Now that she got your attention, listen to her

“Put on trial the artists’ models who posed nude for art schools until the early 70s, hide the art books and destroy the nude statues of antiquity, then undress and stand before a mirror and burn your bodies that you despise to forever rid yourselves of your sexual hangups before you direct your humiliation and chauvinism and dare to try to deny me my freedom of expression”.

This is the message of Aliaa Elmahdy whose nude photo posted on her blog sparked controversy in Egypt and the Middle East. She found some support in her endeavor, as well as insults and threats.

Too often, Arab women have other people speak on their behalf; they are a postcard, their appearance seen as the symbolic representation of their whole society. Frequently used and abused, used as human flags for all sorts of ideas: democracy, national identity, religious decency, modernity or absence of modernity. Earlier this year, Egyptian women in particular have had to suffer at the hands of an empowered military claiming to conduct “virginity tests”, and spreading terror in order to discredit and discourage protestors.

This makes Aliaa’s initiative even braver, even more beautiful. She presented herself simply and naturally, reminding us of what a woman’s body really is: her own property, simply the physical expression of one person amongst others. NOT a battlefield of ideologies, not a marker of identity, not just a bearer-of-the-nation-baby-making machine or a precious, vulnerable and sacred jewel to be kept away from life, hidden and made into an untouchable secret. For Aliaa, “The photo is an expression of my being and I see the human body as the best artistic representation of that”. according to her exclusive interview to CNN. It’s about a woman reclaiming her body. For all the Arab woman struggling in oppressive societies while also having to deal with orientalist cliches coming from other societies, it’s a breath of fresh air.

Of course, I can’t help but think about the Gay Girl in Damascus Hoax. The pictures posted do look like they’re those of a 1960’s model (there are actually other pictures of her on the page but what if the model is an old relative says my conspiracy-seeking self). I also noticed that Elmahdy’s blog only contains one post and that in her interview to CNN, the journalist doesn’t mention if he conducted the interview in person, by phone or by email. In reality, any eventuality is possible and this just might be the work of an Australian online performance artist or why not a Korean sociologist. I really hope it’s not, so this time I honestly choose to take that story at face value.

So now that she caught your attention, why don’t you stop looking at her and for once listen to her!

But what if it’s a hoax? What then? Some might say it doesn’t matter because the message is still the same. But it does matter and it does change everything. If this is not a woman posting her own pictures, then we’re left with just another case of a woman’s body being used for others to prove a point over it. And that would change everything.

Why I love you

It actually got pretty bad yesterday night when clashes in Beirut between rival factions lead to 2 deaths and many wounded, leaving civilians in the middle, wondering, once again, if “this is it”, if it’s going to turn into a full blown war this time… because we all know it doesn’t take much.

But somewhere between Rocket Propelled Grenades and the Army trying to control the situation, something wonderful happened… on Twitter. In 140 characters, people were coping with the situation. It starts with the need to share information, some of us watching the news, others hearing the familiar sound of RPG, signaling the arrival of the Lebanese Army on the scene. Then comments start pouring in, humor takes over.

The ability to show solidarity instead of discord, the strenght to find laughter in order to cope with fear, the very distinct power of taking a deep breath when faced with the ugly and the grotesque.

Does it mean we’re exceptionally smart or exceptionally messed up? does it matter as long as we’re simply exceptionnal?

Whatever… that’s why I love you.

xoxo

Her knight in shining Armani

She looks like a character in a Pedro Almodovar movie but not in a good way. All in sexy curves, cheap hair extensions and glossy lips, my blond friend is shaking it like she just don’t care on a Sky Bar mid-summer night. She’s on the prowl of course. Like Christmas time, summer is when young eligible expat bachelors come to Lebanon. Why it matters so much to such a bright, strong hardworking girl, I will never understand!!!

There’s so much I would like to tell her but she’s not listening: Dressed up sexy to feel pretty, acting slutty thinking its sexy, trying to be witty but it’s not even cute. All that for a knight in shining Armani..

She’s only 31 but the plastic surgery is already so bad she reminds of that line in some forgotten novel: “so many lies that there’s no more truth to go back to”. But I know the truth: that those boobs and designer jeans did not pay for themselves and that she doesn’t need a man to support her. I also know that in private, she has a brain and uses it, but somehow, she switches it off whenever she’s in seduction mode. All for what? for some weird corrupted dream of perfection that must come with an XY accessory?!?!?

