If you have been on Twitter or Instagram during the past few days — especially if you’re a teen — chances are you’ve seen videos from the Don’t Judge Challenge. If not: the basic premise is that people draw cartoonish acne, unibrows and black teeth on themselves. Then, voilà, they are revealed to be beautiful.
Apparently, the idea is to promote self-confidence and acceptance. Except that the whole concept really misses the mark by actually making a caricature out of people who really deal with pimples, wear glasses or whatever else people in the challenge suggest are flaws.
“The #dontjudgechallange is a bunch of attractive people mocking people who don’t fit into societies standard of beauty,” one commented on Twitter. “Gap teeth isn’t ugly, and mocking people with crooked teeth isn’t funny, you are just attacking people’s deepest insecurities and it’s ugly.”
Another asked, “Is making fun of people with acne, a unibrow and people who wear glasses really the aim of this whole #dontjudgechallenge thing or…?”
In fact, there’s been so much backlash that the counter “Beauty In All Challenge” is now trending. As one person who participated in the latter challenge said, “I have acne, a weird gap between my lips when i smile & uneven eyebrows but idc i love myself.”
At least some good is coming out of the Don’t Judge Challenge after all!
