If you are present on any kind of social media platform, especially Instagram or Twitter, chances are that you have seen black and white pictures of women with the hashtag ‘challenge accepted’.
A few days into this new ‘trend’, it’s clear how things work. A woman shares a black and white picture of herself, along with this hashtag, further nominating some other women to take up the ‘challenge’.
But what is the reason behind this?
Well, there are certain theories.
Authorities from Instagram told The New York Times that the earliest photo of this wave of ‘challenge accepted’ is this one by Brazilian journalist Ana Paula Padrão, which carries the hashtag ‘women supporting women’.
Which doesn’t give any clear indication about the motive behind the hashtag or the post. However, later it was found out that the challenge has a connection with the Turkish femicide, which has lead to murders of hundreds, potentially thousands, of women across the country.
This was pointed out by Instagram user cherbrat, who further credited American University Turkish Cultural Club for bringing this into light.
Her post mentions that Turkey recorded 500 cases of femicide in 2019 and elaborates on the lack of judicial help in this matter.
Also, as per the post, most murderers get away with a slap on the wrist and absolutely no charges at all.
And the idea behind sharing black and white photos was to remember women the country has lost, women whose colourless pictures people see frequently in this nightmarish scenario.
Now, there are reports which say that the challenge did not, in fact, originate in Turkey. it was in the US. However, the conflicting nature of the narrative doesn’t take away from the fact that the situation there needs immediate attention and if this challenge helps in achieving that, there is absolutely no harm in it.
It has also been suggested that the powerful and iconic speech of US Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez led to a rise in numbers of these posts, which encourage women to stand tall and brave against injustice.
So, from what it appears, these posts are about perpetuating feelings of mutual admiration and respect in women, while paying a tribute to those who lost their lives to violence.
For this reason, they are often accompanied with other hashtags, but mainly: ‘Women supporting women’.
The idea here is to promote unity among women, as also pointed out by an Instagram spokesperson who, in a conversation with The New York Times, said:
The trend is still picking up with usage of the hashtag on Instagram doubling in the last day alone. Based on the posts, we’re seeing that most of the participants are posting with notes relating to strength and support for their communities.
Now, amid the growing speculation regarding the origin of this ‘challenge’, there has also been some criticism coming its way.
The topmost being, convenience. Many Twitter users have pointed out how sharing a photo doesn’t solve any real problem, many of which require utmost attention right now.
imagine being in the middle of a global pandemic, an economic collapse, and a fight for racial equality while rallying thousands of people to participate in a selfie challenge that doesn’t raise money or awareness for a single cause
— Allie LeFevere (@AllieLeFevere) July 28, 2020
#ChallengeAccepted
But is it really “lifting women up” when this was based on being nominated, and only women tapped by other privileged women were encouraged to participate? You can’t claim women empowerment when you are excluding the women who need empowering the most.
— becboynton (@becboynton) July 29, 2020
Ladies, instead of posting that hot black-and-white selfie, why don’t we ease into feminism with something low stakes, like cutting off your friend who’s an abuser?
— 𝔄𝔩𝔞𝔫𝔞 ℌ𝔬𝔭𝔢 𝔏𝔢𝔳𝔦𝔫𝔰𝔬𝔫 (@alanalevinson) July 27, 2020
It has also been said that the challenge, with 5.3 million posts on Instagram at this point, is clogging up social media and stopping the flow of crucial information on topics like racial injustice and other forms of discrimination.