At the end of the night, she goes home with a total loser, but she thinks it’s still better than going home alone. A week later she’s in love…. seriously?!?! He’s dumb, he’s annoying, he’s rude to her and he has no redeeming quality! (yes not even money…). Yet my friends drools all over him, gets him his drinks and basically melts like chewing gum on the pavement in August. Why?

What’s with all the girls destroying who they are for the sake of pleasing random guys?

Barbie had everything: the luxury mansion, cool car and amazing outfits. She was a doctor, a lawyer and a supermodel but she still needed a man by her side to feel complete. It didn’t seem to matter much that Ken did nothing at all, made no contribution to the household, never actually had a job. Barbie still needed him to be whole, even if he was nothing more than a pretty plastic eunuch.

The other great lover of human civilization is Romeo. This one  was such an airhead that he didn’t even check if his girl was really dead, and killed himself in the  most tragically twisted “ooops moment” in literature.

I’m not on some anti-male cruisade. But when I see smart women selling themselves short like that, I really wonder why.

7 reasons I need a change

So yesterday I turned 26, an interesting age so far I must say. In lieu of celebration I ended up doing some professional soul searching. Once upon a time, I just wanted to tell stories of the real world and understand about the way it works. That’s how and why I have spent the better part of the last 6 years imagining myself as some form of Arab Tintin, worrying about facts, fairness and comprehensive accuracy. In a weird way it kinda almost worked out for me, I had some fun along the way and even managed to get a few good stories. I could easily spend the rest of my life just doing the same thing but the truth is I’ll never really be very good at this and here’s why: (yeah just though I’d share…)

- Because I think there’s a difference between message and information.

- I never managed to be seduced by a political agenda or a zaim worth defending and promoting (real zaims don’t actually need political agendas anyway, they just exist to get elected). And waaaay to often…. that’s the job description whether I like it or not.

- And I also don’t cherish the thought of participating in some zaim’s genius marketing master plan. Too bad because there’s tons of employment opportunities there… It seems the trend is to attract youth online through non-political messages desguised as information.

- As much as I would love the idea of being the Lebanon correspondent of an international publication, I don’t particularly feel the need to take banal facts, blowing then out of proportions to transform them into major events of deep socio-political meaning and pretend I’m some super-smart anthropologist of Lebanon then call it gonzo journalism (you know who you are).

- Because as much as I did enjoy all the free drinks, spa treatments, designer sun glasses, even I can run out of wonderful things to say about ur products.

- Because I still haven’t found real independent press anywhere in the world.

- Because I was never very good at taking random ordinary facts, twist them and work them into a scandalous story for the sake of good copy.

Or maybe I just don’t want it badly enough. It’s probably time for me to stop fishing for other people’s story and start writing my own.

But I’m also back to square One with no answer to a fundamental question: what shall I do now that I’m all grown up? The thruth is I still don’t know but time is no longer on my side (ouch that really hurt!). However thanks to my 6 years in journalism, I have accumulated enough facts to write the most amazing fiction novel ever!

Edward Said’s nightmare

“Like Aladin, but with cocktails” This is how Carrie Bradshaw envisioned her vacation in Abu Dhabi. It turned into a nightmare, for her and for me.

I went to watch Sex and The City 2 hoping for good fashion tips, some glitzy glam, some funny girly jokes and maybe something sexy as well. There was none of that. Instead, I just gasped in horror all the way. The latest adventures of Carrie & Co. went down like vitriol down my throat.

The only reason I blog is to vent so here goes: That movie is the worst example of Hollywood crass orientalism on steroids.

Since SATC is about women, let’s talk about women in the movie: Gulf ladies encountered by Carrie Bradshaw are quiet, submissive and are never really seen anywhere public. They hold book club meetings in a dark dusty old shop hidden in the shady back-alleys of a creepy looking souk. When they show their designer outfits underneath the abayas, it almost looks like contraband! I know the Gulf well enough to know how terribly wrong that is. Actually, the stereotype (since there must be stereotyping) should have them showing off extremely colorful outfits that reflect their strong sense of style. Abiding by Shari’a standards, if they wish to do so, does not prevent them from expressing themselves and does not make them submissive at all! They are active and assertive. They meet in very elegant and often luxurious settings, not creepy, clandestine-looking places.

On a side note, American women are not depicted in a much better light. I thought the whole concept of Sex and The City was to portray “strong liberated modern Western women” (whatever that means…). Not just sexually adventurous and cocktail-loving but also powerful females. Instead, Carrie Bradshaw seems to have major daddy issues and is perpetually confused, childish and unstable in her relationship with her “wise”, forgiving, reassuring and stable (older?), husband who gets to call her “kiddos” (sic!).

