Women the world over are posting black-and-white selfies on Instagram as part of the latest “challenge accepted” social media craze as a show of support for women’s empowerment. Here, we round up our favourite posts from our Tatler community and explain why the trend runs deeper than just posting a pretty selfie.
While scrolling through our Instagram timeline this week, we were inundated with monochromatic selfies of women posting glamorous photos of themselves in an effort to promote female empowerment. Celebrities like Khloe Kardashian, Jennifer Lopez and Kerry Washington all joined in on the viral campaign using hashtags #ChallengeAccepted and #WomenSupportingWomen, nominating their friends to take part and support other women in the process. More than 5 million posts have already been uploaded to Instagram, with no signs of the trend slowing down.
But how exactly did it begin? No one knows for sure. Some say it started in 2016 to raise awareness for cancer, others say it began in Turkey as a way to shine a light on violence against women and domestic abuse within the country. But, it has grown to become a much larger social movement to spotlight women’s empowerment and solidarity. Many are now moving away from posting flattering selfies and using their platform to post about greater social issues and causes that deserve our attention. For example, posting about justice for Breonna Taylor, the 26-year-old African-American woman who was shot dead in March by police in the US, or GoFundMe accounts to help women in crisis or foundations that actively work to improve the lives of female migrant workers in their city.
The trend has made it all the way to Hong Kong too, with familiar faces such as Alison Chan El-Azar, Lauren Khoo, Tania Mohan, Annabelle Bond, Leigh Tung-Chou, Anne Wang-Liu, Natasha Hotung, Jacqueline Chow, Christy Liang and Josephine Chiu getting in on the action. Scroll through our list below to see our favourite #ChallengeAccepted posts from our Tatler community.