Woman power in black and white

A social media challenge invites pictures in the style of an older era, and many in Bengaluru respond

Social media challenges have been a rage since a while now. The latest to join the lot is the black and white photo challenge, with the hashtag #womensupportwomen.

The challenge is simple: if you’re a woman, you post a picture of yours in black and white on social media, and direct message someone to follow the challenge.

International celebrities like filmmaker Ava DuVernay, singer Demi Lovato, actresses Halle Berry, Jessica Alba, Eva Longoria and Nicole Kidman, supermodel Cindy Crawford, have participated in the campaign. Many Indian personalities including Bollywood actress Madhuri Dixit-Nene, Bengali actres Paoli Dam, politician Priyanka Gandhi Vadra have joined in too.

Down south, Sandalwood’s Harshika Poonacha, Radhika Narayan, Mollywood actress Parvathy Thiruvothu, Poornima Indrajith, Tollywood’s Lavanya Tripathi, Sameera Reddy and Ritu Varma have posted their pictures with heart-warming words and the respective hashtags.

Metrolife checked with a few Bengalureans about what made them take up the challenge.

Strong message

Sinchan Dixit, Hindustani classical musician and playback singer, heard of the challenge from her friend, RJ Sindhu, who works at Radio Fever, Chennai.

She says, “The picture I posted was a random one, it was not meant to show my glamorous side. I have always been a fan of black and white photos.”

Sinchan read an article about the previous black-and-white challenge in Turkey, where women posted such pictures as a way for women to raise their voice against femicide. “After reading this I realised that women are still treated badly in various ways across the world. My heart howls in pain when I read about women being harassed, raped, murdered and abused,” she says.

Though she is not a huge fan of such challenges, Sinchan “took part in the challenge as it threw light on femicide and India also records such deaths”.

“Some cases come to light and some don’t. I wanted to voice out that no woman is absolutely safe in the world. The stronger we become and stand by each other, we can hope to see a better world,” she says.

Appreciates women of substance

Sandalwood actress Radhika Narayan liked the fact that the challenge was done through DMs. “I feel that the initiative is for women of substance, survivors and achievers. It’s a great challenge to extend support to one another.”

There is a common notion that women don’t support other women and this challenge helps beat that thought process, she says. “The challenge is a good way to extend support to one another during such tough times. The simplicity of it also attracted me to it,” Radhika adds.

Wordings were heartwarming

Laxmi Krishna, stylist and designer with the Kannada film industry, is not someone who attempts internet challenges.

“There were two reasons I took it up. Many actresses who I work with, were involved in the challenge and had been tagging me, so I had to take it up. Also, the wordings of the challenge were heartwarming and moving, which pulled me to it,” she says.

The appealing factor is that many from film industries took it up, which also made it popular, she adds.

Katherene Deborah, proprietor of Ms.K’s Cupcakes and Cakes, was sent a message by her friend.

She says, “The picture I posted was of a fun day I had in Amsterdam, my first break after I had my baby. To me the challenge was about women empowering other women. A lot of the times, women are pitted against each other, which I do not understand.”

Katherene feels homemakers without careers are often looked down upon. “They are not given their due,” she says.

She is aware that the original post was about a horrible crime in Turkey. “I had watched the speech by US politician Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez against Ted Yoho just a day before the challenge, it resonated strongly with me, and I was motivated to take up this challenge,” Katherene adds.

What is the original campaign about?

Many across the internet have mentioned that the focus of the new campaign has driven away from the earlier campaign, which happened in Turkey. The previous campaign highlighted about the soaring rates of violence against women and about the brutal murder of a 27-year-old student named Pinar Gültekin in Turkey, by her boyfriend.