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Why Are Women Posting Black and White Photos With #challengeaccepted on Instagram?

Celebrities and millions of other women around the world have joined in, but others are skeptical about the viral challenge.
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Image: Instagram #challengeaccepted feed

Updated 07/29/20

Social media has long been used to promote social causes of all kinds and this week saw the quick rise of a new challenge that has women proclaiming #challengeaccepted. You’ve probably seen it on Instagram. Black and white photos of women with the viral hashtag and mentions of a few other women’s usernames. Most captions don’t go much further than that, and now many are wondering what it’s all about.

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In the simplest terms, it’s an online movement that encourages women to support other women. It quickly grew as each would-be participant is asked to tag other women, sometimes as many as 50, to post their own black and white photo.

Unlike other viral challenges, women are encouraged to “tag” people in private messages. “[A]mong women there are several criticisms; instead, we should take care of each other. We are beautiful the way we are,” a version of the chain message reads.

Those who post a photo simply write #challengeaccepted and #womensupportingwomen in their caption, with mentions of the women who challenged them.

While it is unclear how the trend started, a cancer awareness campaign with a similar hashtag and challenge went around the internet in 2016. A representative from Instagram told The New York Times that the earliest photo from this year came from Brazilian journalist Ana Paula Padrão, who posted her photo about a week and a half ago.

This time, it’s all about women empowerment, with celebrities including Kerry Washington, Khloe Kardashian, Kristen Bell, and Cindy Crawford taking part. Director Ava DuVernay, writer-activist Najwa Zebian, and many other well-known personalities from various industries have also participated in the challenge.

Millions of other women have posted their own photos too. As of press time, #challengeaccepted had over 3.8 million posts, with search results filled with photos of women from around the world. #WomenSupportingWomen had 6.7 million posts and, although the hashtag is used for other movements as well, its initial search results were also made up of black and white photos of women.

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Cristine Abram of the social media marketing firm, Later, told The New York Times that United States Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s viral speech responding to a sexist attack last week could have contributed to more women participating in the photo challenge.

It could have also originated in Turkey. New York Times journalist Tariro Mzezewa wrote on Twitter that she had spoken with women there, who said that they started posting black and white photos of themselves to stand up against femicide.

But, like most social media trends, #challengeaccepted eventually took on a life of its own.

“Yesterday morning, I started seeing lots of B&W photos of my friends with the same caption. Within the day, I received the chain message with instructions from three friends,” Jacques Manuntag, a 28-year-old business owner from the Philippines, told VICE.

She said that she does not usually participate in challenges like this, but decided to join because it encouraged women to show solidarity and “hype each other up.”

For her, the posts are a simple way for women to take care of each other, and to remind one another that they are beautiful and strong.

While the challenge is extremely popular, some have also criticized it for being performative and questioned if the trend accomplishes anything substantial for women.

“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?” tweeted Alana Levinson deputy editor at MEL Magazine.

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Manuntag admitted that the challenge could just be an excuse for some to post another selfie, but she believes that for others, it could be a way to “overcome the fear of criticism and deal with vulnerability.”

She also thinks it’s a good break from all the recent negative news on her social media feed.

“With all the things we’re dealing with individually, we tend to forget to take care of ourselves and our friends,” she said. “This is a good reminder to support each other. Living and surviving through this pandemic, we all need even a simple pick-me-up whenever possible.”

Find Miran on Instagram.