This was started by Turkish women to say that they are appalled by the Turkish govt decision to withdraw from the Istanbul convention… This is not just performative, this is hopefully not just tokenistic, this is for PINAR GULTEKIN, a woman of color. Pragya Agarwal posted her own picture to Instagram, accompanied by the message: Still, many in Turkey remain steadfast that this latest round of black-and-white selfies first gathered steam there. “Over the years the photo trend has also been used to ‘spread positivity.’” One of Lorenz’ interviewees went on to suggest this latest round was born from “Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaking out against Representative Ted Yoho’s sexist remarks against her on the floor of Congress last week.” “In 2016, were meant to spread a message of ‘cancer awareness,’” she wrote. New York Times reporter Tariro Mzezewa confirmed this on Twitter, after speaking to women in Turkey directly:Īnother New York Times reporter, Taylor Lorenz, insisted on Twitter that the #womenempowerment trend did not originate in Turkey, pointing out the fact that black-and-white photos accompanied by the hashtag #ChallengeAccepted have emerged on social media before. To show that one day, it could be their picture that is plastered across news outlets. To stand in solidarity with the women we have lost. The black and white photo challenge started as a way for women to raise their voice. Most often the murderers barely get a slap on a wrist or no charges at all… Our government is trying to abolish certain aspects of Istanbul Convention which is a human rights treaty that protects women against domestic violence… 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. ![]() Turkey is one of the top countries when it comes to femicides. What is now a light-hearted expression of female solidarity in America was originally, in Turkey, a campaign inspired by both the soaring rates of violence against women and the brutal murder of a 27-year-old student named Pinar Gültekin.Īfter seeing the diluted message that her “international friends” were posting online as part of the #womenempowerment hashtag, one Turkish Twitter user named attempted to explain the somber origins and meanings of the original challenge: ![]() Then this morning it became apparent that it wasn't just diversity that had been buried on my Instagram feed-the more meaningful origins of the black-and-white challenge had been erased too. All of which sent a very unfortunate message about what kind of women deserve “support.” More from the #womensupportingwomen hashtag. I counted only a few trans women and exactly zero with any visible disabilities. There were some women of color featured, but overwhelmingly, it was a sea of whiteness. Occasionally Instagram's algorithm would permit me to see a woman over a size 8 or the age of 45-but they were few and far between. And the only thing I felt challenged by was the narrowness of representation on display. I took the time to scroll through hundreds of tagged photos. So I clicked on the hashtags in an attempt to find out, only to have my confusion compounded. On initially encountering these images yesterday-especially with zero context-it was hard for me to fathom what the “challenge” was exactly. Black-and-white selfies of women accompanied by the words “Challenge accepted,” along with the hashtags #womenempowerment and #womensupportingwomen. ![]() F you’ve used Instagram even casually in the last 48 hours, you've seen them by now.
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