I was clicking through my news feed on Facebook, when I noticed a picture of two girls side-by-side with about a billion guys tagged in them. But the guys tagged in the picture were nowhere to be found. I got nosey, so I clicked on the picture.
“Alice.”
“No, Britney.”
“No way, Alice is way prettier..” and so on.
It finally clicked in my head what was going on. The new craze on Facebook, “Versus,” collects two random girls pictures side by side, and tags guys in the picture so that they can decide who is prettier.
“Are you kidding me?” was the first thought that popped in my head. Not only is this absolutely degrading to the girls involved, but it is a spark for trouble. You can’t expect to compare the looks of two girls without feelings getting hurt. If they are constantly being told that the girl next to them is prettier, they might actually start to believe it. It makes them question their personal appearance, and it lowers self-confidence. No matter how confident you are, getting told that you are not pretty can put a dent in your self-esteem.
The main crowd for this new game is often middle school girls. If the game wasn’t already bad enough, targeting this age makes it worse because middle school is the most awkward time for a lot of people. This is the peak for insecurities and blazing hormones. The last thing these young girls need is more worries about their bodies.
“Why is this fun for people?” was the second question in my mind. Anyone who thinks this is okay must not recognize that this is cyberbullying. Why would anyone want to purposely criticize someone? Perhaps it’s because it is their only form of securing themselves from their own faults and imperfections.
Cyberbullying can be harmful, especially for sensitive people. Not only is this bad for the girls being compared, those who engage in this activity can be suspended from school. You never know a person’s intentions, but you can’t help but to only see the negative in these situations. Yes, the girl who everyone says is prettier would feel great about herself, but what about the “loser” of the game? Does anyone begin to think when they are creating these that they could scar someone emotionally or worse? Stories of suicides that are caused by cyberbullying are everywhere. It’s best never to take the risk of doing something like this, and the only solution is to quit the game all together.
This game also gives boys the idea that girls can be picked off by who is the prettiest. This leads them to look at girls as objects rather then people. By just looking at the appearance of someone, it is impossible to know their personality. Making these girls feel like objects is not right on their part. Who wants to date a guy that thinks of his girl as a trophy rather than a person with feelings? Absolutely no one.
Finally, if you are still questioning to do this game, you need to consider the following. How would you feel? Would you want to be in the losing position?
So before you go off and make your next versus picture, put yourself in one first.
