to suggest that not enough consideration goes into how the story should be presented. It’s similar to the consistent lack of editing that draws comments from readers every time. “Oh, well we can fix it later so we won’t bother to do it properly now.”
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I also have noticed that a lot. The team title an article in a way to draw hits (IMO) Many titles are obviously to inflame. The title sets the tone & the intent. Some articles have several title changes over time.
You guys can do what you like, it is your site but what ever happened to standing behind what you publish, seems slightly unethical to me to keep on amending articles/titles.
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Guys, changing headlines is a way of gaining better attention from the readers on your site, plus they are tweaked to attract search traffic.
It’s not a copout, it’s not a conspiracy and really, it’s not worth worrying about.
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Yes, but Trog, at some point there needs to be some sort of ‘truth in advertising’ standard applied to the titles of posts (I refuse to call them articles because they simply don’t reach that journalistic standard).
And if true, to title a post “Things Katie Holmes once said” when what she said were actually scripted lines spoken by a character she was playing, is bordering on outright fraud. No one (with any intelligence or integrity) ever quotes a memorable line from a film or play and attributes it to the actor rather than the character.
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I think you’re getting a bit hot under the collar over a pretty standard editorial practice. The media employing sensationalism? Not news.
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Not at all ‘hot under the collar’, merely expressing an opinion. And yes, I take your point about the media employing sensationalism. Actually, I’ve long thought that those of us who long for some truth, honesty, and integrity in the media were doing so in futility.
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When I noticed it was Dawson Creek lines I stopped reading, never watched DC, so didn’t make sense to me.
I didn’t get ruffled.
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Me too.
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So let me get this straight, Mamamia: the snipes towards Delta (don’t like her) and Nicole (love her) are unfair and people should lay off them. But it’s ok to take a few swipes at Stephanie Rice (love her)?
That pretty much seems to be your position. Talk about rank hypocrisy!
And a total beat up: that latest photo of Steph isn’t even a ‘selfie’. Nothing held in Steph’s hand could possibily have taken that photo at that angle.
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Hey Grumpy,
Not sure what you mean. We haven’t swiped anyone. We’re looking at a trend among celebs (and others) for posting sexy shots of themselves on social media. Not swiping. Discussing.
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Oh come on, Mia, that response is disingenuous at best (at worst, for a bunch of journalists you’re spectacularly unaware of how your written words, read).
You say you were merely ‘looking at a trend among celebs (and others)’: the trend of posting ‘selfies’? Like I said: that latest pic of Stephanie Rice isn’t even a selfie!! And in the main post you wrote: “ostensibly ‘thanking’ a friend for buying her a new swimsuit” indicates you (unjustifiably) doubted her sincerity. The only pictures featured individually were those of Stephanie Rice: all your ‘supporting’ celebs were bunched together in a ‘gallery’ of photos. If these things don’t indicate a beat up or a swipe at her, please tell me what does?
Personally, if I knew any sort of celeb and to thank me they posted a pic of themselves wearing a gift I had given them, I would be totally chuffed and really ‘feeling the love’. Much more so than if they’d simply sent a thank you card as you suggest. And I suspect you and everyone else would have the same reaction.
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I’m so bored of selfies. I don’t mind so much seeing other people’s (unless I think too much about how that photo actually came to be) but whenever I go to take a selfie of myself I feel like a total narcissistic tool. It doesn’t help that I still have an iPhone 3 which means I invariably have to rely on a mirror and get the phone at an angle where it’s not reflected. Then there’s the face to pull; a full on smile feels a bit weird when you’re solo in your bathroom, a protruding pout is tacky so of course there’s the mouth closed, slight-smile, slight-pout look of contentment, self-assurance with a touch of sexiness. Creating that sort of image with a pensive stare either to mirror or sideways is very tricky and at roughly the tenth take of trying to tap the camera button without being able to see it, I concede that like many things in life, the best photos are organic and not planned by the subject. I love confident people but for some reason it’s the premeditation behind the image that limits its appeal and beauty for me, no matter how freakin’ hot someone’s bod is.
