'My Body, My Choice': Exiled Iranian Women Pose Nude for Video in Protest against Sexual Oppression in Their Native Country

MAIL ONLINE: Defiant call for equality as world marks International Women's Day today
A group of Iranian women have stripped off for a new video in a protest against sexual oppression in their native country.

The ladies, who are living in exile in Europe, pose naked in front of the camera as they each deliver a defiant message.

Their slogans include 'I believe in the equality of women and men' and 'my thoughts, my body, my choice'.

They have produced the video in the hope of boosting sales of the Nude Photo Revolutionary Calendar, which has been released today to coincide with International Women's Day.

The calendar has been dedicated to an Egyptian activist who posted a full-length photo of herself on her blog last year in a stand against sexual discrimination in Islam. » | Simon Tomlinson | Thursday, March 08, 2012

Related video »

RT: Freedom unveiled: Iranian women strip to slam repression » | Friday, March 09, 2012

Iranian Women Are Going Naked : برهنه شدن زنان ایرانی ادامه دارد

RADIO FREE EUROPE / RADIO LIBERTY: Topless Iranian Women 'Say No To Political Islam' » | Persian Letters | Wednesday, March 07, 2012

Golshifteh Farahani and 3 Gorgeous Muslim Actresses Who Posed Nude and Sparked Controversies
INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS TIMES: The nude photo of Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani has enraged several members of the Muslim community, particularly since one of the more principal tenets of Islamic fundamentalism has always been to ban women from any degree of nudity.

The decision by Farahani, therefore, is a bold one and one that has, predictably, sparked controversy across the world. However, she isn't the first Islamic actress who has shed her clothes and her inhibitions.

There are at least 3 others who have already bared it all, on different occasions, and faced similar criticism from conservative families and the religious community.

Who are these 4 actresses?

Golshifteh Farahani

Golshifteh Farahani, an Iranian actress whose nude photos were published in a magazine called Madame Le Figaro, has been banned from entering her native country, following a decision by the Iranian government. Farahani, who played a pivotal role in the Hollywood film "Body of Lies", opposite Leonardo Di Caprio, was then also condemned by the conservative Iranian regime for violating Islamic law by appearing without a hijab in a few scenes.

Meanwhile, Farahani is already living outside of Iran; she left the country last year to protect the strict rules mandated by Islamic law and President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad on Iranian cinema. » | Sangeeta Mukherjee | Monday, January 23, 2012

Viewpoint! La vita nuda: Baring Bodies, Bearing Witness
AL JAZEERA ENGLISH: Many young men and women are now protesting by the only means left: using their bodies - whether by burning or exposing.

New York, NY - Reflecting the public gesture of the Egyptian blogger Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, who posted naked pictures of herself late last year on her blog by way of a protest "against a society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy", a young Iranian actress now living in France, Golshifteh Farahani, has recently created a sensation in and out of her homeland, especially in the social networking cyber society, by posing half naked for Madame Le Figaro, and also appearing topless in a short black-and-white video clip. It's called "Corps et Ame [sic] [Corps et Âmes]/Bodies and Souls" and is produced by the prominent French fashion photographer and music video director Jean-Baptiste Mondino.

As with the case of Elmahdy and her compatriots, the nude picture and video clip of Farahani have sharply divided Iranians around the world; some celebrating her act as courageous, pathbreaking, dismantling ancient and sacrosanct taboos - and thus revolutionary, while others condemning her as opportunistic, obscene, immoral and damaging to the cause of liberty in Iran. The Islamic Republic has reportedly banned her from returning to her homeland.

Whence the outrage? In its widest sense, clothing is the civilising posture of humanity. No society, no community, no human gathering is devoid of one form of clothing or another as the formal decorum of becoming a full and public human being: it might be as little as a mere bamboo sheath around the groin or it might extend to fully covered veiling, without even the eyes visible to any intruding gaze. But clothing of one sort or another is definitive to all forms of civility.

Our manner of dressing ourselves is the most immediate habitat of our humanity - violently disrupted at times by tyrants who sought to give a different look to that humanity. When Reza Shah (who reigned in Iran from 1925 to 1941) banned the mode of "veiling" in Iran he had deemed unseemly to his vision of "modernity", there were women who remained home and never appeared in public until their dying day - because for them to appear in public without their habitual clothing was like forcing New Yorkers to go to work in their bikinis.

