- The
#ChallengeAccepted trend went viral onInstagram last week, encouraging women to post black-and-white selfies supporting female empowerment. - Critics called it an example of
slacktivism and an excuse for self-promotion, but others defended it as a well-meaning challenge. - The debate is similar to the discourse around June's #BlackoutTuesday trend. But while this one has inadvertently brought attention to a worthwhile cause, the latter inadvertently drowned out important information within the #blacklivesmatter hashtag about the movement and protests.
- Ultimately, arguing about the intentions behind #ChallengeAccepted shifts attention away from its original message of women supporting women and divides people on the goal that unites them.
"Challenge accepted," wrote actress Kerry Washington in a recent Instagram post. "I am awed by the power of women loving each other and lifting each other up!!!!!"
Washington's selfie is one of 6.5 million #ChallengeAccepted Instagram posts, part of a viral Instagram challenge that spread like wildfire last week among celebrities, influencers, and the non-famous alike. The trend encouraged women to post black-and-white selfies accompanied by the hashtag #womensupportingwomen, which has 8.5 million hashtags as of Friday morning, as a means of female empowerment.
The challenge just as quickly devolved into a heated debate that has drawn comparisons to the performative activism of #BlackoutTuesday. Many criticized it as a form of slacktivism (supporting a cause through
The debate has become a microcosm of the online infighting that weakens political parties and social justice movements. But debating whether it was right or wrong to participate in this particular challenge is less productive than focusing on the challenge's intention. While the #ChallengeAccepted trend may not be effective enough to be considered activism, participating isn't harming anyone — and it is spreading awareness.
The secrecy surrounding the origins of #ChallengeAccepted helped foster the debate over it
The #ChallengeAccepted trend isn't new.
It circulated back in 2016 to advocate for cancer awareness, The New York Times' Taylor Lorenz reported. But as the hashtag regained momentum in 2020, so did confusion over its origins and purpose.
A public relations and influencer marketing manager told Lorenz that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's recent condemnation of Rep. Ted Yoho's sexist remarks sparked a flood of feminist, female-empowered social media posts. An Instagram representative also told Lorenz that the resurgence of the challenge in the US can be traced back to a mid-July post from Brazilian journalist Ana Paula Padräo, who shared a black-and-white photo accompanied by the #womensupportingwomen hashtag with her 1 million followers.
The challenge gained popularity at the same time as a popular Turkish social-media activism trend to support the Istanbul Convention as femicides continue in the country. But a representative for the Council of Europe, the human rights agency that wrote the Istanbul Convention in 2011, told Insider's Rachel Greenspan that the council has no knowledge of the Instagram challenge being connected to their work.
This confusion helped propel the judgy fodder about online activism and how to best be a feminist.
Online infighting only weakens goals, whether those goals are political or feminist
The backlash to the #ChallengeAccepted debate is the latest incarnation of the liberal infighting that came to a head during the 2016 election, when Sen. Bernie Sanders entered the scene. The Bernie vs. Hillary battle pitted progressives against liberals, an issue acknowledged by both Republicans and Democrats alike.
The divide deepened after Trump's victory, which political commentator Noah Rothman said split the Democratic party in half. Since then, it's been one disagreement after another for liberals. There was the racially charged feud between Ocasio Cortez and Nancy Pelosi. Some Democrats weren't united on Trump's impeachment. And with the 2020 election months away, Democrats are still divided on the best candidate to run against Trump, mulling over whether they should elect a progressive or moderate from their original pool of 28 candidates.
A February 2020 Gallup poll found that 65% of Americans think the Democratic party is divided, compared to 43% of Americans who view the Republican party as divided.
The September 2019 Democratic presidential debate exposed these ideological divisions. As Sen. Amy Klobuchar warned her fellow bickering Democrats, "a house divided cannot stand."
To be fair, infighting is not unique to liberals. Republicans have been divided on Trump's actions since he took office, from his national emergency declaration to build a border wall to his handling of a pandemic recovery proposal. A YouGov poll found that they're less unified on economic issues than Democrats.
But as digital-savvy millennials and Gen Z take their
"A lot of online activism has veered from the initial motivation of caring about others and become about petty fighting about language, 'cancelling celebrities' and creating a rigid mold of how everyone should behave," wrote Molly Greeves for the Byline Times. "This brand of liberalism encourages an all-or-nothing attitude where people's intentions mean nothing."
Debate like this contributes to an online atmosphere that Greeves calls "weirdly vindictive and competitive, more focused on who is the most 'woke' and not on helping people."
"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 MEL Magazine editor Alana Levinson.
Such infighting, both online and off, can cause political parties and activist movements to fall apart. Arguing about how to achieve the goal that unites them (in this case, feminism) only divides people when they should be uniting.
It's similar to the backlash #BlackoutTuesday received, but participating in #ChallengeAccepted didn't have negative consequences
It's true that the difference between an ally and an activist is action. But as Rebecca Jennings of Vox wrote regarding #BlackoutTuesday, "There are conflicting directives on how to be a good ally."
Look no further than June's #BlackoutTuesday, when Instagram users posted a black square to show their solidarity with the Black Lives Matter Movement. People were quick to decry it as performative activism and for being counterproductive in clogging Instagram feeds and drowning out important information about the movement.
While the #ChallengeAccepted trend didn't have negative consequences, the controversy surrounding it is similar, with a call for real action over performative activism.
Fellow Vox writer Terry Ngyuen explains further, "People are unsure about what's appropriate to post, but they also want to feel like they're contributing rather than doing nothing at all." But posting is met with tone policing, she said. "No one wants to be publicly shamed for what they post, which has led many to feel like they should seek permission or acknowledgment before speaking on a certain matter."
This uncertainty, and the shaming discourse that surrounds it, has inverted the challenge's meaning. What began as a way for women to support other women ended with women criticizing other women for their participation.
The endless debate detracts from the good: spreading awareness
Arguing about whether one's participation in a social media challenge with a cause is an act of self-promotion changes the discourse entirely by shifting attention away from its original message.
There is a way to educate people about the origin of a campaign without unilaterally calling it vapid and accusing those who participate in it of being inauthentic. The mysterious origins of #ChallengeAccepted led to some participants self-promoting. But others genuinely thought it was a "women supporting women" challenge with no deeper purpose or meaning.
Activism creates the most social change, but as Greta Thunberg said at Davos this year, awareness is the first step. And the #ChallengeAccepted trend, however unintentional, has led to increased awareness of Turkish femicide. While many post about causes on social media as feel-good activism, the discourse criticizing this overlooks the value of spreading awareness that can come from these posts.