‘PEOPLE ARE ALL THE SAME, AND WE ONLY GET JUDGED BY WHAT WE DO. PERSONALITY REFLECTS NAME, AND IF I’M UGLY THEN – SO ARE YOU.’

Would you believe that’s a Sugababes lyric?!

When a ‘lad’ decides to slur a vulgar comment at Royal Holloway, University of London’s Feminist Society, he couldn’t have anticipated the launch of one of the biggest social media campaigns of the year.

Once the ladies of the society found themselves the direct target of an insult, they took the bull by the horns and decided to reclaim the term ‘ugly‘.

Cue, a gazillion amount of selfies flooding social media sites with the hashtag, ‘UglyGirlsClub‘.

Sick of females being constantly judged purely on their image, these feminists knew better than to be hurt by the comment.

“We sort of started laughing about it,” Natasha Barrett, Royal Holloway’s Feminist Society President, recalls. “And then we started sending each other very tongue in cheek selfies with the hashtag.”

Hence the birth of the ‘Ugly Girls Club’ campaign. Encouraging and empowering people to not just think of their worth in physical terms. I, for one, feel strongly that our value isn’t determined by our appearance.

People across the world (male and female alike) have picked up on the hashtag and the campaign is now almost 1,000 people strong.

These thousands of selfies range from scrunched up faces, make-up adorned faces, to the rolling of eyes – all in the name of sticking two virtual fingers up to their detractor.

Selfies have been rolling in from as far as Australia!

Namecalling is nasty. But RHUL’s Fem Soc have truly turned the tables, and won this fight.

This is one club I definitely don’t mind being part of.

#ReclaimingUgly