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Or just go the ‘blue steel’ look! ; )
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It’s simple isn’t it? Selling desire is the name of the game. They’re selling themselves to make money. Stephanie Rice probably openly wants a bikini contract, for goodness sake. But definitely wants sponsorship/ad money. The Demi Moores of the world need the publicity to fund their lifestyles and keep themselves in the public eye.
Nothing new here.
What’s new is how everyone else is doing it. Blogs, facebook. Full of pouting selfies. Weird. Uncomfortable. Why do you want me to see that?
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What’s wrong with liking the way we look? I mean, okay, I wouldn’t post bikini picture, but I definitely am more likely to post a photo where I look pretty than when I don’t.
Let’s not pretend we’re all not just as vain and desperate for a compliment. Just on different scales.
PS – Heidi Klum! Hot!
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Given that so many women have problems with self confidence thanks to the magazine/model/airbrushing world we live in, I think it’s fantastic that women are posting photos up of themselves online.
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If I looked as good as Stephanie does in that bikini, I would be showing off too. Hell, I’d run down the beach in slow motion.
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The first thing I think when I see photos like this is ‘show off!’. But why not? They would have to work bloody hard to look like that so good on them. Now, pass the Tim Tams.
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Since the days of antiquity people have done “selfies.” Look at Van Gogh, Da Vinci, Rubens, Matisse, and the most proliferate of them all, Rembrandt who took the self-portrait to obsessive levels.
Art historians have suggested that the self-portrait was used for the artist to sell themselves as a great artist. Obviously turning up to a prospective client’s place with a picture of someone who you can show them actually looks like the person in the picture, or vice-versa was a good thing. And I guess if the likeness of the artist did match their artwork, then the prospective client might drop the word prospective and actually become a client.
So how does this relate to the modern day self-portrait photo being posted on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram? If you got it flaunt it and then people will talk, and whilst social media is talking about you, you are relevant, and whilst you are relevant you are employable.
Just a thought…
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Brilliant!
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I despise seeing sexy selfies! In some cases it’s blatant look-at-me-ism. Other times (I’m looking at you Demi), it screams insecurity. The worst thing about the Demi shot was that she had her sunnies on – inside – in the bathroom! Hire a professional – at least that way you can quote words like “tasteful” and “artistic” when you tweet yourself in your knickers.
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you have to admit though, she does have a great body!
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Pretty sure, if i worked my ass off that hard, and looked that freaking amzing in a bikini I wouldnt stop taking photos of myself and posting them!
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CRINGE! So vain. I feel embarrassed for them.
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Who the hell is Stephanie Rice??
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Olympic swimmer. This will be her last Olympics apparently.
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Only one of Australia’s best Olympic swimmers in history.
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The thing that makes me think “attention seeking” is when the name makes me go: “who?!”
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Umm, hello? If I had a bod like this I’d not only be taking selfies, I’d be walking around in only my underwear!!!
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The age thing is what gets me.
I see pics uploaded by 15 year old girls, and I remember being that insecure, that desperate for affirmation, that I can’t judge them too harshly. But thank God I have matured. (somewhat, anyway….)
50-year-old women? I do find that sad, and not because I don’t want to see their bodies!
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i remember a while ago on mamamia, a man did a whole post about how he was proud of his larger body, including full nude portraits of himself.
i said this was narcisisstic, and got mown down with disagreement including from mamamia staff.
contradiction much?
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I don’t really understand why this comment is so well-liked.
Noah has a body that is difficult to build a huge amount of vanity about. I highly doubt Noah was posing nude, confident that his body was going to be widely admired. Noah was making a point about poor body image.
These stars are lounging around by themselves and taking photographs of their highly toned bodies that they are obviously pretty chuffed about in the expectation of creating admiration and envy.
Totally, totally different.
Don’t get me wrong, I love perving on a great body, but a tasteful, subtle and less flagrant display suggests healthier levels of self-absorption.
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What a great point Laura, I remember everyone congratulating that guy for showing off this flabby butt like he found a cure for cancer, I can’t stand hypocrisy.
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I do think the selfies are pretty bloody lame.
