sues for fatphobia

Enas Taleb has criticised a British newspaper for using her photo in an article about obesity among Arab women.

Enas is launching a legal action over the article, which was published online at the end of July, reports vice.com. The article discusses an obesity gender gap in the Middle East and North Africa, with a main image featuring Taleb pictured last year at Iraq’s annual cultural Babylon Festival.

On Twitter, users also took issue with the headline, including Kim Ghattas of the Atlantic who called it “sexist misogynistic orientalist.

How's it orientalist?

The actual article actually simps for the fats that's the funniest part lol. Can't please them no matter what you do.

https://www.economist.com/middle-east-and-africa/2022/07/28/why-women-are-fatter-than-men-in-the-arab-world

Zeinab gets by because her boss gives her leftovers—mostly oily food, she says—from the restaurant. Thursday is the only day of the week she and her daughters eat fruit, since that is when people in her neighbourhood give away food for charity. Zeinab weighs 120kg.

Has she tried eating less of said oily food?

Though grown up, none of her four daughters works. They are likely to become fat, too. Zeinab would rather be strapped for cash than risk men harassing them at work. So they sit at home, doing chores, occasionally visiting their extended family. Zeinab sometimes takes them out for an ice cream or to visit a holy shrine. “It’s not like they’re in prison—they’ve got phones and the internet,” she says defensively.

Marry them off then you r-slurred b-word

Only a fifth of women in Arab countries have paid jobs, says the World Bank. In Iraq the share is one in ten. This means that most Arab women spend most of the day indoors, missing out on passive exercise. Working women in other regions bustle around in hospitals, classrooms and restaurants. But in Arab countries many such jobs are done mainly by men. In Gulf countries many of the heavier menial household chores are done by foreigners.

Passive exercise

In any case, headscarves and clothes that cover the female body make public exercise cumbersome. Harassment in the street often makes jogging unpleasant. “When I walk my dogs, I have to put on music to block out the catcalls,” says an Iraqi woman. Strolling tends to be in air-conditioned malls. Some gyms cater just to women, but are found mainly in big cities.

In Egypt poor women are on average fatter than rich ones. Rich families tend to be more relaxed about letting their daughters out. Still, Egypt has the highest women’s bmi of any country in the world, bar some of the Pacific islands. Diet bears much of the blame. Egyptians get 30% of their calories from bread, much of it subsidised: the price of a kilo is fixed at $0.61. Since 1975 Arab women have grown fatter at a quicker rate than Arab men, while junk food has steadily proliferated.

A final cause of obesity, according to some women, is that many Arab men prefer them to be Rubens-esque. Shutting women up at home helps keep them that way. Shireen Rashid, another Iraqi housewife, wants to shed a few pounds. But not too many. When you are skinny, “you lose your femininity”, she says. Her husband does not want her to lose weight at all. He fears she will “feel like a piece of wood in bed”. Iraqis often cite Enas Taleb, an actress with ample curves (pictured), as the ideal of beauty. Some claim Iraqi women even take weight-gaining pills to be more attractive to men. Alas, in the Arab world or indeed anywhere else, that is hardly the road to good health, let alone happiness.