In the movie, those two stereotypes only meet for a very short short moment at the end. The scene could have been an interesting intercultural encounter but it seems the writers were too tired to make it happen.

Also, the Emirati characters in the movies speak a mix of Arabic dialect: Levantine, Egyptian and even fus’ha! At some point, Miranda (the “smart one”) learns a new “Arabic” word which I couldn’t understand. According to a friend it’s actually from an Indian dialect! There are too many misrepresentations to point out. Can’t Hollywood producers be bothered to make an effort for the sake of justifying their gigantic salaries?
  
The worst of it all are maybe the really bad puns: “Bedouin bath and beyond” and “Lawrence of my labia” (seriously!)

Or maybe the worst is the scene where Samantha is chased throughout the souk by conservative Emirati men: she trips, dozens of condoms fall out of her purse and the “liberated American woman” goes “yeaaaahhhh these are condoms, I like to have sexxxx” while pathetically mimicking the act in front her disgusted audience….

To be fair, the movie is equally offensive to Arabs, women in general, American tourists, and it even has a poor rendition of your typical over-the-top-Hollywood gay wedding (Dancing Liza Minelli included). Simply put, it’s a bad bad bad movie.

I know it’s just Sex and The City, but would it be asking for too much to not make the Arab world look like such a grotesque mascarade of bedouins, souks and sheiks??? We are the ones who should be pro-active in creating a positive or a least accurate image of ourselves in western pop culture, think of it as product placement!

Great pride, no prejudice: Of identity, hope and aspirations

In a country of 18 confessions, a country of deep divisions and minorities, marked by endless violence and Machiavellic foreign intervention, thousands marched for secularism on Saturday, showing their “Lebanese Laique Pride” in true confused trilingual fashion.

Although I don’t love the name I do feel proud. I’m also sorry I missed it, fortunately, the brilliant Nadine Moawad gives a detailed report about the event on her blog: http://www.nadinemoawad.com/2010/04/thousands-march-for-secularism-lebanon/. Also read Raafat Hamze’s post: http://raafathamze.wordpress.com/2010/04/25/taking-pride/#comment-46 that gave me hope. And of course, since Lebanon knows no borders, the event was celebrated in Paris as well: http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xd2uij_lebanese-laique-pride-in-paris_news.

I missed it because I’m  currently in Washington DC, a very weird political theme park and the so-called center of the (political) world, where people think they got it figured out but they really don’t. I’ve been going from one person to another trying to learn, understand and figure things out. But whenever Lebanon is mentioned, Congressmen (who do vote on important international issues) get confused, people cringe, and big shot conflict resolution specialists shrug as they tell me “yes, your problem is very special, you’ve got a big problem”!!! then we go on and on about the problem of  sectarianism and finding a common identity #$%%^^

They’re sooooo wrong! Thank you for proving them wrong, for showing that we can have a common identity. That beyond differences and a violent history (aren’t all nations built on blood and violence?) we are capable of building that common identity, of chosing to be together and belong.

Of course there is a problem! but there’s also a solution, hope, and willpower. Thousands marched on Saturday against securalism. They are the ones who don’t know who to vote for because they are disgusted by all politicians, they are the ones who have to get married in foreign countries because there is no civil marriage in Lebanon. They are the ones who refuse to leave this country, but find that their home does not allow them to exists if they don’t belong to one specific sect that limits who you are, what you do and who you’re with. They marched to remind Lebanon that they exist and they are ready to speak.

one more

Another stereotyping ad campaign
Another ridiculous image of the Lebanese woman.

It’s a campaign for a supermarket organizing a lottery contest. There’s a billboard with a man saying “If I win, I’ll buy a generator for the neighborhood” (generous and thoughtful), and another one with a kid saying “If I win, I’ll buy my school a new bus” (so cute right?).

And here the woman says: “If I win, I’ll surely find a husband!”

Nadine Moawad thought of a nice remake of that billboard.

At this point, I know that advertising people are just messing with our heads (remember “sois-belle et vote” and “mon bijou, mon droit“?)

And at this point it’s just plain sad: Because the advertising sector is one where women are often numerous (although not necessarily with the best salaries and positions) and still, they come up with that crap! Because Lebanese women were once regarded as liberated and progressive among Arab women and now we’re seriously falling behind. Because it’s dumb.