When Khomeini re-imposed that almost-forgotten manner of veiling decades later, generations of women had grown up entirely alien to that manner of veiling. Reza Shah and Khomeini - two tyrants interrupted by one weakling potentate - had fought their fateful battles over the site of our mothers' and daughters' bodies. » | Hamid Dabashi | Monday, January 23, 2012

Golshifteh Farahani : le sein de la discorde

FIGARO BLOGS – DELPHINE MINOUI: Faut-il s'enthousiasmer ou s'offusquer ? Voilà quelques jours que la Toile frémit de commentaires, à la fois élogieux et incendiaires sur une vidéo où Golshifteh Farahani dévoile sa poitrine... A l'origine de cette effervescence : un clip de présentation des nominés aux Césars 2012, en compétition pour le prix du Meilleur Espoir, et parmi lesquels figure l'actrice iranienne de 29 ans, installée en France depuis presque trois ans. Intitulé « Corps et âmes », et destiné à rendre hommage à la liberté des artistes, le mini-film en noir et blanc d'une minute 30 fait défiler les images (également postées sur le site du Figaro Madame) de plusieurs acteurs se déshabillant légèrement devant la caméra. De tous, Golfshifteh s'avère la plus audacieuse en y révélant un sein, tout en murmurant : « De vos rêves, je serai la chair »... » | Delphine Minoui | samedi 21 janvier 2012


WELT ONLINE: Iranische Schauspielerin lässt sich nackt ablichten: Golshifteh Farahani hat sich in Paris für ein französisches Magazin ausgezogen. Die iranische Führung ist verärgert – und hat die Film-Schönheit ins Exil verbannt. » | Autor: Sonja Gillert | Donnerstag 19. Januar 2012

Golshifteh Farahani Nude Photo Shoot Inspires Facebook Firestorm
CELEBS: Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani posed nude in a french magazine called Madame Le Figaro, and this has sparked a firestorm of controversy on a Facebook page in support of her decision. The French Film Academy also included the actress in a video (warning brief nudity) along with several other celebrities stripping off their clothing.

In the nude photos, Golshifteh Farahani actually cupped her hands over her breasts to preserve her modesty. Even this, though, was too much for the Government of Iran. They told her not to bother ever coming back.

It seems that many Iranians have opinions about the actress's bold move. Some believe that she betrayed Islam and her country by baring her breasts for cameras. However, others applaud her boldness.

A comment on the Facebook page in support of her that is representative of those who support the actress said, "Good for you Golshifteh dear! For once an Iranian with guts has come out to show we are just like anyone else in this world. You can model and do whatever you like, just like every woman from Los Angeles to Tokyo." Join the conversation » | Kate James | Saturday, January 21, 2012

Iran’s “Nude Revolutionary” Farahani Says Image Is Symbolic
BIKYA MASR: CAIRO: Iranian actress Golshifteh Farahani has left much of the Islamic world in an uproar over her nude image in a French magazine, which she then posted on Facebook. The actress has spoken out, saying she wanted to make a symbolic gesture about nudity and sex.

“This video clip is a symbolic gesture to remove the common taboos that exist in various societies and does not aim to promote nudity or sex,” a Facebook statement from her said. “By taking part in these photo shoots the people taking part wish to demonstrate their redeem[p]tion from these taboos by the way they act and talk.

“The objective is to liberate their soul and bodies at the same time. As long as an individual has no power iver [sic] her or his body and their soul does not have the command of the way they wish to think, then they do not have a true freedom.

“Although I do not think looking at the nude photo of another human may have an attraction, but it is certainly far more enjoyable than looking at the fully covered and burqa and hejab wearing body of a woman who has been wrapped and imprisoned by her man. So much for not looking at women as sex symbols as the fundamentalists want us to believe!” she added. » | Joseph Mayton | Friday, January 20, 2012

Nude Photo of Iranian Actress Golshifteh Farahani Roils Iran
IRANIAN.COM: The publication of a nude picture of a popular Iranian actress currently in exile in Paris has sparked enormous Internet buzz, and polarized many Iranians conflicted about nudity—at a time that Iran’s independent movie community is under severe repression by authorities. Is it a courageous act of challenging Islamic and cultural taboos, or an insensitive and selfish move that might give Tehran hardliners an excuse in to put more pressure on Iran’s independent film community. » | Omid Memarian | The Daily Beast | Friday, January 20, 2012

Iran Blames 'Western' Influences Over Nude Actress Controversy
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: An Iranian state news agency has attacked Golshifteh Farahani, the actress who posed nude in a French magazine, for slipping from the modest respectability of Iranian cinema to the vulgarity of Western culture.

Fars News Agency said that result of her decision to seek fame outside Iran was that she fell into the corruption and decadence associated with the Hollywood film industry.

"The actress who once played the role of caring and decent mothers of Iran has now auctioned her modesty and honour in front of the Western cameras," it said.

