A TikTok trend embraced by women and rooted in body-positivity is being exploited by creepy men.
Known as the “silhouette challenge”, it involves taking a photo of yourself striking a pose in a doorway. You then use Snapchat’s vin rouge filter to create a striking image of a black silhouette against a red background.
Because the trend is being used by creators to celebrate their bodies, many people of all genders have posed for the original, pre-filter photo in tight-fitting clothing or underwear.
Celebrities including Cardi B and Tiffany Haddish are among the thousands to have taken up the challenge since it went viral.
However, as photographer Kai Lee warns in a “PSA” video which has been liked more than 115,000 times, creepy men on the internet have figured out a way to remove the filter and uncover the original image.
@lostvsnryshots PSA TO ALL THE QUEENS ✨ #silhouettechallenge #silhouette #PSA #queensupportqueens #tiktoktrends #photography #photoshoot #phototricks
Lee, who uses the TikTok handle @lostvsnryshots, says in her video: “I keep seeing the Silhouette Challenge on my For You page, and even though they’re all really cute and creative and y’all look bomb in them, just make sure you’re being cognisant of what you’re wearing before you actually do all the editing for the final product. Because anyone can easily take those images and revert them back to the original.”
She adds: “So if you’re wearing a bra and panties, or if you’re nude, or whatever you did before you applied the editing to create that shadow look, just know that it’s really easy to just put it back to the original.”
As Buzzfeed reports, there are literally dozens of videos on YouTube giving creeps step-by-step instructions on how to remove the vin rouge filter. Clementine Ford, an Australian feminist writer, broke down the appeal of removing the filter in this way on her Instagram Story.
“This is what sexual violence and predatory behaviour like,” she wrote, according to Stuff. “Men like this are abusers, because they can literally go to millions of sites online and look at naked bodies legally and even for free. The allure here isn’t the nudity, it’s in knowing they’ve violated the woman involved.”
She added: “It’s about getting off on stealing something from women that they know has been taken WITHOUT CONSENT and humiliating them as a little bonus.”
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