A semi-nude photo published by a Tunisian actress has stirred some negative responses from people around the Arab world after the actress appeared wearing revealing clothes and was compared to Egyptian activist Aliya Magda Mahdy, who posted a full frontal of herself on her blog. Mahdy was also met with massive anger and over one million and half viewings of her post in less than two days. Nadia Bostah, the young Tunisian actress, said the Tunivision magazine presented her with the idea as part of her promotional campaign for her new film titled “Tunisian tales” which will be released soon. “My nude photo is very normal,” she wrote on her Facebook page. “It was meant to bring publicity to the my new film,” Bostah added. The magazine cover and the reposting of the image on Facebook was heavily criticized over the past week while Bostah reportedly told a local radio station that she sees nothing faulty about using her body for art or to express a thought. Of course, that didn't resonate well with the Muslim critics, who accused her of using her body as a “cheap commodity.” “This is far from our customs that respects women enough to not trade in their naked pictures,” said one blogger commenting on the image. The commotion over the photo brought comparisons to Mahdy, 20, who bravely defied the increasingly conservative Egyptian society and was eventually sued for “promoting vice among youth” by an ultra-conservative group. Mahdy made headlines after millions logged into her blog to view her completely nude photo. She wrote to her audience that it was a matter of self-expression and that if they didnt like it, “you can bury your own naked bodies too.” The progressive feminist, who insists she was part of the youth uprising that brought an end to the former regime and ousted President Hosni Mubarak, said she was forced to drop out from The American University in Cairo (AUC), after her family threatened to cut her off financially. BM