It’s bad enough that teenagers do it. But when a grown-up like Demi Moore does it, it’s just ridiculous.
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Demi Moore a grown-up? Physically maybe.
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Oh come on. She and Bruce Willis reportedly had a very civilized divorce and continue to have a civilized post divorce relationship. That takes maturity. I’d say she just insecure.
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Exactly. Her insecurity is cringe-worthy. She should know better than that by now.
Everyone knows she looks amazing for her age. She doesn’t need some lame selfie bikini shot to prove it. It only detracts from it.
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Yes, narcissism!
Paula Joye is also a good example! She has a whole website devoted to herself!
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Sienna, you could say that about any blogger! But actually Paula’s site has lots of posts that DON’T feature her. Take a look at the front page on any given day and the ratio is around 1:6. More’s the pity!
I want every post to have her in it.
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True you could say that about many bloggers, I do wonder about the motives of some bloggers, do they have a higher calling or is it just narcissism?
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Especially fashion bloggers! I love posts that have a few different shots so I can get the entire outfit as a concept, but I cannot stand bloggers that post like 20 photos from the same shoot, most of which are incredibly similar. Nothing will make me unsubscribe faster.
Take pride in your appearance and style, for sure. But at least make it interesting.
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Oh My, Coco’s shot makes me feel sick!
I think it has more to do with personality than anything else. When I had a body like Steph’s I didn’t post photos of myself but that’s because that’s not me. Some of my friends on the otherhand, do post similar photos but they like documenting everything and they like sharing every detail of their lives. I don’t think it’s fair to judge why people do it. Photos like that don’t bother me at all. I have the choice to follow or unfollow, like or hide so it’s not in my face if I don’t want it to be.
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The reason why females have to flash heaps of skin all the time is because men force them to like the poor Pussy Cat Dolls.
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Wow! What about that selfie of Coco! Ha ha ha.
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I had to Google who she was.
Now my brain has an owie.
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Would you also consider the selfies on the photo gallery of Open Post to be a form of narcissism too?
Double standards much?
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cynical
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Um I believe the “selfies” on this site are pictures of other people, therefore not selfies, and this is about photographing your body like a pin up.
Seriously if you don’t like this site, why come on and comment?
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People love that post. They enjoy knowing what goes on in the Mamamia office. I think it’s a bit different to taking a photo of yourself in the mirror and lining your Facebook wall with it.
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Call You Cynical (yes I will!),
Of course the open post gallery is narcissistic. So is most social media really. We have conversation quite regularly actually.
Which is why we have given it a makeover and put in a bunch of other stuff. Including our tweets.
Which is another type of narcissism…..!
At least we keep our gear on.
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At least we keep our gear on?!?
I didn’t see any naked pics in the gallery…
Also, I’m a firm believer that women (and men) have the right to wear whatever they want and take photos of their OWN body whenever they want to.
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I am cynical, I will agree!
They do have clothes on, not one of them is naked!
Steph is a professional swimmer, the pool is her “office”
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Loads of “normal” people do it to. How often do you see people posting what it is supposed to be a shot of them lounging at the pool or beach but is instead mostly their bikini clad legs with a bit of sky in the background (see the Heidi Klum photo!)
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On the good side – they’re not photoshopped!
Maybe that’s what they want to show – that they look good naturally? These people make a living through their bodies, so I guess to an extent what difference does it make if they are taking the picture themselves or if someone else is?
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I think it’s also a way of celebs getting in first. No one is going to care about a bikini clad body shot if you’ve already posted one yourself for millions to see.
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I don’t know why they do it…either…but may the lord bless them for it…I love it..keep it up girls
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I agree it’s narcissistic – some of those pics are so ridiculous, how could you ever claim it to be anything other than attention seeking? But when I saw that sunbaking photo of Steph Rice, I didn’t think “wow, what a body” I thought “WHY ARE YOU SUNBAKING, FOOL!” Seriously. It causes skin cancer. It’s not cool. SO many celebs seem to post pics of themselves doing it and I just don’t get it.
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ohmygod that was my reaction to!! How irresponsible of her to post that picture. I follow her on instagram, and she posts SO MANY shots in her bikini / swimmers. But I think she can be forgiven since she is a swimmer. (I LOVE that white bikini).
