Someone created an Instagram account called ‘Hot Migrants’

We see many images of migrants making their way across Europe. It is easy to become desensitised, and incredibly important that we don’t.

One Instagram user has taken a left-field, pretty insensitive approach to this – by creating an account handpicking the “hot” ones.

Hot Migrants appeared online a week ago. It posts image of male migrants mostly in Greece, Turkey or Austria. In its description, it says the account shows “handsome men on their journey to Europe” and adds “their countries might be falling apart but their sex appeal still goes strong”. Most of the photos have been lifted from local news clips in which migrants have been interviewed.

It was created by an anonymous person in their 20s and includes suggestive captions including “waiting handsomely for a better life” and “#afghan migrant arriving by sea, his hotness can’t flee”.

The posts certainly appear to be in poor taste, but is it a form of fetishising migrants without their consent, or a new (albeit insensitive) way to highlight the plight of people fleeing from their countries?

“I created this account after watching a video from the refugees and migrants who were stuck behind the border fence in Idomeni,” the founder told The Cut. “One of the people who was pleading for the borders to open caught my eye and I found myself recounting how many other times I pondered about some of these people’s fates.”

“I got distracted by some of the good-looking men in the process,” they add. “It’s a bit surreal to ‘objectify’ people who are fleeing war and broken countries. It is hard to overlook these people if you aren’t seeing them through their trek in Europe and it’s easy to dismiss them because the reality is far removed from you.”

“These photos bring the realities a bit closer. There is something to be said about finding comedy in such a tragedy. It helps to cope with the situation.”