Few months ago, Amina Tyler, a Tunisian woman, posted two photos of herself topless on Facebook.
The first image showed Amina with the words “Fuck your morals” written across her chest.
The second image has the words “My body belongs to me and is not the source of anyone’s honor” written in Arabic.
Since that episode, she has been hounded by Islamist conservatives who felt she has violated their honour by posting nude pictures of herself.
Whose body, whose honour?
What part of “My body belongs to me” don’t these idiots understand? If a woman wants to post nude pictures of herself on the internet, it is her body, her choice, her right. It has nothing to do with your moronic honour. FREE AMINA TYLER NOW!
This is my body; I have the right to do whatever I want with it. If I am not harming you, the decisions have nothing to do with you.
I have the right to post nude pictures of myself online. I have the right to use my body as a canvass, tattoo it or pierce it.
This is my body, I have the right to birth control, to abortion, to have sex with consensual adults regardless of their gender. I do not have to put up with your sermonizing or attempts to legislate over my body.
This is my body; I have the right to orgasms. I decide who or what goes into my body. Allowing myself to be penetrated once does not assume your right to do it again for your own purposes or reasons.
This is my body, I don’t need a hero or need saving because I am not a damsel in distress.
This is my body; I am not an object of your honour or your sexual toy.
I am beautiful despite what you think, with or without your approval. This is my body; I have the right to education, healthcare, equal pay and human rights.
THIS IS MY BODY, NOT YOURS!
Powerful video, powerful presentation, A MUST WATCH!
Now what part of “IT IS AMINA TYLERS’S BODY, CHOICE AND RIGHT” don’t these honour killers understand?
What is honourable about discrimination or killings?
No! It’s not your body! It belongs to a figment of my imagination! I have a penis!!! That means that a figment of my imagination who, I imagine, has a penis, is superior to whatever you imagine, who doesn’t, is infererior.
Or, whatever.
This is one determined woman. I’ve just been reading an interview from before her arrest on El Watan (it’s in French, you have to log in and I couldn’t get the darned link to work but I put it at the end just in case!). Anyway I’m impressed with her sense of mission. I was really curious about her very non-Tunisian name which turns out to be a FEMEN alias of course. I learned that Amina formed her ideas after a 5 year stay in Saudi Arabia as a child where she was able to contrast a more conservative Arab society with what was then still a fairly liberal one in Tunisia. She read the Quran and drew her own conclusions, she was influenced by the Iranian film The Stoning of Soraya. Her ambitions are (were?) to finish high school, in France since it’s no longer possible in Tunisia, and to prevent Tunisian society becoming more conservative.
Yemmy, I wonder if you have an opinion on the lawyer who has been working with her, Chokra Belhaj Hmida? This woman may be her best hope at the moment. I’m not sure if Tunisia is feeling very responsive to international pressure at the moment, and what really disturbs me is that whether you look on American sites or French language Arabic sites like El Watan, you see the exact same mix of encouraging and not-so-encouraging comments. I’m very much afraid Amina’s going to do some jail time and then the best thing would be for the French to issue her a visa very quickly. Not ideal…
a href=”http://www.elwatan.com/culture/amina-tyler-femen-tunisienne-je-crains-de-voir-ma-tunisie-sombrer-dans-un-islamisme-comme-celui-de-l-afghanistan-ou-de-l-iran-17-05-2013-213973_113.php”
@Pen, I really don’t know much about her lawyer to form an opinion, I do hope her organization FEMEN and allies are doing their best to get her the best legal team in Tunisia. The mix comments of approval and disapproval are not unexpected,, but she really needs all the national and international support she can get. Fingers crossed she gets a visa and gets to continue her education in a more enabling environment.
Why not use Amina’s original photo? The one with her breasts still in it.
Here it is: http://i.imgur.com/E9aM8BS.jpg
The irony of editing this brave woman’s photo is staggering.
Currie Jean:
Oh goodness me! You mean I did not use the picture with the boobies and nipples? Gosh, how did that even happen! You even generously provided the evidence of the missing boobies and nipples. And to think I am an ardent fan of boobies How dare I not notice nipples were missing! I guess I did not stare hard enough at the chosen pic to realize that the boobs were missing and the nipples invisible. I must have been distracted by the words scrawled on her body and the heavy subject matter of my blogpost. How do I even begin to ask for forgiveness for this unimaginable slip. Do i still get to claim that I love boobies? 🙁
JustAtheist
What is staggering is the level some people stoop to concoct conspiracy theories and suddenly see non existent ironies when they don’t see as much boobies as they expected. That is the irony.
