Judge To “Stop Judging”

Whoever has been on the internet for the past week has of course come through something called the “#DontJudgeChallenge. So what is this #DontJudgeChallenge and what is its originality?

Em Ford, a Youtube Vlogger under the name My Pale Skin posted a video in her channel about how she suffered with chronic acne and showed her audience her face with and without makeup. This sparked a sea of negative comments shaming her for her acne rather than giving her any forms of encouragement. Ford’s critics was the reason people invented the #DontJudgeChallenge to empower people against judgemental minds.

Spatter some color on your face, put make up weirdly, deliberately look like a cartoon and you are ready for the #DontJudgeChallenge! Also, let’s make fun of what society considers “ugly” and call it #DontJudgeChallenge!

The #DontJudgeChallenge is a popular hashtag on Instagram with users mainly teens posting videos showing themselves having attributes considered “ugly” which they intentionally draw on themselves then they transform into a beautiful/handsome/gorgeous person with ample amount of makeup. These “ugly” and “disgusting” features that they draw on themselves are unibrows, thick brows, missing teeth, acne, glasses, face blemishes etc. Then after a total blackout there’s the presence of attractive version of the “ugly” person.

These viral posts come with other hashtags like “DontJudgeMe or #DontJudgeABookByItsCover and it took the internet by a storm to combat body shaming. Twitter, Instagram, Facebook and Vine was flooded with these posts of teens who basically has nothing to do this summer and started posting these videos, which clearly fights the actual purpose. The #DoNotJudgeChallenge is actually itself flawed and rather than fighting judgemental minds, they are being actually really judgemental. So why is the whole trend really flawed? People taking part in this challenge fail to comprehend that they themselves are body shaming. People are consciously or unconsciously being mocked by the ones who take part in this movement.

Clearly this new trend is judging people who has any of the drawn features, such as acne,unibrows, wears glasses etc. It is a pure show of refined narcissism. They are judging as to what is not “desirable” to later show a highly “decorated” person with none of the “flaws”. The person comes up with no acne, no glasses, no double chin or any such “ugly” features but rather has a perfect skin with all the “perfect” features. These people who post are asking the world to not “judge” them based on their “cartoon” looking face. Who will really judge a deliberately made cartoon face, for real though! It’s like being made up for Halloween and asking people to not judge us,which is totally absurd. Nobody is going to judge because you look like a freak/sociopath/cartoon in Halloween.

These bunch of people who know they are attractive are telling the world again and again what they consider “ugly”. So you are telling me acne or wearing glasses is ugly but it’s okay? This “DontJudgeChallenge” is actually asinine to a whole different level. Someone who doesn’t have a teeth doesn’t need the whole world to tell them that though it is “ugly” it’s okay! The goal was to not “JUDGE a book by its cover” but it is actually mocking certain physical features, hence judging people again.

The challenge clearly mocks the traits that the society has categorized to be “ugly”. It’s more like a group of people who considers themselves better is showing the world again what “ugly” actually is. A Twitter user Joe Santagato described the #DontJudgeChallenge, “the #dontjudgechallenge -> “Don’t judge me bc I can make myself look really ugly but then make myself look attractive. I’m also conceited!” I agree with him because for others it’s not as simple as removing acne with makeup remover! This movement is actually a form of bullying: bullying from a same aged group who think themselves as “supreme” because of their physical features.

Critics of the #DontJudgeChallenge has actively spoken against it. To counter this as well, they did one of the two things: a group of people who actually has acne, wears glasses or has unibrows posted pictures of themselves on social media without any transformation. The other group of people posted videos where they had make up and later removed to show a total make up free face. To fight this trend, a new trend started happening too known as the #BeautyInAllChallenge where people posts on social media without any filter or makeup defining that everyone is beautiful.

In Emily Bazelon’s article, “How to Stop the Bullies” she states, “ In the early days of the Internet, the danger to kids seemed to be from predatory adults. But it turns out that those perils are rare compared with the problems that come from other kids.” This can be related to the #DontJudgeChallenge because even though unintentionally teens posting to this challenge are telling other teens what the world considers “ugly”. This is a form of bullying because it gives rise to people’s insecurity, thinking to themselves whether these features that they have are signs of “ugliness” or being “undesirable”. Though this is not a concentrated form of bullying, intentionally or unintentionally it is harming people’s self-esteem. The challenge is instantly judging some physical features rather than empowering and encouraging teens to confront judgemental people.

These trends or “movements” social media encourages and spreads so massively are nothing but claiming what is “beautiful” or “acceptable” in society today. One other challenge that is the uber description of judging is the “bellybutton challenge”. Social media users posted picture/videos of themselves wrapping an arm around their waist and if they could touch their belly button then they were labeled “healthy”. This sparked criticism as well. Trainers posted pictures of themselves not being able to touch their bellybuttons with the captions saying if they are not healthy then they do not know what really healthy is. This trend also judged people, again harming someone’s self-esteem. Who is the internet to determine if I am healthy? I believe science, balanced diet and reality plays a bigger role.

The new trends to fight against judgemental people is actually a form of bullying, directly or indirectly. People participating in trends like #DontJudgeChallenge are actually decorating the social media with the old norm: false images of perfection. Physical challenges that flourished on the social media gave birth to a new form of bullying, but a form of bullying that people might think is not bullying. These are not helping anyone, rather telling people how to look.

References:

Krishna, Rachael. “Teens Are Transforming Themselves From “Ugly” To “Beautiful” With The #DontJudgeChallenge.” Buzzfeed. Buzzfeed, 6 July 2015. Web.

Bazelon, Emily. “How to Stop the Bullies.” The Atlantic. Atlantic Media Company, 20 Feb. 2013. Web.