On sexuality and social radicalism in Egypt
Issandr El AmraniAmidst all the worry about fundamentalists and military fascists and felool and insecurity in Egypt, the last few days have seen a decidely odd and unexpected phenomenon. First a young woman by the name of Alia Magda al Mahdi, who appears to be dating the formerly imprisoned blogger and radical atheist Kareem Amer, published a nude picture (full-frontal!) of herself on her blog as a an act of defiance (see more about it here). Then we hear about a Facegroup group calling for a "gay day" in Egypt. Not as in happy, but as in LGBTQ.
Seeing things like this is a little bit of a shell-shock, because people are obsessed with the political process and Egypt's flawed transition all this stuff almost seems silly and juvenile in comparison. I love it all the more for it, although I also worry about Alia's safety and society's response. Egypt, to be blunt about it, is a deeply bigoted and narrow-minded place. Some people may even be angry with her for associating secular/liberal values with what many will simply see as debauchery.
I don't want to get into a discussion about cultural sensitivity and all that, but simply note and applaud the sheer brazenness of acts like this: they are so radical in this society they appear as if they are from another dimension. Societies need that kind of jolt every now and then, and it reminds me how the youth bulge in the demographics of Egypt and many Arab countries will inevitably shatter taboos, as the Baby Boomers did in Europe and the US. We should just remember that protestors of May 68 in Paris, as influential as they were, were dwarfed by the demonstrations of support for De Gaulle, and that the generation that gave us hippies in America gave us many more born-again Christians.
Reader Comments (7)
How can an Atheist be radical?
Dose he go around killing people for his un-belif?
Or is he willing to not believe EVERYTHING, even the existence of Allah?
"Egypt, to be blunt about it, is a deeply bigoted and narrow-minded place."
Egypt is also highly sexualized (gaudy lingerie stores on every other block, yes?). Egyptians are, too. Pictures of naked ladies are not new or unusual, and this is nothing Egyptians far and wide haven't seen before.
This girl has my support and admiration. She reminds me of all the daring suffragists who fought for the emancipation of women. God does not believe in oppression or inquisition. Only humans do.
In response to LJM - the evidence of a "highly sexualized" society, lingerie stores and nude pictures, are commodities, things bought and sold, not personal expressions, per se. What sets Aliaa al Mahdi apart from the purveyor of commercial sexuality is that she is presenting herself, as she is, voluntarily to confront what she sees as errant social norms. Whether or not one agrees with her, she is opening space for discussion by doing what she did.
And wolf, one does not need to kill to be "radical." I know this will subject me to criticism of culturally specific semantics, but I must say this. I am anti-capitalist, an atheist, and an anarchist, so I am radical at all of those levels of social critique - but I am also respectful of the culture embraced by individuals, yet always willing to engage in debate and never wavering when individual (or cultural) religious beliefs impinge upon human freedom. All of this said in all due respect.
Ironically Ms. Aliaa Magda al Mahdi's action has gone far beyond triggering the reactionary hypocrisy of her own culture to revealing the god fearing™ prudery of the mainstream US media who without exception only show censored versions of her photograph therewith of course also censoring her message.
"is a deeply bigoted and narrow-minded place." by western standards? I am secular myself but every society has its own culture and norms, you are just being a culture imperialist.
Very brave woman. How quickly things could change in religiously tied-down societies like the U.S. and the Islamic world if more women would (dare to) see that one of religion's main functions is to oppress them.
If an atheist is a radical, it says something about a society's standards. In Sweden, where I'm from, atheism is the norm. A Christian or Muslim, though part of a tiny minority, still not considered a radical.
@ Carson Jones: only humans believe in God.