There is a viral challenge going on the internet right now. It is called the #SilhouetteChallenge. Basically it entails that you post a video of yourself in an outfit that is not revealing. Then right after that, the video cuts to you in a red-lit room, naked or semi-naked, with your the silhouette of your curves showing. Hence the name of the challenge
I dont think I am describing it well, hence to get a better picture you might want to check it out yourself.
Now, like most of these internet challenges that involve showing off the body, women are the main people participating in it. While good home training is holding a lot of women to post these videos on the internet, I daresay many of them have shared these video challenges with their partners intimately.
I say this because I've been the recipient of such a video myself, but like every other image of her in my phone, I deleted it after we split.
I'll take the example of Twitter and say that while I am sure many women indulge in this to show off their nice bodies, a lot of women on that platform are actually sex workers who do it to attract people to their Onlyfans page and whatnot.
2.0 feminists have encouraged these challenges under the guise of women empowerment and have chided any man with good home training, who tries, even with all the good intentions, to caution any of these women sharing these content as "men" once again trying to police women's bodies. But that is a topic for another day. I'm sure Tino will get on that.
Yesterday however, a tweet caught my attention. It basically cautioned everyone participating in this challenge to be careful as the red light snapchat feature used by people for this challenge can be reversed by some digital trick and your actual and naked body - not your silhouette - can be seen.
As is the norm these days, a young woman chimed in to say that "it's funny how women have been telling men how they feel unsafe around them... but even virtually, their PRIVACY and INTIMACY isn't respected."
That is an actual quote. I'll post the link in the comments. YOU share semi naked body on the internet; a place full of all kinds of weirdos and perverts and you are talking about privacy??? Really??? Someone please make that make sense. And of course it is convenient to just blame men in general - as always. There is no point in you taking responsibility for your own actions.
It doesn't end there. Under that particular response many people came to either argue against or support the madness of that tweet. But one tweet caught my attention in particular. It was of a young woman with an Onlyfans page.
She participated in the challenge and said anyone trying to manipulate her video is doing wrong. And that anyone trying to expose more than she showed is doing wrong too. Here is the funny part - this woman actually has a video of herself HAVING SEX on her Twitter page. Once again, someone please make that make sense.
Like Tyrion Lannister said, there is nothing more annoying than a late-blooming philosopher. Unfortunately, Twitter is full of them. We are in the age where people use the high sounding internet jargon like normalize, narrative and consent to defend the most stupid things. Most people participate in these challenges do so for vanity's sake. They want attention, praise, likes and clicks. This whole empowerment talk is just late blooming philosophical nonsense. Anybody who tries to tell you otherwise is a hypocrite
The most vocal 2.0 feminists I know have never shared nude pictures of themselves online in the name of empowerment. No doubt they had good home training.
It's like this new trend of people asking fat people to feel comfortable and empowered in their skin - never mind heart disease and diabetes and everything that comes with it. I understand that fat shaming (another one of those jargons) can be detrimental to someone's mental wellbeing, but let's not be hypocrites.
I've said this before and I'll say it again. The world is not a perfect place. It is full of weirdos and creeps. Bad things happen and a lot of people get hurt everyday for things that should not have happened to them. A lot of people also live recklessly but somehow get away with it.
As we move through life we always have to remember the notion of self responsibility. We need to learn to put ourselves in positions that will try to make us as safe possible. Will we always be safe? No, unfortunately. But we are more likely to make it through than we would of we didn't take precautions.
The world is a bad place. It will always and forever be a bad place. Know this and do not act surprised when you share intimate information about yourself online and it hits you in the face
There are people I follow on Snapchat whom I have never met. Yet I know where they live, what car they drive, what the inside of their house looks like, where they work, the name of some of their colleagues and even their favourite foods. If I were a thief, I could easily lay a trap for them. And what would they do after? Complain that I do not respect their safety?
We are moving mad in this world.
Nobody is holding you from doing viral challenges where you have to show your buttocks and your boobs. But know that as you do so, you are making it potentially available to the 7 billion people that are on this planet. Don't come crying after and blaming men for your own stupidity when something goes awry.
Know this and know peace.
- Wandji Wilfred