This week, outrage spread throughout Egypt due to one brave 20-year old woman, Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, who dared to voice her sexual and creative freedom by posting a fully nude portrait of herself on her blog. Obviously it’s hard for Americans to grasp the outpour of shock this can produce in a country like Egypt, where even public kissing is shunned, but Elmahdy’s actions have become so widespread that they’re even causing debate amidst an already tense political season.
Though she intended for the NSFW image to be seen as a protest against the country’s over-traditionalist culture, liberals are now enraged, fearing that her demonstration will only provide conservative Islamists with more negative material to use against them. She had been a member of the April 6th Youth Movement (a major player in ousting Mubarak) though it’s spokespeople are now severing all ties with her, claiming that “the movement does not have any members who engage in such behavior“. Prudes! But while she may not have the government on her side, supporters from Egypt and all across the world have poured onto her blog to thank her for her efforts and courage in changing an impossibly grounded society. And not for nothing but, she’s got a great body.
