Social Media, as a representation of society itself, is an environment that gets offended very fast. There are a lot of situations that are preferred to be avoided rather than talked about. With this series, I wanted to portray different things that set off a warning alarm to society and social media nowadays.
Social Media have a censorship policy following a logic that I don't always find very "logic". Particularly on Instagram, photos in which a female's nipple is noticeable are censored, while photos with more sexual content are not banned. Unless someone reports them. This makes me remember that not long ago if a mother decided to breastfeed her child in public, a lot of people would be staring awkwardly. Having that in mind, there could still be people "uncomfortable" when they saw a female's nipple and feel the urge to report the photo.
The shape is the same as the male's nipple, but it's still something not completely accepted. This model represented the human figure in one of my Tarot Card Series, in which she was naked, and I had to think a way to edit it to be able to post it on Instagram. It also made me wonder if by leaving her nipple, someone could "sexualize" an image that wasn't meant for that in any way.
Luckily, little by little, the situation is changing. But apparently, nowadays, there has to be Caution With the Female Nipple.
As we live in a time in which we are supposed to learn to "let go" everything that hurts us, there is also a new fear to "hold on" to things. In this "Liquid Modernity" (the title of Zygmunt Bauman's book) everything around us turns into liquid, and like that is impossible to hold in our hands a long time before it slips through our fingers. Jobs, places to live, relationships, everything seems to have a predetermined deadline.
But in relationships, in particular, love can affect us in a way that nothing else can and it is that it makes us vulnerable. If we love we can't be that ideal super-human who is strong and reasonable, who knows how to "let go" everything hurtful, because reason works until a feeling grows stronger and stands over it. It's harder to let go something we love than something that we were indifferent to, so love stands against that ideally powerful and independent super-human.
Luckily, little by little, the situation is changing. But apparently, nowadays, there has to be Caution With Love.
Whether we are talking about physical strength, intellect, feminism, or gender equality, a huge part of society can't stand to see women over men, or even at the same level. I remember movies, relatively new, in which the main conflict was that the wife in a heterosexual marriage earned more than her husband, hurting his "masculinity", for he was the one supposed to "provide" for his family.
In this war between genders, women always represented the "weak gender" and they were not supposed to step out of there. In a socially accepted narrative, if a woman was unable to open a jar of pickles (or anything) she had to ask a man to do it, for he would represent the "strong gender". So ironically "strong" that, in the reverse situation, it would have been something humiliating for the man.
Luckily, little by little, the situation is changing. But apparently, nowadays, there has to be Caution With Female Power.
"Men don't cry", "why are you such a pussy?", "don't be a fag". Common statements that were always trying to stigmatize male emotions. And at the same time, in the need of portraying men as the "strong gender", those statements help to put the heterosexual man in a different position, above the rest of society. Crying makes a man a "fag", a word used to discriminate against homosexual men, or it makes a man a "pussy", for women tend to "be more emotionally unstable". For a man to cry, something extremely important must have happened, unlike the rest who "cry about everything". And even if a man does cry, he should try to hide it as much as he can.
What's interesting about it is that on the other hand, "hard" emotions were always accepted in men, as in rage, joy, anger, or euphoria. A man who feels love is more "sensible" than a man who feels rage. And when someone is "sensible" that someone is vulnerable, and we, as men, were forced to fear being vulnerable. So much that some men take years to connect with their unconsciously repressed emotions.
Luckily, little by little, the situation is changing. But apparently, nowadays, there has to be Caution With Male Emotions.
"light up your face with gladness, hide every trace of sadness" says a famous song. "Put a brave face on it" claims a famous expression. "Think about nice things, you don't have any reason to be sad" most people say when they come across someone who is suffering from depression.
Social Media encourage the need to be happy, so someone who had never been through any psychological instability can't even imagine where those feelings come from. Uncontrollable feelings that are the result of a chemical process in someone's brain and not "just a sad or frightened moment".
A few years ago I had a mild panic situation, something as an early stage of a panic attack. Since then I changed my point of view on people going through something related. Depression, panic attack, agoraphobia. Just a few examples of psychological instability that can affect us, and we need to understand that they are a result of an involuntary process in our brains.
I know it's hard to understand someone who is going through something like that if we have never experienced it, but the least we can do is try to avoid statements like "come on, think of nice things so you are not sad". That way of thinking follows a logic because a lot of people have no idea how to react when they face such situations and would rather avoid them. Social Media portray happiness and success because people want to feel joy when they use them. Therefore, it's not usual to see someone struggling whit mental instability. But those situations happen much more often than we think, and there is nothing wrong with going through any of those moments. The best solution is to ask for help, preferably from a professional, without having any sort of prejudice. If our body aches we go to the doctor. With our minds, we should do the same.
I am not quite sure if this situation is changing. But I can say that at least nowadays, there has to be Caution With Mental Instability.
