A campaign of black and white elegant selfies and pictures of actresses and other popular female celebrities is an on-trend on Instagram from the last few days. While the campaigns have hashtags ‘Women supporting Women’ and ‘Challenge accepted’, many wonder what this is all about and where it started.
This is a simple way of standing for other women and lifting each other up with the mention of #challengeaccepted to the person who nominates them and also by passing on the challenge to one or more women friends. This is all about promoting female empowerment and purely a way for women to support each other.
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The trend picked up too so big that nearly four million photos have been uploaded since yesterday many with #challengeaccepted hashtag while many more appeared without it. In 2016, a similar trend of black and white photos trended to spread the ‘cancer awareness’ and the same trend is used to spread positivity.
The trend is said to have started with Cristine Abram saying about a video of Ted Yoho’s sexist remarks against Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and the latter speaking out on Congress floor last week, that led to huge discussions on social media about feminism and female empowerment. Ms. Abram said that was the spark that led to the resurgence of the hashtag challenge.
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Well, it is great to see women supporting each other, but it is true to the fact that many celebrities and influencers actually join the challenge but their post doesn’t really appear to take a stand on many issues, though their love for these challenges is visible. This might be because they do not want to distance themselves from a few sections of their fan bases.
There were different opinions on why this black and white photo trend is happening. While many women suggest that it would have been better to share women empowering books, articles, and products and charities that benefit women rather than posting just a black and white selfie.
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A writer even suggested to cut off an ‘abusive’ man-friend from their list than to just ignore the known fact and posting a black and white selfie on the other side. Many rational thinking women are just asking how this black and white selfie posting and tagging helps women support other women, though they are not against these virtual challenges.
It is really great to see millions of women across the world joining the wave to support and empower women, making a strong point that women support women and they become strong by lifting other women.