‘Challenge Accepted’ – How Did The Trend Of Black And White Photos Of Women On Instagram Start?
In the past few days, Instagram has been flooded with black and white photos of women using the hashtag #ChallengeAccepted.
The trend is generally interpreted as a nice way that women can show their support of other women. But many may not be aware of how this trend started.
According to the New York Times, a representative from Instagram the earliest example of this current cycle of the challenge was posted a week and a half ago by the Brazilian journalist Ana Paula Padrão.
But others have noted that women in Turkey began sharing black-and-white photos recently to raise awareness about femicide.
But an Instagram personality named “beelzeboobz” says that the “challenge” started in Turkey, one of the leading countries for femicides; he says that there were 500 in 2019, but notes that “Sadly many of them remain unrecorded and we have no real number as to how many women are murdered here every year.” The Hurriet Daily News — an English language daily newspaper in Turkey — reported that over 470 women were murdered there in 2019).
Beelzeboobz continues, “Turkish people wake up every day to see a black and white photo of a woman who has been murdered on their Instagram feed, on their newspapers, on their TV screens. The black and white photo challenge started as a way for women to raise their voice. To stand in solidarity with the women we have lost. To show that one day, it could be their picture that is plastered across news outlets with a black and white filter.”
“I have seen many of my international friends participate in this challenge without knowing the meaning. While I am aware that there is no ill will, it is important to remind ourselves why posting a picture with a black and white filter is a ‘challenge’ to begin with.”
As of this writing, the #challengeaccepted hashtag has over 5.7 million posts on Instagram.
