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| My social media posts tend to be slightly unkempt as opposed to seductive... |
Like everyone, I have days when I think that I am pretty bad ass. Those days tend to be when I've worked out, my makeup is flawless, and I am standing at just the right angle. I also felt pretty bad ass both times I pushed out a baby.
To quote Leonardo DiCaprio from Titanic, I felt like "The [queen] of the world"!
Still, despite my feelings of pride, I've been reluctant to post photos of myself scantily clad on the internet and I am glad. Although I have never been a super model like Melania Trump, I was young, attractive, and a bit of a party girl. Indeed, I used to like to kick it. And when I was kicking it, it was in the heyday of decadence, extravagant spending, and skimpy clothes. (If you are imagining images of rap videos filmed at the early part of this century, you may not be far off...)
Indeed, in my younger days, my sister and I used to travel to Miami and I had a Miami specific wardrobe. I believed that I could take more liberties with my wardrobe since I'm not licensed in Florida and did not practice in that state. I was on vacation and I was young and free! (Photos of those trips shall not accompany this post…)
When I was kicking it, I wasn't preoccupied with thoughts of my future or that photos of those times might be circulated more widely than my social circle. I also didn't think that I was doing anything wrong. That said, social media has changed the game. I attended a CLE about social media recently and the presenter said that he denied a job to a qualified candidate because when he visited her Facebook page he saw a bunch a sexy photos. Those photos didn't match the conservative looking candidate that he interviewed. He was nervous because "[he] didn't know who would show up to take the job."
I think that attorney was too harsh. However, the Melania Trump photo scandal shows that people judge others based on what they see.
There was one time, since social media has been in vogue, when I friend posted a photo of me on the beach in a bikini on Facebook. She and I hadn't seen one another for a while and had gone on vacation with two guys. We were intoxicated by being reunited and the wind and the surf only added to our good mood. The photo captures how much fun we had. I love that photo, but still felt a little uncomfortable when it was posted on Facebook. I am perceived as a responsible person and I was wearing a bikini!
Since then, I have since relaxed a bit.
That said, the image of ourselves portrayed on social media matters. Since I began this post, sweet little Malia Obama has been caught in this social media circus as well. She was hanging at Lollapalooza and got caught shaking her tail feather and potentially imbibing in a substance that is legal in a few states and has been enjoyed by most of Americans who are older than 55. (This is speculation, but since people lie on surveys I shall continue to believe that it is true...) People have been criticizing her like she burned the flag wearing a Russian flag. Although I am confident she'll recover, there are lessons for us mere mortals in what has been going on with Melania and Malia.
Salient Social Media Lessons
So, what are the salient social media lessons??? C.Y.B. (What can I say, this blog is PG rated! :-)
- Be discrete.
- Understand that you may have to defend whatever has been memorialized.
- Tell the truth when confronted.
- (Don't) Tell nobody anything that contradicts the agreed upon "truth" in number 3. If you do, you'll live to regret it!
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