Challenge Accepted: Why women are posting black-and-white photos of themselves

Tribune Web Desk
Chandigarh, July 28

Women across the world continue to post black-and-white photos of themselves in an internet challenge to support women’s empowerment with the hashtag ‘Challenge Accepted’, drawing both praises and derision.

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Women---known and unknown, Indian and foreign---have joined the cause, posting black-and-white photos of themselves on Instagram and nominating another woman in their wake to take up the challenge. From Jennifer Aniston, Eva Longoria, to Indian celebrities like Sonam Kapoor, Ekta Kapoor and Rashmi Desai, women are posting their photos on Instagram to send a message of solidarity.

Yet, even while the challenge continues to gather tremendous response, what is less known is the real reason behind it---the growing atrocities against women in Turkey.  

The New York Times quoted a representative from Instagram as saying that the earliest post the company could find was more than a week ago by the Brazilian journalist Ana Paula Padrão.

Here’s another post on this.

The incident that triggered the latest viral challenge was the killing of Pinar Gutelkin, a 27-year-old woman who was reported missing and was then found dead in the woods in Turkey’s southwestern Mugla province earlier this month. She was allegedly killed by her jealous ex-boyfriend, who first strangled and then tried to burn her. When he couldn’t, he reportedly stuffed her body in a barrel that he then filled with concrete.

The incident is the latest addition to rising atrocities against women in Turkey---which activists have dubbed as 'femicide'---and has sparked a national outrage.