I have to admit to you, I am the person who's done probably the least analysis on the selfie, because it's a bit like pornography for me. It's this masturbatory, repetitive act that I'd rather wasn't part of my routine.
Charlotte CottonI love bells, clocks, watches - and I recall that at first photographic implements were related to techniques of cabinetmaking and the machinery of precision: cameras, in short, were clocks for seeing.
Charlotte CottonMore platform-sensitive generations will make distinctions between online and in-person intimacy, whereas fourteen-year-olds have very nuanced online selves and might embody their virtual identity in the physical, analogue version of themselves. They have a much more pluralistic understanding of the self. I don't think we'd be here now in this amazing sexual and gender revolution without the online space where young people can see and share other versions of identity and sexuality.
Charlotte Cotton