Other New York Times Reporter Taylor Lorenz insisted on Twitter that the #womenempowerment trend did not originate in Turkey, noting the fact that black and white photos accompanied by the hashtag #ChallengeAccepted have emerged on social media before.
“In 2016, [they] they were meant to spread a ‘cancer awareness’ message, ”he wrote. “Over the years, the photographic trend has also been used to ‘spread positivity.'” One of Lorenz’s interviewees suggested that this latest round was born out of “Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez speaking out against Representative Ted Yoho’s sexist comments against her on the floor of Congress last week.”
Still, many in Turkey remain adamant that this latest round of black and white selfies first gained momentum there. Author Dra. Pragya Agarwal posted her own photo on Instagram, accompanied by the message:
This was started by Turkish women to say they are appalled at the Turkish government’s decision to withdraw from the Istanbul convention … This is not just performative, hopefully it is not just tokenistic, this is for PINAR GULTEKIN, a woman of color. Say her name !!
The problem is that the millions of non-Turkish women who participate in #womenempowerment selfies don’t say Pınar Gültekin’s name. Hell, they’re just saying Breonna Taylor’s. Truth be told, they don’t say much about anything.
Just a few weeks ago, the exchange of information related to Black Lives Matter was hampered by an avalanche of well-intentioned black squares that were labeled #BLM. This latest black and white trend will effectively prevent #womenempowerment and #womensupportingwomen from being used for anything other than black and white selfies for months.
