You might believe that I became a model because I am reasonably attractive. And that might be true - because I likely wouldn't have gotten the encouragement I needed if I wasn't. But it's also true that I never thought of myself as attractive until I became a model, and realized how many other people thought that way about me. I don't have an over-inflated sense of my own appearance. As a photographer, I know the tricks that go into creating beautiful portraits. I think I look goofy in spontaneous snapshots just like everybody else. But I'm not interested in selling myself short, either. Our commercialist culture exerts way too much effort - and is way too invested - into making people feel inadequate. I'm not perfect. I have "bad hair days". And there are things about my body that I don't like. But if I believe that I am beautiful, that's not just narcissism talking. It's a positive assessment of the facts.
[description: screen cap from the 2016 film
The Neon Demon, starring Elle Fanning]
"I know what I look like.
What's wrong with that, anyway?"