Challenging #ChallengeAccepted: When Did

Women’s Empowerment Become the Catch-all

for Anything Vaguely Positive?
Jordan Stanley
Jul 29 · 5 min read

#ChallengeAccepted has populated our Instagram feeds with black-and-white photos of

women donning #WomenSupportingWomen for the past two days. While the alleged
purpose of the posts — to promote women’s empowerment — reeked of fluff from the
start, it was not long until the filtered selfies were followed by a sobering correction. If
you haven’t already seen: the #ChallengedAccepted movement originated in Turkey as a
means for women to raise awareness about the nation’s endemic femicide, a crisis that
has worsened during the COVID-19 pandemic and is often depicted by black-and-white
photos of women who have been killed.

#ChallengeAccepted is just the latest episode of empty Instagram activism, a

phenomenon that fills many feminists I know with mixed emotions. On the one hand,
the fact that feminism/women’s empowerment has entered the mainstream feels like
progress — a foot in the door, if you will. Yet, on the other hand, it seems that the farther
and faster feminist ideas travel, the more they are over-simplified and misdirected.

The Danger of Trendy Feminism and Instagram Activism

I’ll admit: when I first saw shirts emblazoned with “Feminist” and “Girl Power” popping
up at Urban Outfitters and Zara, I was excited. But the more that corporations, brands
and influencers have co-opted the movement, the more harmful “trendy feminism”
becomes. For instance, these fast fashion companies sell feminist-branded apparel while
under fire for labor violations and environmental pollution.

The term that many influencers and brands — and now their followers — lean on to
leverage trendy feminism is “empowering/empowered.” It’s a word that, while central to
feminism, seems to have become a code for noncommittal co-opters. These people can
promote their “empowering” products and lifestyle, while seeming on-trend without
tackling any real issues.

The loose and commodified use of the term(s) “empowering/empowered” makes me

weary of the value of trendy feminism — the foot is in the door, but where does the door
lead to?

What We Learned from #ChallengeAccepted

#ChallengeAccepted conflated “empowered” branding and actual women’s
empowerment. This trend in Instagram activism is dangerous because followers of
influencers/brands may not understand the difference. It enables our complacency, in
many cases without us even realizing.

Digging one layer deeper, #ChallengeAccepted was particularly harmful because

women used it to pursue a totally different agenda: wanting the freedom to flex on
Instagram. Now, women should be able to flex on social media — enjoying our beauty
as much as men do, without being accused of cockiness or slut-shamed. But using
#ChallengeAccepted to make this point is the equivalent of posting a photo where your
ass looks great, but making the caption about the sunset to conceal your motive. A better
hashtag for this type of advocacy would have been #FreedomToFlex or #FuckItFlexIt —
but instead, we co-opted another movement raising awareness for violence against
women in Turkey, colonizing social justice for the sake of aesthetics.

This is yet another case of white feminism shifting the focus away from both race and
gender, which it has done historically and in today’s trendy movement. The priority of
feminism today must be to address systemic racism, and feminists who are white must
wield their own power and privilege to lift up Black women and women of color.

As more Instagram activism arises, we need to ask ourselves: can something be

empowering when it takes power away from others?

We need to be weary of quick-hit movements that make us feel productive without any
sacrifice, investment, education or call-to-action. What about #ChallengeAccepted
was actually challenging? We need to be hyper-vigilant when the term “empowering”
gets slapped onto social posts, campaigns and products — starting by asking ourselves
what this term really means.

Defining “Empowered” vs. “Women’s Empowerment”

What’s the difference, and am I being an asshole? Let’s get technical for a second.
Merriam-Webster defines:

Empowering: v. to promote the self-actualization or influence of

Empowerment: n. the state of being empowered to do something: the power, right,

or authority to do something

Women’s empowerment: n. the process through which women acquire the ability
to make strategic life choices in a context where this ability was previously denied to
them

The difference in these definitions, while nuanced, highlights a quandary most feminists
face in their decision-making: for yourself, or for the movement?

The idea that “the personal is political” is nothing new for feminists. The gist is that
women can make personal choices in response to, or to protest against, the status quo,
and it is a best practice for our personal choices to reflect our political views. Yet this
idea can make decision-making both complex and difficult. What if women find
something personally empowering (i.e., fulfilling, self-actualizing), but it doesn’t
support women’s empowerment?

Beauty standards exemplify this push-and-pull. As feminists, we want to redefine the

beauty standards set by the patriarchy and white supremacy… but sometimes, we just
want to feel hot without having to confront and dismantle societal norms. And so we
throw on our male-gazey makeup, shave our armpits, and blast problematic music in the
Uber. As Roxane Gay assures us in Bad Feminist, women are allowed to find a balance.
We can’t be expected to constantly sacrifice our personal desires for the movement. That
said, it’s important for women to be able to distinguish what is feminist/for women’s
empowerment, and what’s not, so we can make intentional choices.

Feminism advocates for choice, but not every choice is feminist. In fact, not all
women have access to choice, especially those disproportionately affected by poverty, or
whose cultural background limits their ability to be individualistic. Many Instagram
activists and influencers have dismissed this distinction — making personal choices and
slapping the feminist-by-proxy stamp of “empowering” on it. Sure, starting your own
skincare line is empowering for you, but is brainwashing girls into fearing wrinkles and
aging really a good thing?

Women’s empowerment doesn’t happen in a vacuum — it starts from a place of

disempowerment. We cannot empower ourselves without first understanding the
powers (social, political, economic) working against us, and against which we are
fighting. To empower ourselves and other women, we need resources, agency and
achievements — and more simply put: money, capital, representation, legislation and
change in social expectations. Posting a black-and-white photo did nothing to move the
needle in any of these areas.

Blindly hopping on the Instagram activist bandwagon is like going to Jamba Juice when
you’re on a health kick. You may feel refreshed, even energized, by your Mango Orange
Smoothie, but you’ve just consumed 45g of sugar and a ton of empty calories. You feel
like a #HealthQueen thanks to good branding, but you’ve nourished no one. Instagram
activism, when done wrong, is the empty calorie of social justice.

I don’t want to discourage women who engaged in #ChallengeAccepted from

participating in future feminist causes. Your black-and-white photos showed that you are
interested in women’s empowerment. Moving forward, you will do the research and
ensure your intention translates into the right action.

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