This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost Australia, which closed in 2021.

This Hashtag Might Inspire You To Post The Selfies You'd Normally Delete

This Hashtag Might Inspire You To Post The Selfies You'd Normally Delete

Behind every selfie of quality, there’s a camera roll containing at least 43 not-so-hot versions of the same photo.

Or as supermodel/selfie extraordinaire Chrissy Teigen has put it, there’s “the one you post”:

...And the utter fail/s you don’t:

Heck, sometimes you don’t even get one good picture out of your selfie photo shoot:

Not even one?
OnSizzle
Not even one?

The selfie struggle is real. But the truth is, no one can be cute 24/7. Accepting that and embracing all sides of ourselves, even the awkward, unfiltered sides, can feel incredibly liberating.

That’s what self-love advocate Sonya Renee Taylor had in mind when she created the hashtag #BadPictureMonday in 2011. Taylor had just created the Facebook page The Body is Not An Apology but soon realized she was doing something in her own life that was totally at odds with the message of her page.

“Here I was going on Facebook encouraging people to radically love themselves and at the same time, I was also untagging tons of photos because I didn’t like the way I looked,” the 40-year-old told HuffPost.

“I realized I was being a hypocrite; I was still treating myself like I had to be perfect,” she explained. “That wasn’t the radical self-love I was espousing every day so I set out to challenge myself to love an imperfect Sonya.”

Here’s Taylor’s latest submission to #BadPictureMonday:

Seriously, nothing bad about that.

The great thing about the self-love-centric hashtag? There’s pretty much no limit to what you can post, as long as you consider it “bad” in some way.

Here’s a mid-bite selfie from @snoring_so_boring:

A post shared by AnB (@snoring_so_boring) on

Here’s writer Ealasaid Haas’ “it’s Monday and I need my coffee” selfie submission:

A post shared by Ealasaid (@ealasaidh) on

And here’s Instagrammer @florafabulous beautifully demonstrating the face you might make when your boss asks you to stay late on a Friday:

There are even some “cute couple photo” outtakes that people have submitted:

A post shared by Kobi Weaver (@semi.nomadic) on

Here’s the genuinely giddy face style blogger Jessica Ryan Inniss made when a local bar started playing all her fave high school oldies.

In her interview with HuffPost, Taylor said she hopes the hashtag campaign helps people feel less self-conscious about their social media image.

“I think sharing imperfect images does three things: One, it helps us love ourselves in our imperfection,” she said. “Two, it reminds us that when folks capture us in photos we are generally in moments of joy ― and joy is always beautiful.”

Thirdly, Taylor hopes the tag reminds people that “all bodies deserve to be seen, celebrated and valued.”

Hashtag #wecangetbehindthat.