A Girl’s Perspective on Social Media
I didn’t like that photo and I told her so. I didn’t like her response either, says Giulietta, who is only 11 years old but doesn’t mince words when it comes to a famous entrepreneur. In fact, she is the protagonist of a comment on the post that went viral, but was later removed from social media. “My profile was closed,” she says in an interview with Corriere della Sera. In the interview, she reveals that she admires the entrepreneur: “I admire them. I have their pencil case, lots of pens, erasers, sweatshirts, a bathrobe and pajamas.” Then came the mirror selfie wearing only a mini slip. Giulietta didn’t like it, so she told the person directly. “I’m 11 years old and if I see 15 year old girls taking these photos, I think they’re inappropriate,” Giulietta wrote on social media commenting on the mirror selfie. “What kind of message are we sending to us girls? That to get noticed we have to take our clothes off? I don’t think it’s a good message to send. If my mother posted a photo like this, I would feel horrible, and I wouldn’t be proud of it at all.”
The Response to the Girl’s Perspective
Many people, given Giulietta’s age, thought the words came from her mother, and the entrepreneur wanted to respond: “My message to everyone, girls and not, is very simple: no one can judge us or make us feel wrong. Posting a photo like this shouldn’t make anyone feel ashamed,” wrote the social media star. She added: “We have been taught that women can’t dare, and this is one of the many ways I use to take the freedom that we all should have. Am I making the puritans angry? Mission accomplished then.”
The Girl’s Final Thoughts
“In my opinion, everyone can feel free even wearing a sweatshirt, and they don’t have to tell the world about it,” Giulietta explains to Corriere, justifying her comment. “When one of my older friends posts a photo of her back, with her hair covering her butt, I tell her that it’s not appropriate, because we’re not at the beach.” Giulietta’s parents also took part in the interview. Her mother actually formally managed her daughter’s profile: it was specified in Giulietta’s bio “run by parents” since the social network prohibits access to minors under 13 years of age. But now that profile no longer exists. “I can’t accept that my daughter, for expressing an opinion, which was shared by many people, was silenced, banned, deleted,” the woman told Corriere, saddened by having lost years of memories shared through social media. “I think we should have more faith in the critical spirit of children, who have their heads on their shoulders,” said the father.