A photograph of Miss Farahani standing naked in a studio was published in the latest edition of Madame Le Figaro magazine. The publication has attracted a wave of visitors to her Facebook page from Iran and the Middle East.

The Paris-based actress left Iran last year in protest against restrictive Islamic codes that the Iranian cinema industry has to follow under Ahmadinejad's conservative cultural policies.

The agency revealed Iranian officials had been shocked by her decision. » | Damien McElroy, and Ahmad Vahdat | Thursday, January 19, 2012

Aliaa's Nudity: A Different Form of Protest
ALMASRY ALYOUM (‘EGYPT TODAY’): How many Egyptians have appreciated the message behind Aliaa Magda Al Mahdy's naked photo? We only know that few have actually expressed admiration or support, and they did so by posting words of encouragement on her blog, her Facebook page and on Twitter, leaving the pages of printed media to reactions that ranged from the lack of sympathy to outrage. Her boyfriend Karim Amer — though he has nothing to do with the photo — was not spared.

The issue today seems to belong to the past, but we are reminded of Aliaa's action by scattered allusions in the press to the legal charges filed against her: spreading vice, encouraging lewdness and license, and contempt for religion. We are also reminded from material circulating on the net showing a girl resembling her being attacked in Tahrir or slaughtered — supposedly by Islamic fundamentalists.

More now than ever before, Egyptians from all walks of life are talking about liberty. The chants for freedom have united the revolting masses beyond — and regardless of — ideological affiliation. But why has the call for a freer society limited itself to the political sphere: liberties stated in the constitution, parliamentary elections, management of state institutions and — to a lesser extent — media freedoms? Can one espouse democracy as a political system without extending its logic to gender relations, sexuality and issues of personal privacy?

Most important, why have the self-proclaimed "liberals" forsaken Aliaa and exerted all their efforts to excommunicate her from their liberal ideal? Most of those who reiterate the slogans of freedom and democracy have politely denounced Aliaa's move, but not from the point of view of rejecting permissiveness and debauchery — for that would equate them with the same forces "of darkness" against which they have come to define their raison d'être.

Instead of discussing Aliaa’s fundamental right to undress as she pleases, post whatever she likes on her blog — in short to exercise freedom of thought and expression and do what she sees fit as long as she doesn't directly harm anyone — those who tend to view themselves as being opposed to all forms of oppression have nevertheless abstained from uncompromising support for Aliaa's freedom of expression. Instead, they slammed her from the point of view of aesthetics, depth, timing and "cultural sensitivity.

Instead of supporting her, they pitied her; they made statements about her "confused" state of mind, and the fact that she is one year below the age of legal adulthood. The sympathy they expressed is that which one feels for a human being who is "messing up her life" (as some noted worriedly), and who is naïve and unaware of the consequences of her act, that she is not aware of the risks (i.e. getting killed by the forces of evil: the Salafis). Underneath this patronizing tone, there’s a reluctance to either support Aliaa's courageous venture or attack it as immoral. » | Rime Naguib | Sunday, December 11, 2011

Related »

Naked Nazis: Book Reveals Extent of Third Reich Body Worship

SPIEGEL ONLINE INTERNATIONAL: Science fiction, jokes and forbidden love: The book market in Nazi Germany was surprisingly varied. But perhaps the most bizarre bestseller to make it past the censors was an unabashed collection of nudist photography. It was a celebration of the Aryan body.

What did Germans read during the Nazi era? In search of the answer, author Christian Adam surveyed a total of 350 bestsellers from the 12 years of the Third Reich's existence -- making striking discoveries in the process. In addition to well-known propaganda books like Adolf Hitler's "Mein Kampf" and Alfred Rosenberg's "The Myth of the Twentieth Century," there were schmaltzy regional novels, science fiction, mysteries, love stories, joke books and cross-media marketed accompaniments to radio programs and films.

The rich variety of reading material likely arose because different censorship offices competed to have the last word on what books publishers could print, Christian says. The paradoxical effect is that some of the books printed seem surprising today. Perhaps the oddest of them all was Hans Surén's "Mensch und Sonne," or "Humans and Sun," a collection of nude photographs that includes lyrical praise of the male member, instructions for yoga-like exercises and even naked skiing.

It could be seen as a precursor to the sexual revolution and "Freikörperkultur (FKK)," or "free body culture" of the late 1960s, if it weren't so blatantly racist, researcher Adam told SPEIGEL ONLINE in an interview. » | Interview conducted by Hilmar Schmundt | Thursday, June 16, 2011

Photo Gallery: Naked Nazis and a Surprise Bestseller »

This article originally appeared in German on einestages.de, SPIEGEL ONLINE’s history portal.

