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Golshiften Faharani an Iranian actress and model, living in Paris, posed in the nude for a special project in the French magazine “Madame le Figaro”, last week. In the video for freedom of expression, Faharani exposed her breast and caused an upheaval in her homeland. Iranian government officials informed her that she is banned from returning to Iran and the government closed down the last independent Cinema Institute left, in the country.
Faharani is not the only one; she is preceded by the Egyptian blogger, Alia Almahadi, who posed completely in the nude this last November, as part of the protest demonstration in Egypt. Both women caused a wave of reaction (as a group of Israeli blogger women, who posed in the nude in support), discussions on religion, on secularism, masculinity, femininity etc.
This is not erotic nudity or for showing off, nor is it particularly artistic, but merely, real genuine nudity, wishing to expose to the world, what has been forgotten, the simple sanctity of the body.
in an interview with Faharani last week, she said “I do not think the nude body is especially attractive, but it is certainly more pleasing to look at a nude photo, than the body of a woman covered in a burkah or a hijab, wrapped up and imprisoned by her man”
Faharani`s words were reinforced, in the light of the law that was passed in France last year, prohibiting the wearing of head dress ,a ban which is an insult to the Islam tradition, which binds women to wear the hijab. The result of this extreme law was that women not only wore the hijab, but intensified their concealment, by wearing clothes which covered their faces and their hands.
Concealment as a service for women
As part of my travels in the Middle East, I visited the Siwa Desert Oasis, which is not far from the Libyan border. There, the women are completely wrapped from head to toe, not just their head and body, but their entire face as well, with no opening for their eyes at all. During conversations I had with the local women, I was surprised to discover as they explained, that the apparel they wear protects them from men, from curious eyes and even from attack, thus allowing them freedom in their society. Even though the decision that women should be completely covered was made by men, their clothing serves a purpose in allowing them to feel free in the male threatened world.
While roaming the streets, I wondered how the men and the children recognized who was who. I was told that the blue and white cloth, which is unique to Siwa, is their form of identity. Every woman receives one piece of cloth, which she uses during her whole lifetime, and through the years, orange embroidery is added symbolizing births, as well as other decorations, so this enables the women to be recognized and differentiated in their community.
On the other hand, the Muslim women whom I met in Jaffa, Cairo, the West Bank and Amman, wear the hijab, but also wear skinny jeans and high heeled shoes (not to mention the underwear which I saw with my own eyes, worn under heavy clothing by Bedouin girls in the Sinai desert). On conversing with them, they compared Western women to Bedouin women, and said “The Western women tourists come to the beaches wearing revealing bikinis, but hide their eyes behind sunglasses, whereas the Bedouin women cover their bodies and heads, but their eyes are always exposed”.
I was very touched by this. We all know how much the eyes are the mirrors of the soul and it is interesting to observe the cultural differences between the exposed and the hidden.
Born free
Whenever we are forbidden to do something, we as humans, women and men alike, will find a way to restore our freedom. The more we are oppressed, the more we will protest and the cry of the oppressed population will become more desperate and extreme. The point is not if women should hide their bodies, with clothing or remove them and expose their bodies, the point is the damage to their freedom of expression.
The desperate cry of distress by women is heard everywhere. The same women who exposed their bodies and those who dared and are desperate, are not afraid to ruin their lives or even lose their lives as long as they can make a change in the social forms, awaken and shock them.
One of the reactions towards the women who exposed themselves was, why now? Are they looking for glory or trying to cause provocation? The answer in my opinion is “that there is no time other than now”. Actions like this occur due to extreme situations and they have no place in a correct world, where they are regarded as symbols of female beauty, and not of revulsion. The world must wake up now and it is our obligation as human beings, to take responsibility and stop extremism and oppression.
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Translation: Toni Ziv
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