I’m not too sure what to make of celebs doing it. If they’re happy within themselves then power to them. I’d prefer self-released body shots that aren’t photoshopped than full – length body shots that are photoshoppped to ridiculous amounts in mags.
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It’s funny how, if someone loses 50kg and wants to show themselves off in a bikini, then that’s a “you go, girlfriend!” moment. But if they’ve had a good physique their whole life, then they are a show off. This article is all about jealousy.
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that’s what I was thinking, all the poo- pooing, just sounds like sour grapes to me.
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I wonder how you feel about this subject Jam Jam?!
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Hey Wilko!!! *Waves!*
You know how much I love a selfie but bikini shots? Not so much.
Missing you! Xx
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Jeez if I was as a young and had a hot, rockin’ bod like these ladies, I’d be flaunting it too. Isn’t it great that these women are actually proud of their bodies?????
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It’s not a pride thing for these women, it’s an attention seeking device.
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How do you know that?
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Let’s look at the calibre of these subjects.
Mostly C list reality stars, plus a sportswoman and a few washed up actresses. They have careers based on their profile, not their talent. This is a way to boost their profile in the media.
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So true, it’s not a pride thing. Great points Kate. Needless to say these celebs are not the sharpest tools in the shed,
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OUCH. stupid too.? so what if they post pics of themselves. What’s with all the hating?
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I don’t think it’s fair to say that Steph Rice’s career isn’t based off her talent?
And she’s a SWIMMER. So of course most shots of her are going to involve swimwear.
Of course some stars use these shots to boost their profile (Demi for e.g. – does anyone remember that weird naked bathroom shot from behind that she did a while back?) but who cares. As if we haven’t all done something attention seeking before.
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I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve done selfies…when I was 14.
I definitely inwardly groan whenever a selfy pops up on my F.b feed. If you’re going to take a selfy in your underwear because you have worked really hard for your bod, and want to show it off, admit to what you’re doing! Say ‘Hey guys, I’ve been working my arse off in the gym, I want to show you how far I’ve come!’ or something to that effect. Not the ones I so often see like ‘Just chilling out on the weekend!’ … oh and you just forgot to put on clothes before you took the pic???
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“It’s nice when your thank you note ends up” the topic of a post on Mamamia, too.
This reeks of jealousy to me. You guys can never be satisfied, can you? Hate Photoshopping…also hate when the celebs put real images of themselves out there. Want women to be confident…but don’t want them to be too confident. I don’t know many people who would take an unflattering photo of themselves and post it on their own social media site.
Sure it’s narcissistic but most people who are on such sites are.
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Spot on M. The twitter title says celebrities are ‘sexting’ – no that is NOT what Stephanie rice is doing. But it got me to click..tick!
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You can be confident without a selfie.
P.S Put down the lid of the toot.
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Imagine the hours of work that must go into having a body like that (all of them). If I had put that much work into myself I would want everyone to see the results. I think it’s a bit like when I spend ages cooking something, people damn well better comment on how good it is.
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My friend shared this photo today with a note “Selfies Rule #1 – Always Be Aware of Your Surroundings”
(I removed her face before sharing because I don’t know who this girl is or where he got her photo from)
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Ha thats so funny and embarrassing!
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Probably would if I had a rockin body
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When i take a selfie i have to hit delete straight away.If only I had the ego and the body of some celebs.
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The unifying factor in the gallery is how C grade all the subjects are.
P.S The boasty holiday selfies sh*t me to tears.
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I think it’s hysterical and I love when any celebrity does it. It’s all ego mania but with Stephanie it’s just a young ‘i’m hot and I know it’ which is fine, why not be happy with your looks while you’re happy with them…..but with Demi it’s a combination of that mixed with terror of perhaps being perceived by some in the world that she’s old….hence ‘Oh my god how hot do I look, I’ve gotta let those bitches out there know’. Whilst I’m not that much into showing off to try get envy from other people or noticed by men, I also don’t care if someone feels other wise. Go for it girls I say!!!!!
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