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Journalism of Courage
The latest social media challenge to take the internet by storm is #ChallengeAccepted in which women from across the globe are posting black and white selfies photos of themselves. The aim of the ‘challenge’ is to celebrate womanhood and promote friendships among women.
The ‘challenge’ requires a woman to post a black and white photo of themselves with the hashtag #Challenge Accepted. Many of the posts also include the hashtag #WomenSupportingWomen. With over 5 million entries on Instagram alone, the challenge is spreading quite rapidly and aims to spread positivity during the pandemic.
A participant can nominate as many women they want, through private messages. The nomination usually contains a message that talks about the importance of friendship among women and sisterhood.
There are women of different age groups and races posting photos, including some celebrities. Here are some of the posts:
The challenge which was started on Instagram soon found its way to Twitter.
However, not everyone agreed that selfies were the best way to celebrate woman empowerment, accomplishments or address current challenges. Some felt that without any context it felt “shallow”, and used the opportunity to share posts incorporate racial justice and other women who have inspired them.
https://twitter.com/alanalevinson/status/1287818379818971136
https://twitter.com/CarolineMoss/status/1288101897174257666
Many have pointed out that the trend may have originated in Turkey with a more important meaning. Some have noted that women in Turkey began sharing black-and-white photos recently to raise awareness about violence against women, and tags like #istanbulanlaşmasıyaşatır and #istanbulsözleşmesiyaşatır were left out of the larger trend.
https://twitter.com/tariro/status/1288067731678474240
However, a representative from Instagram said the trend was first traced back to 2016. A spokesperson told The New York Times that the earliest post the company could surface for this current cycle of the challenge was posted a week-and-a-half ago by Brazilian journalist Ana Paula Padrão.
However, a similar black-and-white selfie trend had been previously done with the hashtag #ChallengeAccepted to spread a message on “cancer awareness.” Over the years the photo trend has also been used to “spread positivity”, the report said.
