A post shared by Ulrikke Falch (@ulrikkefalch) on May 26, 2017 at 9:24am PDT
A body positivity campaign is gaining steam on Instagram with teens sticking confidence-boosting Post-It notes on bathroom mirrors for others to stumble upon. The movement was started by Norwegian actress Ulrikke Falch, star of the cult hit teen show Skam. Folks are using the hashtag #postitgeriljaen (which translates to #PostitSquad in English) to document their random acts of kindness. Since Flach’s call for fans’ participation, the Norwegian hashtag has been used almost 2,000 times.
The body positivity advocates have left encouraging sentences on bathroom mirrors like, “Repeat after me: I am awesome,” and “Being unique is better than being perfect.”
Denne søte meldingen dukket opp på shoppingtur i dag #postitgeriljaen #postitsquad
A post shared by Carina Timraz Koch (@carinatk) on Jun 10, 2017 at 2:04pm PDT
A post shared by Kari Traa (@karitraa) on Jun 10, 2017 at 2:45am PDT
It makes sense that Skam fans are banding together to combat an issue that afflicts scores of young adults (it is estimated that up to 8% of the U.S. population suffers from an eating disorder). The Norwegian show as resonated with teens around the world for its compelling, honest takes on hot-buttons issues like Islamophobia, sexual assault, and mental health. The show is set to receive an American remake titled Shame.
Ulrikke Flach — who, just like her Skam character Vilde, has struggled with an eating disorder — has used her Instagram (which has over 900k followers) to champion feminism and critique harmful media images. She has an ongoing series of posts entitled “Women History Failed to Mention.” Legends she has mentioned include Cathay Williams (the first black woman to enlist in the army) and Patsy Takemoto Mink (the first woman of color in Congress).
Credits
Text André-Naquian Wheeler