An Egyptian blogger posted nude pictures of herself, creating a flashpoint of controversy involving individual rights, gender, religion and politics weeks before parliamentary elections.
Aliaa Magda Elmahdy’s photos netted 2 million views on her blog since she posted them earlier this week, saying the pictures are “screams against a society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy,” the Associated Press reported.
Pages for both support and protest against Elmahdy's action have been opened on Facebook. Some liberals feared that the posting by 20-year-old university student Aliaa Magda Elmahdy would taint them in the eyes of deeply conservative Egyptians ahead of Nov. 28 parliamentary elections in which they are trying to compete with fundamentalist Islamic parties.
Ms. Elmahdy — whose boyfriend, Kareem Amer, spent four years in jail for writings deemed insulting to Islam and Mr. Mubarak — posted the photographs with a statement declaring them an act of rebellion against Egypt’s conservative culture and “sexual complexes,” in the spirit of the revolution.
Fearing of becoming tainted in the eyes of Islamic conservatives, Egyptian liberals distanced themselves from Elmahdy. The April 6 Youth Movement issued a statement denying claims that Elmahdy is a member of the group.
Recalling the virginity tests carried out by the military to women in Tahrir Square, Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy noted that Elmahdy "is the Molotov cocktail thrown at the Mubaraks in our heads — the dictators of our mind — which insists that revolutions cannot succeed without a tidal wave of cultural changes that upend misogyny and sexual hypocrisy".
Aliaa Magda Elmahdy’s photos netted 2 million views on her blog since she posted them earlier this week, saying the pictures are “screams against a society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy,” the Associated Press reported.
Pages for both support and protest against Elmahdy's action have been opened on Facebook. Some liberals feared that the posting by 20-year-old university student Aliaa Magda Elmahdy would taint them in the eyes of deeply conservative Egyptians ahead of Nov. 28 parliamentary elections in which they are trying to compete with fundamentalist Islamic parties.
Ms. Elmahdy — whose boyfriend, Kareem Amer, spent four years in jail for writings deemed insulting to Islam and Mr. Mubarak — posted the photographs with a statement declaring them an act of rebellion against Egypt’s conservative culture and “sexual complexes,” in the spirit of the revolution.
Aliaa Magda Elmahdy Defecates on Islamic State IS Flag in Viral Photo
Fearing of becoming tainted in the eyes of Islamic conservatives, Egyptian liberals distanced themselves from Elmahdy. The April 6 Youth Movement issued a statement denying claims that Elmahdy is a member of the group.
Recalling the virginity tests carried out by the military to women in Tahrir Square, Egyptian-American journalist Mona Eltahawy noted that Elmahdy "is the Molotov cocktail thrown at the Mubaraks in our heads — the dictators of our mind — which insists that revolutions cannot succeed without a tidal wave of cultural changes that upend misogyny and sexual hypocrisy".
