By There’s no better way to explain the recent events of the silhouette challenge other than to call it what it is. A case of users wanting to have their cake and eat it too. For those who may not know, the silhouette challenge started on TikTok in late 2020 and has spiralled ever since.
A Trip Down Memory Lane: Anime Challenge
To my knowledge, a few months ago, users on Tiktok took to the platform to try out something new. They wanted to be in the same room with their favourite Anime characters and the only way how was using silhouettes. By using silhouettes, you take out the need to edit and be precise with your videos. They looked something like this.
Start off your week with tech news recap and trending conversations in your inbox
This was, in truth, pretty innocent. Users finding smart ways to make more interesting videos. However, as the months went on, people began to see the pending ‘potential’ of this new challenge.
The Daunting Reality: 2021 Silhouette Challenge
TIKTOK
A few weeks into 2021 and users began to take the challenge a few steps further. It was now more familiar to take out the Anime characters entirely and leave just the human silhouette in the videos.
Now the videos a bit more action and unfortunately, things in the dark are not always so innocent. Sooner rather than let, many realized the ‘sensual’ possibilities of this challenge.
Men and women on TikTok would now add a deep red filter and use that plus their silhouette to portray their ‘bedroom talents’ to the rest of the world.
Fortunately, TikTok restricts videos rated R. (Videos that in whatever way show nudity or sexual acts). However, this did not stop them. In comes, the last week of January and people start realizing they can now use this format on different apps.
Many users now moved on to Twitter where there are no boundaries, you can post whatever you want (as long it does not ‘incite’ anyone to violence or such.) This freedom made it okay for anyone to post their silhouette challenge videos without fear of being taken down.
Now, for many, the videos were meant just to ‘show off’ the beautiful outlines of their bodies, as one user stated. There are those who did the challenge for fun and those who did it for the ‘sensual aspect’ (or both).
All Hell Breaks Loose
Those that did it for fun have nothing to worry about as they probably did it fully clothed. However, those that did it fully naked may have a little to worry about. This is because recent searches suggest that people have been trying to remove the filter.
It’s quite sad to see that this is what the world has come to but it is somewhat inevitable. The fact that may are not satisfied by the silhouette but instead want more is rather shocking.
Speaking to a few who did the challenge, they note that they feel violated at the thought of someone being able to remove the filter and see them ‘for who they are’.
Being a family-friendly site, we will not be linking or posting any of these videos. However, we did review some videos that had been edited and there is a bit of worry.
The ‘editors’ basically tun your video into a black and white video with a few filters making it a bit clearer. It’s not as effective as you might think but you should be careful. @KerryBellum explains it pretty well…
Hey, video editor here ? No need to worry, they cannot actually remove the filter from your tiktok video. They can remove the red tint, but they would still be left with a silhouette and the video isn't of a good enough quality on tiktok to lighten it and reveal your body. https://t.co/E3Mjs8Ggmd pic.twitter.com/dtBh3qvzzj
— Kerry ❤?? (@KerryBellum) January 28, 2021
There’s not a lot to worry about but you should still be careful with what challenges you follow and what you post online. What you should really be worried about is how so many people are having trouble spelling and pronouncing S-I-L-H-O-U-E-T-T-E (silowet)! Get it together guys.
Comments