Whose Eyes, Only?
BY RACHEL OSEI-OWUSU
I’m going to put something crazy out there and say Snapchat revolutionized the world of sending intimate pictures. When I was a sophomore in high school, Snapchat really took off. It made it so easy for people to be shady about the people they secretly wanted to talk to, but didn’t want everyone else to know about. It especially made it easy for guys—at least in my case—to hit me up constantly late at night when their hormones seemed to be raging the most. I would say I eventually worked my way up to taking “nudes” on Snapchat and sending it them to the guys I was talking to at the time, most likely because I bought into the false security of taking and sending a nude over Snapchat.
Before I even explain why I began taking nudes this way, and continue (somewhat) to believe it’s a good idea, I feel like I need to define the word “nude.” When I created a survey to help me with the ideas in this article, the first thing I asked was how people defined a “nude” and I was pleasantly surprised by the range of thoughts. Some people think you need to be butt ass naked, as in tits, ass, dick, etc. need to be out to be considered a nude. Others (like myself) think you can get away with a nude being anything seductive with undergarments on. Another answered “a photo that is intended to be erotic.” My reply to all those answers would be that a nude is whatever intimate photo you want it to be, because that’s the first step towards reclaiming nudes! It doesn’t have to be about everyone else’s standards or everyone else’s definitions. Whatever level of exposure you are comfortable with is exactly what you should do, and not let anyone deter you from that decision. When I first started taking nudes on snapchat, I was embarrassed about it. I felt like the general consensus was that it made me a whore to be showing intimate parts of myself to a guy that I wasn’t dating. I would even go as far as saying that nudes weren’t normalized, not so much because of security, but because the idea of something being done over the phone/ internet was always worse than doing the same thing in person. The same thing can be said about meeting a boyfriend on Tinder versus meeting a boyfriend after a DFMO in a nasty frat basement. Regardless, I never wanted to tell anyone—even when I got to a point where I felt like I was taking nudes for me and not because I wanted the validation of some guy. In general, it seems like nudes were very taboo before Snapchat, not only because most of us were hella young, but because it could always come back to haunt you. Maybe it’s just me, but I prefer not to scroll up in a text message and see pictures of my boobies, or even worse, have the person I sent them to betray me by sharing the photos. With Snapchat, it feels like there are less consequences of my little secret popping back up. In my survey, 56% of people admitted to sending nudes over Snapchat, and those who did had varying reasons— all revolving around the idea of Snapchat nudes disappearing or being erased instantaneously. Obviously nothing sent over social media is completely foolproof. People can shamelessly screenshot or use apps like Snapchat Hack to save photos they receive. Nonetheless, the vibe of Snapchat being an app where you can send photos and chats quickly and impulsively incentivizes its use for nudes. There are a ton of other reasons why I’m an advocate for Snapchat nudes. Snapchat allows various outlets for making a nude little feistier. You can play with the timer depending on how good you’re feeling about the particular pic. You can get creative with the caption (big emoji fan) and even mass snap a nude if you’re feeling bold. Sometimes I even send my sexy pics to my friends before sending them to a guy because I want my friends to gas me up. I’m convinced the “My Eyes Only” tab in snapchat memories was made for people like me to save our nudes and dick pics (solicited of course) for when we want to visit them at a later date. Confirming that I wasn’t totally off target about this extra privacy setting, I went to Snapchat’s website to see what the My Eyes Only section was for. On the website, there’s a section that says How to Use my eyes only where the description states: “if you ever get a snap that you want to keep extra private, you can always add it to My Eyes Only!” So if there was anyone doubting the use of Snapchat to send those scandy pics, there’s absolutely no denying it now. In fact, My Eyes Only has made taking nudes so much easier! Instead of struggling to get the perfect picture to send in the middle of a sexting session, I can save ‘em up in bulk whenever I’m feeling good about myself and send my best ones when I feel like it. In terms of conversations around nudes, I think Snapchat has been a great pioneer in making people feel more comfortable sharing this part of themselves. In my survey about half the people who responded agreed that Snapchat has at the very least aided conversations around nudes being a common occurrence. While everyone might not agree, I think Snapchat has given the power back to the nude sender, not the receiver. During sporadic moments of high self-esteem, especially in relation to my body, I sometimes take a nude. Not necessarily to send to a guy, but for me. As a reminder of how sexy I am. And maybe, if I’m feeling extra good, I’ll send it to a guy. Not because he asked, and not because I need his approval, but because it’s for me and I’m making the conscious decision to share it. That is something I would never do over text message or some other form of social media. So, what I’m saying is that if you’re not a fan of taking nudes in general, or maybe weary of how safe Snapchat is, that’s okay, but at the very least, we should all be open to talking about it. If you’re already a fan and currently snapping a nude as you read this, then you’re doing great, sweetie. If Snapchat loses its popularity in the near future, then another app will certainly pop up where you can do the exact same thing. Right now, you can even Instagram DM pics to people with the option of leaving it in the chat or only allowing the person to view the photo once. I may or may not have Instagram DMed a nude too. Nudes are liberating!! But also, the internet is the internet, so be smart about it. At the very least, be open to people who feel comfortable sharing their bodies with others. |