A great deal of interest has surrounded this article from Mona Eltahawy. It is a thought provoking piece and manages to get a strong point across because it doesn’t censure itself to tell the whole story. The issues that Eltahawy mentions are those that simply need addressing.
It resonates with me today because I have just been going over the proofs for my book and I revisited accounts of young Muslims in Hong Kong reflecting on their freedoms in the territory. One young girls says that she is free to be religious, to wear what she wants. In Paksitan she has to wear her hijab. She is challenged and ridiculed if she doesn’t wear it, in the UK she is made to feel bad if she does wear it.
The level of freedom for women globally is a question. Just the other week I discussed this. However, that doesn’t mean that Eltahawy can’t ask these questions and can’t call for real change.
The choice of Foreign Policy to present the article with the editorial photographs of the painted woman is questionable. I do wonder how Eltahawy feels about this uneasy mix.
So to sum up the article and its debate I post a collection of links surrounding the story. Such is the interest in the story, it could be possible that Eltahawy might ultimately be a catalyst for further change.
- Body paint controversy for Foreign Policy
- Mona you do not represent us
- (update) from the Guardian
And also Mona’s own blog