EINESTAGES.de: FKK im “Dritten Reich”: Körperschau mit Nacktmodellen »

Antidote to the Burqah: Naked Office*!


*Viewer discretion is strongle advised!

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Everybody's Talking About... Naked Office
YAHOO! NEWS: A one-off special of 'Naked Office' last year hit the headlines over in the US, so it's not surprising that Virgin1 has decided to turn last year's show into a full series (Tuesdays, 9pm).

The premise is simple - a group of unhappy employees are encouraged by a psychologist to come to work naked in an effort to improve morale and increase team bonding. >>> Paul Johnston | Tuesday, May 18, 2010

France Falls Out of Love with Topless Sunbathing
THE GUARDIAN: Health concerns and new feminist priorities mean French women are covering up on the beach

Photo: The Guardian
For some it's the stuff of naff Cote d'Azur postcards. For others it's a symbol of the feminist struggle in France. Topless sunbathing was once the summer battleground of French post-1968 society – educated middle classes insisted that peeling off was a women's right, while family groups claimed exposed nipples would scare children.

For decades, France has prided itself on being the world capital of seaside semi-nudity. Now the nation is facing a bikini-top backlash. A younger generation of women are covering up, citing new feminist priorities, skin cancer fears and a rebellion against the cult of the fetished body beautiful.

French academics and historians have spent the early summer months pondering the sociological meaning of the demise of France's once-favourite piece of beachwear, the "monokini" – the bottom half of a bikini with no top.

Since the 1970s, when the French state refused to ban "le topless" on beaches, women's semi-nudity has become a symbol of summer in France. It was a point of national pride that the same freedom to strip off in public was off-limits in other more prudish nations such as the US.

Women's bodies have always been the centre of national social debates in France. Jean-Marie Le Pen's far-right Front National once produced a poster warning against immigration which showed carefree French topless sunbathers in the 1990s against a doomsday prediction of burka-clad women invading French beaches in the year 2010. >>> Angelique Chrisafis | Wedneday, July 22, 2009

Nudity Does Us All Good

Carla Bruni-Sarkozy. Photo: Google Images
THE TELEGRAPH: Channel 4's Life Class delivers an important lesson on the human form, whatever the moral guardians of daytime TV say, writes Jemima Lewis.

"Art can never exist without naked beauty displayed," said William Blake. But the moral guardians of daytime TV take a different view. The Channel 4 programme Life Class caused conniptions last week by showing a woman sitting very still with no clothes on.

The point of the programme is to replicate a real life class, with the viewers at home encouraged to pick up a pencil. The camera stays fixed on the model from one angle, only occasionally cutting away to take a peek at what the "tutor" – one of a series of distinguished artists – has drawn.

It is filmed in a determinedly untitillating way, more Open University than Nuts magazine, and in fact the first three episodes went out last week without any kerfuffle. It was only on Thursday – when Kirsten Varley, a fashion model of uncommon loveliness, dropped her silky dressing gown and stepped on to the dais – that the forces of puritanism pricked up their ears.

Channel 4 was said to have had dozens of complaints: one viewer, who watched the programme while ill in bed, croaked: "It nearly gave me a relapse. It was adult viewing, not for screening in the middle of the day."

John Beyer, of the TV pressure group Mediawatch UK, said he had referred the matter to Ofcom after being contacted by scandalised parents. "Obviously, people feel this is not suitable for daytime TV when they have children at home," he opined. "It's a pity Channel 4 cannot revive its Watercolour Challenge show."

We all miss Watercolour Challenge, John, but there comes a time when you have to let go. As for the effect of Life Class on young minds: who are these children who have never seen a naked body before? And more importantly, why not?

Going naked in front of your offspring is one of the duties of parenthood. Studies show – and common sense suggests – that children from households where nudity is commonplace grow up to feel more comfortable in their own skin. We need the background scenery of other people's bodies – dumpy, scrawny, dimpled or lean – in order to be reassured that our own peculiarities are normal. >>> Jemima Lewis | Saturday, July 11, 2009

It’s Coming to Something …
It’s coming to something that in this PC, multicultural world that even a work of art, La maja desnuda, painted by Francisco Goya, circa 1797-1800, (oil on canvas), which is displayed in the Museo del Prado (Museo Nacional del Prado) in Madrid, violates Photobucket’s ‘terms of use’.

It seems to me that everyone is becoming a tad too sensitive. It is a healthy part of Western civilization that we all learn to appreciate wonderful works of art. That includes nudity! Is this a narrow-minded American thing, I wonder? Don’t Americans appreciate art? Or is this a broader, more sinister development?

All I can say is this: It is high time that people grew up! – ©Mark

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