Power BFFs from the New York Times
What do you and Taylor Swift have in common? Maybe just your BFF power status, according to the New York Times article on : Female BFFs — the New Power Couples.
It’s not just Taylor, but Beyonce, Lena Dunn, the Kardashians, and more (see below) – female friendship is ‘in’ (we never thought it wasn’t, to be honest!).
The New Republic recently reported on the Female Friendship Myth. The myth is that “when your job is falling far short of what you hoped and men are nothing but disappointment, your life is about your best girlfriends.”
How does this media popularity of female friendship impact our personal friendships? What role does Social Media play in our relationships and our display of our female friendships?
It’s true – we women need, love, benefit from our female friendships, so we understand how Taylor Swift and other celebrities are flaunting their friendships. Actually when we’re with our girlfriends, we’re often our most beautiful – we’re happy, confident and smiling. That’s one reason these friendship photos are flooding social media. We love an ‘usie’ with our BFFs, right?
From the New York Times: Lately, we’ve been inundated with images of real-life best friends, triumphantly displayed. It’s difficult to get through a day on the Internet without looking at photos of women flaunting the depth of their intimacy by posing over dinner or watching television together in matching pajamas. We now flick through images not of celebrity couples but of celebrity friends: Beyoncé and Nicki Minaj eating hamburgers in matching varsity jackets; Taylor Swift with Karlie Kloss, Lorde, Selena Gomez, Ellie Goulding, Lena Dunham, her cat Olivia, the entire runway lineup of a Victoria’s Secret show; the U.S. women’s soccer team. The meme factories have responded to the popularity of pictures of best friends with maximum output, harvesting groups of women posing on beaches and in limos from celebrity Instagram feeds and presenting them in slide shows (see: “16 of Taylor Swift’s Best BFFs,” “Ranking Taylor Swift’s 25 Best Best Friends,” “Taylor Swift Has Best Friends to Spare!” and “Taylor Swift Has More Best Friends Than You Ever Will“) and labeling these images as “#friendspiration” and “#squadgoals.”
The New Republic: “… pins the blame on social media, writing that the technology of the last decade has increased the public performance of friendship. There’s certainly an element of this. Facebook, for example, can contribute to such concerns; it’s suddenly possible to feel excluded from an event that, pre-Facebook, one wouldn’t have cared was happening. But the fear of not having enough or close enough friends goes much deeper, and predates Taylor Swift performances or Instagram.”
New Republic Female Friendship Myth
Do you have your power BFFs? Do you take photos together and post them on social media?
That’s okay. We love that trend. We love seeing photos of women celebrating the relationship with their best friends – that makes women healthier, happier, less stressed, live longer and feel more beautiful.
We know this really isn’t a trend. It’s the foundation of friendship and we’re glad that the female friendship relationship is getting a lot of LIKES in social media.
And in closing, as they New York Times put it: “Close friendships are worth celebrating — but it is how they look at their least photogenic moments that proves their veracity.”
Want to know how to have more friends? Be a Better Friend? You’re in the right place! Check out this girlfriend advice …
- Friendship in a Storm | Being there for a Friend when Life is Rough
- Be a Better Friend – Six Ways to be a Better Listener
- 5 Ways to Put Socializing Back in Social Media
- 10 Ways to be a better friend to a friend with Breast Cancer
The post The Female Friendship Myth: Female BFFs — The New Power Couples appeared first on Girlfriendology .
