Minka Kelly Instagram – repost: @vanessalchester Confused around the amount of judgment I’m seeing women receive for participating in the #challengeaccepted, challenge. “How does a black and white vanity selfie actually support women?” “Wow, how vapid, you posted your face”. Wait, what’s wrong with posting a photo where you feel confident and having other people love up on you? (absolutely nothing btw). Is it really that serious? So I decided to do a little bit of research, and guess what? It is that serious. This is Pinar Gülteken. Pinar Gülteken was a 27 year old Turkish woman, and university student who was brutally murdered by her ex-boyfriend last week. Femicide is a rampant issue in Turkey. Women are fed up, and are demanding justice. So like many of us have been doing in the last couple of months, they decided to use social media to bring awareness to Pinar’s brutal murder, violence towards women (146 Turkish women have been the victim of femicide in 2020), & the lack of action by the Turkish government to hold the men accountable for the crimes they commit and justify by blaming the victims (sound familiar?) The black & white photos and omission of a specific caption were chosen to break up, and saturate the black and white photos that usually accompany posts surrounding femicide in #Turkey. And instead, flood the feed/hashtag with photos that showed the silent strength, support, & solidarity women provide towards one another on a global scale & daily basis. With that said, I think we can agree the last thing we need right now is more bad news/experiences in the form of judgment. Let’s not forget Instagram was originally a location app named Burbn (after the alcohol) that over time has turned into a marketing dumpster fire & represents about 6% of a persons authentic life. Seriously though, womxn are still fighting for full respect & autonomy over their bodies, & the last thing needed is additional judgement & criticism. We’re all doing work (I hope), and if that comes in the form of a black & white selfie, that makes you feel good, & unbeknownst to you, is also supporting an entire group of women across the globe whose cause deserves attention, so be it. #pınargültekin