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It is the black and white photo challenge. It is all the rage amongst women on Instagram right now. I will admit, I participated at first. It is going around as a way to empower women. You are supposed to “challenge” your friends to post a black and white photo of them; you are telling them they are beautiful and amazing.
Like most things trending on the internet, I did not get how posting a black and white photo with the hashtag, challengeaccepted in the caption displayed or encouraged women empowerment. But, whatever…
Then, as more and more black and white photos starting popping up in my feed just as many posts started appearing asking for women to stop posting these black and white photos. That this trend was not started for vanity reasons. The black and white photos were started by a Turkish woman who wanted to bring attention to the disappearance and killing of women in Turkey.
From what I understand, is that when women go missing in Turkey a black and white photo is circulated. And women in Turkey are tired of seeing these black and white photos of their loved ones. I would like to think that a lot of women started posting their selfies with a good heart, but much like the black square that appeared for BLM/black voices… not sure what that is supposed to do.
I mean, just raising awareness of women and – you know, through this sort of, like, invite-only campaign is just – what is the ultimate goal of that? You know, it’s not getting people to sign a petition. It’s not, you know, forcing employers to hire more women. It’s not really accomplishing anything other than encouraging women to post photos of themselves, which, you know, in itself doesn’t really do anything. And by the way, these are women with huge platforms. You know, a lot of the people that spread this message are big-time influencers and celebrities. They don’t have problems with visibility, you know? They post photos of themselves every day.
Taylor Lorenz
And just like that, I removed my photo. I felt pretty silly actually, and I should have known better… I don’t generally take part in internet campaigns. Especially without doing my research. I just got so excited about women empowerment that I jumped on the bandwagon.
I know I am talking to the wall on this one, but, do your homework before blindly following influencers on the internet.
JS.
