November 2012 is here. The photo for this month’s Nude Photo Revolutionary Calendar is mine!
You can read why I did it in support of Egyptian atheist and blogger Aliaa Magda Elmahdy by reading my interview with Now Lebanon entitled ‘Stripping for Iran’. As I said:
When you are faced with an Islamic movement that considers you to be worth half of what a man is worth and demands that you be bound, gagged, veiled and segregated, then nudity becomes an important form of resistance and dissent as well as solidarity.
Nudity is the antithesis of veiling. It is a very modern way of challenging Islamism and the veil. Islamists want us covered up, hidden, not seen and not heard; we refuse to comply.
In many places – from Iran, Afghanistan, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Iraq to even Islamist strongholds in Britain and the West – it is a crime to be an unveiled or improperly veiled woman. In such a situation, nudity is an important way of saying: “Enough! No More!”
By the way, here is my censored photo for Facebook since it doesn’t allow nudity…
You can download the calendar or purchase it here and join the scream on Facebook or Tweet #NudePhotoRevolutionary Calendar.
To see extensive media coverage on the Nude Calendar, click here.
Join the Scream!
Catastrophes are of the making of anti-sexual entities
I as many others no doubt everywhere have an endearing
Appreciation for your essential address to save this world
Be sure we are on your side always.you are hero.
Thank you so much ms. Namazie !
you have right Maryam,your body is not obscene,and facebook have do a bad thing to make censore to the calendar pic when you appear.you have all my support until my death,because now we gonna fight for our freedom
On every day, on every wall on which the calendar hangs, the human body is affirmed & celebrated: a note of defiance is sounded toward those who promote the falsehood of shame.
Thanks for your support!
I’ve sometimes pondered screenprinting a life-size naked female body, back and front, on a chador and niqab. If an appropriate opportunity presents itself for me to make that statement, I’ll take it.
Kudos to you, your bravery and your brains, Maryam.
Much respect to you and the others in the calendar.
I have this calendar up on my wall and every day it reminds me of how grateful I am for your work, Maryam, as well as the millions of other women bravely standing up for their rights across the word.
Solidarity!
I have been so proud of all the women who were brave enough to do this. I could never do it- not now at 48 or even when I was younger & thinner mostly because I still carry around the tattoo of the red A that seemed permanently engraved on my heart if not my actual chest. Religion has a way of abusing women even if it is seemingly innocuous (it never is).
Thought you and your readers would be interested: I am currently reading ‘Vagina’ by Naomi Wolf and she talks about the body language of those who have been raped. As she describes them (overweight, poor posture, migraines, mental health disorders), I could only think of how many women I knew (myself included) that described and all of them were Christian women who were among the most “faithful”. Having a healthy and satisfying sex life is nothing short of a sin- which means even married women carry a stigmatism. I personally was always ashamed of myself when I was pregnant. I guess what I am saying is (and I don’t think it’s an overstatment): religion rapes the soul.