As someone who has defended the site against its critics, I decided to dive in to try to find out if its reputation is deserved.
Chris Ritter for BuzzFeed
Since its launch in 2010, Pinterest has earned a reputation as a site for Mormon housewives, mommy bloggers, and basic white girls. I am a woman of color with a full-time job, I spend less than 30 minutes getting ready in the morning, and I still like Pinterest. Characterizations of the site as a "a churning cycle of interest, hope, inspiration, jealousy, desperation, despair and depression" always irked me because I think Pinterest is a useful bookmarking tool. The site had never made me feel bad about myself.
Then I discovered Pinterest's "most popular" page, which is essentially a collage of white girls with impossibly great hair, superhuman nail art skills, and apparently enough free time to create a tidy basket of "postpartum supplies" for "every bathroom" in the house. Suddenly I could see where Pinterest got its reputation.
As someone who has defended the site but doesn't really love Mason jars (though I do own a glue gun), I wondered what would happen if I tried to live according to the stereotype. Would it even be possible? Would it just be a series of Pinterest fails? Would living by the example of a site accused of putting too much pressure on women make me more or less happy?
- I cooked the most popular recipes.
- I used the most popular hair and makeup tutorials.
- I dressed in the style of the most popular fashion pins (wearing purchased, borrowed, or dug-from-the-box-labeled-"college" clothes).
- I spent my free time crafting, per the most popular DIY pins.
- I kept my home looking Pinterest-perfect using the most popular cleaning and organizing tips.
The pins I used had been repinned anywhere from 300 to 20,000 times and were all similar in style to other popular pins. I did these activities during traditional nonworking, noncommuting hours (so never between 8:30 a.m. and 6 p.m. on weekdays), plus two full weekend days.
Here are some things that happened — not in order by day, or even everything that happened, because trust me...it was a LONG week.
I spent one morning contouring my face. My husband couldn't tell the difference.
Rachel W. Miller for BuzzFeed
0 comments:
Post a Comment