This week, your Instagram feed may be filled with more monochrome photos of celebrity women than usual as part of the “Women Supporting Women” viral trend. Using the hashtags #challengeaccepted, #womensupportingwomen, and #blackandwhitechallenge, women are ‘gramming black-and-white photos of themselves. After posting, they then nominate other women in their lives to continue the challenge. Ahead, we’ve answered all your questions about the trend—including what, exactly, it means for female empowerment.
What is the Women Supporting Women Instagram challenge?
The trend itself involves women, mainly celebrities and influencers at the beginning, posting black-and-white photos of themselves. Some are barefaced selfies (see Naomi Watts, Demi Lovato, and Kaley Cuoco). Others are more glamorous photo shoot pictures (see Natalie Portman, Cindy Crawford, and Gal Gadot). Kerry Washington and Eva Longoria have notably made oversized hats a part of their participation.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
When posting the photo, people have been using one of the following hashtags: #challengeaccepted, #womensupportingwomen, or #blackandwhitechallenge. Then, they shout out the woman who nominated them to participate, share a message of female empowerment, and nominate other people either in the caption or via DM. According to the New York Times, more than 3 million people had used #challengeaccepted on their posts so far.
How did it start?
It’s been difficult to pinpoint exactly how the trend began. A representative for Instagram told the Times that the first post to emerge from the current spike in #challengeaccepted was a post by Brazilian journalist Ana Paula Padrão more than a week ago.
Other iterations of this challenge have existed before, as the Times’ Taylor Lorenz points out in her piece. Most notably, another black-and-white photo challenge was used to raise cancer awareness in 2016. Cristine Abram, a public relations and influencer marketing manager, connected the current trend to U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Last week, she took to the floor of Congress with a powerful response after Rep. Ted Yoho called her a “fucking bitch.” Abram told the Times that since then, there’s been a general uptick in social media posts with feminist themes.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
But Times travel reporter Tariro Mzezewa offered another explanation for the challenge on Twitter today. She began a thread of tweets, writing, “#ChallengeAccepted was making zero sense to me and I wasn’t buying that it was just for vanity’s sake. Talked to some women in Turkey this AM who say it started there as a response to them being frustrated over always seeing black and white photos of women who have been killed.” She added that the original Turkish hashtags referencing domestic violence and femicide were dropped as the challenge gained steam. You can find those hashtags and more context about the trend here:
This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
The original accompanying hashtags were #kadınaşiddetehayır#istanbulsözleşmesiyaşatır which I’m told translate to say no to violence against women & enforce the Istanbul Treaty/ Doctrine (where rights to protect women are signed.)
— Tariro Mzezewa (@tariro) July 28, 2020
One celebrity to seemingly investigate the origins of the trend is Florence Pugh, who wrote on Instagram, “I’ve been told that the true meaning of this hashtag and this b&w photo-‘It is to shed light onto the Istanbul Convention, women are being subjected to violence and this convention is to end forgiveness for the attacker/murderers.’ With that in mind, adjust your hashtags if you didn’t already do so.”
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Why has the challenge become controversial?
Prior to Mzezewa’s Twitter thread, many questioned what was being accomplished with the #ChallengeAccepted trend. How was posting flattering black-and-white photos a way to support women or inspire female empowerment? A piece on The Cut compared the trend to other challenges in which all that was required of participants was posting an attractive photo (i.e. the pillow challenge and the 2009 vs. 2019 challenge).
Lorenz, who penned the Times piece about the trend, has also received backlash for being critical of it. She shared a few screenshots on Twitter where she had been called out by other women for her critique. “The amount of vitriol I’m getting from the black and white selfie crowd is out of this world. It’s not that deep!” Lorenz wrote on Twitter, adding, “The dumb black and white challenge accepted thing is IG chain mail that’s been around since 2016.”
This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
The amount of vitriol I’m getting from the black and white selfie crowd is out of this world. It’s not that deep! The dumb black and white challenge accepted thing is IG chain mail that’s been around since 2016. https://t.co/MfUVFh1bjd pic.twitter.com/ewmqQAmkKQ
— Taylor Lorenz (@TaylorLorenz) July 28, 2020
Others have also expressed doubts about the trend, offering more tangible ways to support other women. Still others have come to its defense, arguing that spreading some positivity on the timeline shouldn’t be controversial.
This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Apparently a white woman is upset abt the “Challenge accepted” B&W pics, complaining it’s just self-promotion. Lol y’all really just be mad abt whatever you can find, huh? 😂🙄
— Amanda Seales 🇬🇩✊🏾 (@amandaseales) July 28, 2020
This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
I literally cannot get over challenge accepted, here’s a hot photo of myself because I support women
— Caroline Moss (@CarolineMoss) July 28, 2020
This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
This is the most accurate summary of this challenge accepted IG nonsense, thank you Jen. pic.twitter.com/wL7Pl6blDb
— Christina Grace (@C_GraceT) July 28, 2020
This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
seeing all these black and white photos on my feed 🥺 women are so beautiful wow
— Kim Cruz (@kimcrooz) July 27, 2020
This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
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#ChallengeAccepted
— Allie LeFevere (@AllieLeFevere) July 28, 2020
This content is imported from Twitter. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
I am a huge believer in women supporting women — obviously! — but I don’t understand this “challenge” at all. How is it empowering to other women to post a selfie? Would it not make more sense to post snaps of other woman who empower us? https://t.co/IHn8sguRi2
— Emmy Rossum (@emmyrossum) July 28, 2020
Which other celebrities have participated so far?
Here are a few more of the high-profile faces who have participated in the trend, from Charlize Theron to Jennifer Aniston (who also admitted to some confusion about the challenge).
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
This content is imported from Instagram. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
This content is imported from {embed-name}. You may be able to find the same content in another format, or you may be able to find more information, at their web site.
Источник: www.elle.com
