Egyptian blogger, Aliaa Magda Elmady who published a series of naked pictures of herself on Twitter in a protest against Islamic extremism, has sparked a heated debate on Twitter.
The hash tag #NudePhotoRevolutionary went viral after Ahmed Awadalla, who works in the field of human rights, health, sexuality and gender tweeted: "@3awadalla: A feminist #Jan25 revolutionary posted her nude photo on the internet to express her freedom. I'm totally taken back by her bravery".
It referred to Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, 20, who posted in eight naked pictures on her blog with the aim to "screams against a society of violence, racism, sexism, sexual harassment and hypocrisy," as she wrote on Facebook.
New Pictures of Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, the Nude Blogger
Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, only 20 years old and a student at the American University of Cairo, defines herself as "Secular, Liberal, Feminist, Vegetarian, Individualist Egyptian". In a tweet, she said "I took my nude photo myself in my parent's home months before I met @Kareemamer [her boyfriend] and I'm atheist since I was 16".
"My view is that the veil is not a personal choice in Egypt, but the results of religious and social pressure," she said in Facebook. "The women with head veil that I know wear it because of their families or because they don't want to be beaten in the streets. I don't see why they always dictate to women, and not to men, what they should wear."
For this reason, Aliaa Elmahdy also supports a controversial Facebook event called "Men should wear the veil".