Yes, Yemisi, you should always answer questions in an extremely exasperated manner.
The point of showing the original photo of Amina is BECAUSE IT WAS THE NUDITY THAT GOT HER IMPRISONED IN THE FIRST PLACE. BECAUSE SHE WAS TOPLESS. BECAUSE HER NIPPLES *WERE* SHOWING. Are you incapable of understanding basic concepts? When someone is being censored, when someone is being imprisoned for it, you don’t write a story about it AND THEN PROCEED TO CENSOR THE FUCKING PICTURE. *That* is the irony of it, Yemisi, you incomprehensible buffoon. Her nudity is the point!
I mean, really. Your response is that we wanted to see more boobs? Kindly go fuck yourself.
Its not about seeing boobies. In case you don’t realize this here is the internet and it is pretty much built and funded on boobies. I can go see those anywhere. But when i read an article where a woman stood up to real oppression with a blatant act of defiance against censorship and women’s rights and see someone choose to horribly mangle that protest with willful censorship of their own i am sickened at the irony.
You are at this point perpetuating the same type of shaming of the female body that she bravely is speaking out against.
To turn your poor excuse for an argument around.. would her nipples have cause you great distress?
Can I see your tits? Maybe that would make up for it.
I bet you have fine tits. I do.
@Pitchguest Are you having a fit because you couldn’t see boobies on my blog? How funny!
First, your disdain for Atheismplus and FTB bloggers brought you to my blog in a fit of stupid ignorance, which was cordially pointed out to you, after which you did manage to crawl back into your filthy pit with your tail between your legs. I did not know all it takes for you to come crawling back, foaming at the mouth and throwing insults, is a lack of visible nipples in my ‘booby’ post.
Just wow, but not surprising, afterall nothing about your earlier appearance on my blog left any impression that you employ your brain to much progressive use besides throwing insults and pretending to have something intelligent to say. Hmm… you really make me see you in a derisive light, and I hate when that happens because even stupid people are people too.
Go back to your pit boy, you go into moderation henceforth. I can do without your nuisance value and the hits it brings from your filthy pit. No worries, I will just slam the door on your disdainful ass for violating my comment policy and for making me commit the crime of looking at another earthling with derision.
JustAtheist:
Wow, you mean the internet is built and funded on boobies? Thanks for pointing your misconception out, Truly, I didn’t know that because for me the internet is about finding awesome posts and videos like the video in this post titled ‘THIS IS MY BODY’. I guess you didn’t watch it or even notice it since there are no boobies in it. Oh poor dear, the internet might be about boobies for you but do not go generalizing and asserting that it is about boobies for everyone else.
Did I give you an excuse for not showing her boobies? Whatever made you think I owe you an excuse (poor or rich) for the choice of picture I use on my blog?
No, her nipples, showing or not, does not cause me distress, although it seems a lack of nipples in this post has caused you great distress. As much as I care not to cause my readers any kind of distress and it might cause some people distress if they opened an atheist blog, say in the office and a booby picture flashes, I must say your distress at not seeing boobies in this post is not any concern of mine.
My blog is not a playing pit for adults with a sense of entitlement to tits. If you do not like what I am serving on my blog, don’t throw tantrums, see yourself out, i can happily close the door after you or slam it, whichever you prefer.
@wtfwhatever You sure you are old enough to have tits? Nevermind, your comment clearly shows you aren’t worth the space you occupy on my comment thread. I will slam the door on your ignorant ass. I am allergic to ignorance and you reek of it. I can’t risk my health for assholes, so goodbye.
The argument about boobies really made this superb reading, ROTFLMMFAO. To be honest, I don’t actually want to see a high schooler’s boobs, because grown-ups who stare at teenage tits are creepy, but it really is hilarious how offended people get when they can’t see boobs.
Hey Kev Alex, you making a joke? I hope it’s just a joke! Hehe.
But more to the point, Maddie, it’s undeniable that breasts are beautiful at all ages, high school or senior citizen! LOL Ya know? But yeah, you’re right about the staring part. Staring is not polite.
Yemmy is right. The subject matter is what counts. The fact that breasts are not visible on this page has really got some ppl bent out of shape. That’s a bit petty. Look, Currie Jean was even nice enough to provide a link to the original! Wanna see her breasts? You know where to look. Takes a bit less time than bickering.