The "belly button challenge" is going viral. We don't recommend getting involved.

June 12, 2015

A woman does the bellybutton challenge. Image via Weibo.

The “belly button challenge” is the latest body-conscious craze to sweep social media, and it’s just as ridiculous and unachievable as it sounds. Apparently, reaching behind your body to place a finger on your bellybutton is evidence of having a “good” body – and the photo you upload to social media is your trophy.

Weibo (the Chinese equivalent of Twitter) has been inundated with photos of people contorting their bodies to jam their fingers into their b-button, all in the name of vanity. These photos are hashtagged with a Chinese phrase which translates to “reach your belly button from behind to show you have a good figure”.

This sadly-phrased hashtag has had over 130 million hits.

Hey, it's a human pretzel! A woman does the bellybutton challenge. Image via Weibo.

Generally, I would say that I’ve got better things to do than play with my belly button, but for the sake of journalism, I tried the challenge. All I got was a sore shoulder and a few weird looks in the office, because there was no bellybutton action for any of my fingers. I couldn’t do it. Does this mean that I have a “bad” figure?

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Not according to Louise Adams, clinical psychologist and the founder of the Sydney practice, Treat Yourself Well.

“Don’t buy into it. The only way we can stop this tidal wave of negative stuff is to turn away from it, and actually see it for what it is. This is not inspiration. This is damaging,” warned Adams.

“It’s like the bikini bridge, or the thigh gap – it’s yet another way of judging and scrutinising our bodies, and putting it on social media is going to add to this big bucket of damage that we’re doing to our body image,” advises Adams. (Post continues after gallery.)

We prove how ridiculous the belly button challenge is.

Adams believes that those who partake in the bellybutton challenge are doing “body-image disservice to themselves” and displaying “eating-disordered thinking”.

“When you have an eating disorder, how your body looks becomes related to your self-esteem. So, for example, if I have a ‘not good’ body, then I’m a ‘bad’ person," she says.

It explains why some are posting their "success" pictures as a badge of honour.

The belly button challenge presents an unscientific, unproven and false measure of "health”, all while making the participants look like smug pretzels.

At The Glow office, we tried the bellybutton challenge, with limited success. And those of us who could do it found that it would only work with one arm, while the other arm could not get anywhere near the bellybutton. Also, the more we practiced, the easier it became to reach our bellybuttons. So, in our experience, it was more about flexibility, practice and arm length, rather than having a particular figure. (Post continues after gallery.)

We love these celeb quotes on body image

Lena DunhamAt the 2012 New Yorker Festival, the magazine's TV critic, Emily Nussbaum, asked Lena Dunham, producer, creator and star of the hit HBO show 'Girls' why Dunham is naked in so many scenes.

Dunham responded; "I realised that what was missing in movies for me was the presence of bodies I understood." She said she plans to live until she is 105 and show her thighs every day. Image via @lenadunham

Rebel WilsonThe actress said on Twitter; "I'm not trying to be hot. I'm just trying to be a good actress and entertain people."

Image via @rebelwilson

Adele"The first thing to do is be happy with yourself and appreciate your body - only then should you try to change things about yourself."

Image via Getty

Christina Aguilera"I am always in support of someone who is willing and comfortable in their own skin enough to embrace it," the singer said in a recent interview. Image via @xtina

Alexa ChungChung responded to critics who suggested that her slight frame made her a bad role model for young women, saying:

"Just because I exist in this shape doesn't mean that I'm, like, advocating it." Image via Twitter @alexa_chung

Stella BoonshoftThe NYU student started the amazing Body Love Blog, where she posted this picture of herself and wrote an open letter to those who feel entitled to shame others for the size or look of their bodies. Image via http://thebodyloveblog.tumblr.com"> Body Love Blog

Ashley JuddAfter the March 2012 frenzy around Judd's "puffy face" the actress fought back in 'The Daily Beast', calling the media out for making women's bodies "a source of speculation, ridicule, and invalidation, as if they belong to others". Image via @ashley_judd

Beth DittoThis five-foot-tall, 200-pound singer spoke openly about her weight to 'The Advocate' saying, "I feel sorry ... for people who've had skinny privilege and then have it taken away from them. I have had a lifetime to adjust to seeing how people treat women who aren't their idea of beautiful and therefore aren't their idea of useful, and I had to find ways to become useful to myself." Image via @marybethditto

Lady GagaAfter the media focused on her alleged weight gain in September 2012, Gaga hit back at critics by baring her body in photographs, sharing her struggles with an eating disorder, and inviting her fans to join her in a "body revolution"/ Image via @ladygaga

Do yourself a favour and avoid caring about this stupid challenge, and consider what belly buttons are really for: they’re a reminder of the umbilical cord which once nourished us. Are you nourished and alive? Good.

Stop playing with your bellybutton then, and get on with your life.

Would you try the bellybutton challenge? Tell us in the comments!

I failed the bellybutton challenge, and my bellybutton also looks like this because I've had a baby. And I'm proud!

Beautiful images of how bodies look after birth

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