For the last month or so, a new trend has been creeping over Instagram and Twitter – the #DontJudge Challenge, which aims to challenge our normal standards of beauty. Teenagers have been filming themselves using Musical.ly looking 'ugly' and then revealing themselves to be actually attractive because, er, well... it's not clear how they think this is doing anything other than reinforcing stereotypes.
Mainly because the 'ugly' part of the videos involve glasses, messed up teeth, unibrows and acne. Which, when they're revealed to be 'not ugly', have all but disappeared. A load of people have criticised the trend for obvious reasons, but it doesn't seem like any of these people genuinely set out to hurt anyone, it's all just a bit misguided. By trying to tell people not to judge, they're actually sort of provoking even more judgement against people who have acne, might not have plucked their eyebrows to traditional beauty standards, etc.
In response, another hashtag is now doing the rounds - #beautyinallchallenge shows users posting images celebrating bits of their body that other people may criticise, rather than reinforcing traditional ideas of what makes someone 'ugly' or 'beautiful.' Essentially the message is that everyone has flaws, whether you choose to hide them or not. Which feels like a far more positive message to give from where we're sitting.
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This article originally appeared on The Debrief.