Clicking through my Facebook friends, one could be forgiven for assuming I do a lot of socializing at preschools. One would be wrong, of course: the truth is that countless of my pals have replaced their profile pics with snaps of their wee ones; their status updates with diaper-status updates. Continuing along, one might also assume that, somewhere in my travels, I infiltrated a tribe of Carrie Bradshaw clones: beautiful, successful folks living the life, traveling to important places to do important things, wearing fabulous clothes while hanging out with fabulous people.
On the surface (and what is Facebook if not surface?), everyone’s having a dandy time living the lives they chose. Which is dandy. But how real is it?
We’ll come back to that. First, though, let’s take a look at an interesting piece on Salon.com entitled “How Facebook can affirm a woman’s singlehood.” In it, Tracy Clark-Flory makes the point that, for many women, spying on their married-and-mommied friends via the ‘book makes them feel validated to have put career first. Here’s a bit:
My friend Katherine is successful, dynamic, and fiercely intelligent–but, unmarried and childless at 32, she feels pressure from some to hurry up and achieve something that really matters: settling down and having kids. There is nothing new about a woman wondering if she’s sacrificed her love life for her career–but what is new is how Facebook is allowing these women to compare how their life choices have panned out with those of their peers, and sometimes it’s actually validating.
Katherine recently told me, ‘I go on there and I see these beautiful, intelligent women that I grew up with and they’re all married to these accountant types who wear polos and golf on the weekends. Yes, they have kids, a home and a husband — but it just looks so painfully, unbearably boring.’ Granted the whole truth is that she also sometimes feels jealousy — for instance, when a friend who is married with a baby posts about ‘drinking a glass of wine and eating oysters with her husband at their cute house with the bathroom they just remodeled themselves.’
…Despite all the choices available to women today, many still fret that in putting their career first and worrying about marriage and kids later they will ultimately miss out on the latter. There is a biological reality behind those concerns, but there are also plenty of cultural myths and trumped-up anxiety — the lonely cat lady who dies without anyone noticing and ends up being eaten by her hungry companion, for example — that serve as cautionary tales. The warning, of course, is that we will be punished for being too ambitious and going against our basic nature. Given the high stakes, it’s no surprise that this often leads to comparison and competition — and Facebook serves as a virtual looking glass through which to explore the path not taken.
So interesting isn’t it, how even here, life is presented as either-or for women. One path or the other. Career or love. Driven or domesticated. And if that’s the case, no wonder we have such a hard time making the choices that will take us down one road or another: they mean too much. And they’re too narrow. What if we want some of one, but more of the other? Where’s the profile for that?
And speaking of profiles, perhaps all of this angst–and uncertainty–over whether or not we’re making the right choices is why we’re so compelled to present ourselves so charmingly. We all have doubts. Do you think Katherine’s oyster-eating DIY couple posted the fact that they nearly killed each other while drywalling their new commode? Or the flipside:
‘Here I am, sitting in traffic, getting home to my tiny one-bedroom apartment, and eating macaroni and cheese after an 11-hour work day,’ [Katherine] says. ‘But I don’t post things about traffic, or sitting in my pajamas watching ‘Top Chef’ on Facebook! I write status updates about attending premiere parties and meticulously select profile pictures. I have to believe it’s all relative.’
Of course it is. Women today have every choice–and every one of us is, at some point or another, terrified we’ve made the wrong ones. Is it any wonder, then, that we treat our public personas like we might a disssertation: something we must present and defend? Here is my choice, and look how great it is! I have achieved the American Dream–witness husband and spawn! Or: I’m single and successful and fancy-free–witness the world travels and amazing fun! When in reality, of course, both are bullshit. Because life is life and it’s fabulous at times and at other times there are diapers to change or douchebags to date, and either way there’s bills to pay… But just because we’ve come up against yet another dirty diaper–or douchebag–does not mean we chose wrong.
> Because life is life and it’s fabulous at times and at
> other times there are diapers to change or douche-
> bags to date, and either way there’s bills to pay.
And that’s the truth, right there, sister.
It seems to m that this is exactly what your blog and book are about. People telling or showing other people what ithe good life is, and quite likely being completely wrong for most people. Each of the examples you present have some merit and could very well be attractive to some or even many women. But certainly not all.
Live YOUR OWN life based on your own needs and desires.
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[…] like our people simple. Our women especially. Easily defined. Simply categorized. And, when it comes to women, the less threatening, the better. But also: this thing about women […]
Shannon,
As a recent journalism student who had the priviledge of taking many classes with your co-author/mother, I have to say that the both of you inspire me with your words. I’d like to acknowledge the power you both hold in your voices and the beauty in what you are doing with your talents. Having graduated less than a year ago, I’ve been struggling with just about every issue I’ve read in your blogs–especially the whole “either/or” dichotomy of vocational options put out there for women. For as long as I can remember, I’ve had the inclination to speak out for what I believe in, but lately I’ve been so quiet. With pressure coming from all directions to be what everyone else wants me to be, I’ve only very recently (in the past few days actually) begun to seriously consider vocational paths that are more in line with what my heart desires.
With that said, I just want to say thank you for your creativity, passion, and persistence in putting it all together.
I’d also love to speak with you about your own career path, maybe coffee or something… BK knows me PRETTY well so maybe we can all get together sometime 🙂
Cheers,
Monique
Hi Monique — thank you so much for your nice words; I’m flattered! And I would love to chat with you — are you in SB, or the Bay Area? I live in Santa Barbara but am up there often enough… You can email me thru Facebook.
And as to the Undecided–uh, ness, I’ll offer a quote: Be yourself, no one else will.
🙂
[…] this is not necessarily rocket science: Even though we all know that facebook personas are carefully curated — we do it ourselves, after all — a new study published this week in Pediatrics […]
[…] like our people simple. Our women especially. Easily defined. Simply categorized. And, when it comes to women, the less threatening, the better. But also: this thing about women […]
[…] as we’ve written before, we’re complicit in this faux-thenticity, too. Think about your Facebook profile–and now imagine what it would look like if it were truly authentic. Take mine, for example: […]
[…] to blame for our culture of faux-thenticity. We’re complicit in it, too. Think about your Facebook profile — and now imagine what it would look like if it were truly authentic. Take mine, for example: […]