BY Adam Wilson
Scene Editor
I think I’m doing Instagram wrong.
My #WCW (WomanCrush Wednesday) history to date includes Natalie Dormer, Emelia Clark and Tricia Helfer. The former two are “Game of Thrones” actresses and the latter is one of the Cylon actresses from Battlestar Galactica.
I’m a nerdy guy, and even though I’m gay I can appreciate the women who take their fantasy roles seriously.
I think I might be doing my Wednesdays wrong, as well as my #MCMs (ManCrush Monday), because every time I see someone post with the hashtag it is a photo of their significant other. I should probably stop posting #MCM and #WCW until I get a boyfriend, so I can post a weekly photo of how awesome he is.
Actually, no, I think everyone who does this is kinda missing the point.
No one likes to see their friends’ lovey-dovey nonsense on their Facebook news feeds. If I can expect you to post a new picture of your “wonderful” girlfriend or your “amazing” boyfriend every week without fail all it’s going to do is drive me to the unfollow button on your profile – a rare honor only given to people who post selfies with subtitles like “I’m Hungry” and other attention-grabbing nonsense.
You remember those kids from high school (for some freshmen this is probably still happening in their circle of friends) who never stopped posting about every moment of their relationship? Remember how annoying it was?
That’s what it feels like, albeit to a lesser degree, when you slap a few filters on your photos to dramatize how amazing your relationship is with whomever you happen to be dating.
All you’re doing is shoving it down the throats of your friends who already see you hanging out with your significant other, who you probably spent the first few weeks kissing and cuddling in front of while you were still in the honeymoon phase.
The only reason any of us put up with that is because we want to see our friends be happy, but it’s kinda disgusting after a while, if not immediately. It’s a breath of fresh air when it finally slows down, but putting your “crush” on the pedestal-gram is just going to insta-remind us how much we hated it.
It’s a well-established social norm that a “ManCrush” or “WomanCrush” is supposed to refer to the gender we aren’t attracted to (a straight male has a mancrush, for example), and it bothers me that we don’t utilize the hashtags like that.
More importantly, a Man/Woman Crush shouldn’t even be someone you know personally. It should be a celebrity – someone whom you would never ever have a chance to score with, while at the same time someone you can crush on without it being creepy.
That’s how I’ve always known the term to be, and seeing it be used to show off a significant other significantly bothers me. There’s no chance she’s so great you forgot about ever being “in love” with Emma Watson. His personality didn’t make Bradley Cooper’s eyes stop being so beautiful.
So, please, just stop abusing the hashtags to show off your significant others. No one wants to see it, and you’re not even doing it right. #realtalk.
