About the black and white photo challenge, and why you shouldn’t break the #ChallengeAccepted trend

The black and white photo challenge has taken up significant attention on social media. It’s a prompt amongst friends to post a personal photo, albeit in black and white, on Instagram and other social sites, with the caption #challengeaccepted.

Did you know it has evolved globally as a sign of women’s empowerment and is a part of a campaign called “women supporting women”?

Have you been “challenged” yet?

Michelle Ntalami in the Challenge
Michelle Ntalami in the Challenge

If you are a lady haven’t yet been challenged, there are chances that you will be. All it requires is to post a black and white photo with the caption “challenge accepted” and then passing the baton to the next woman. You have participated in the women empowerment campaign.

While many social media enthusiasts may do it for fun, it’s an inconsequential and valuable addition to the cause.

The origin of the challenge remains fluid, with many cites sources. The most authentic and realistic source has been tagged to women in Turkey protesting against femicide and gender-based violence. Other sources may be unrelated but have fuelled the movement, and prominent women personalities with huge following have participated.

On an abstract level, black and white colors have often been used as truth meters and morality gauges in the society. That is easily explained by the phrase “tell it to me in black and white”.

In photography, making the choice to use black and white instead has communicated an introspective seriousness, a kind of clarity of moral and artistic intent.  This is partly due to the idea that facts are black and white and color is some kind of wild, luxurious distraction.

Is there any truth in that?

Sussie Kirea and Ann Njambi on Facebook
Sussie Kirea and Ann Njambi on Facebook

Kenyan celebrities on Instagram haven’t been left behind in the empowerment drive.

Instagram tags the challenge as “meant to celebrate strength, spread love, and remind all women that supporting each other is everything.”

Just to name a few: Yvonne Okwara. Jacquie Maribe. Michelle Ntalami. Avril. Sage. Mayonde.

Wherever the origin of the challenge, it’s a big motivation for the women and a reason to support each other. It’s a ‘feel-good’, power-to-the-women feeling that sheds light to atrocities meted upon the gender mostly for being female. It also sends a precedent for future generation to fight against gender abuse.

What you waiting for?

Accept the challenge, and pass it on!

#ChallengeAccepted.

Is Yvonne Okwara virtue signalling over skin lightening?

Yvonne Okwara created a rather incisive but poignant post about skin lightening. You see, this topic is the bane of any parent of a dark skin daughter because we all know she will be inundated with messaging (both subtle and overt) that she would be more beautiful were she a few shades lighter.

https://www.instagram.com/p/CBkOUsrAaFm/

And given that she too is of a dark complexion, Yvonne Okwara is only too familiar with the struggle dark-skinned women endure. As attractive as they are, they still have to endure comments such as ÿou would be hotter if you were lighter”.

Yvonne Okwara blasts media industry for favoring light skin ladies (Details)

But such is life and it is unfair to us all. Still, this attitude has reportedly seeped its way into businesses and especially media. The unstated truth is that media is an industry that puts a premium on beauty. And as a result, the more beautiful the news anchor, the faster they will be propelled up the ladder.

yvonne okwara
Senior news anchor and editor, Yvonne Okwara

And this is a problem beyond it crippling women’s self-esteem because it means that often, when faced with the choice of propping up an attractive female or an intelligent show host, most times media houses lean on propping up the attractive one.

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But is Yvonne Okwara simply virtue signalling when she raises the question of colourism? Afterall, she is successful despite the perceived handicap. So why is she bringing up the emotional topic of beauty and complexion?

yvonne okwara

And on this one, I am going to say I am on the fence. Because while there is a lot of truth in what she is saying that women are especially susceptible to this ill of the Kenyan society because beauty is a major factor for them but… At the same time, women are individual beings capable of discerning what sort of media they are going to consume.

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As such, if they make the decision to bleach, nothing will stop them. Not even the government banning bleaching creams. Also, if they decide not to bleach, no amount of media and pressure will make them succumb to bleaching. Yvonne Okwara is proof of this fact.

So while I do not think Yvonne Okwara is virtue signalling, I am libertarian enough to say “to each their own”.

 

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