As part of the growing scandal surrounding Caretaker Youth and Sports Minister Faisal Karam’s call for an investigation over Lebanese Olympian Jackie Chamoun’s past photoshoot, Lebanese netizens have already come up with a creative way to support Jackie: Stripping.
Started on the 12th of February 2014, the #StripForJackie campaign already gained over 15,000 followers and features models, men and women, stripping and featuring a “I am Not Naked/I am a [Enter description]” tagline. Conceptualized by Cynthia-Maria Aramouni, photographed by Tarek Moukaddem and Carl Halal and directed by Mohamad Abdouni, the #StripForJackie campaign is calling on everyone – those who are comfortable doing so, of course – to join. All you have to do is send them a message and book an appointment.
Why are they doing this? Here’s the page’s description:
“Some women are beaten or killed, others are raped, and the media shifts their attention to a confident talented beautiful woman who represents her country at the Olympic games. This is about telling our “peers” to set their priorities straight. This is to fight censorship. This is for freedom.”
This campaign, incidentally, shares a lot of similarities with an Avaaz petition calling on the government to drop the investigation, claiming that “
“Their outrage proves one thing: that our government believes the bodies of women are public property — despite not doing anything to protect them. Let’s challenge that disgrace right now.”
And once again, the issue of the lack of law against domestic violence came up:
“It’s unbelievable that the government was able to mobilise resources and react on the very same day to this non-event when the lives of thousands of other Lebanese women are at risk thanks to the lack of movement on violence against women legislation. Just last week a teacher was beaten to death by her husband right in front of her two children!”
Do not Forget Roula Yaccoub. Do not Forget Manal Assi.
Want to participate in the #StripForJackie campaign? All you have to do is send them a message.
Credit:
Men behind the lens: Tarek and Carl.
Concept: Cynthia-Maria Aramouni
Art direction: Mohamad Abdouni
International Editions
The I Am Not Naked Campaign is also targeting Lebanon’s expatriates:
Brussels | LA | Montreal | Sao Paolo | Montpellier | Boston | Paris | London
News Coverage
BuzzFeed | NY Times | El Pais | Standaard (Be) | Street Art United States | Yahoo | CNN | L’Orient Le Jour | ABC News | Al Joumhouria | Ya Libnan | Independent UK | As-Safir | Champontop | LA Times | Daily Star Lebanon | BBC | Beirut.com | TIME | DailyMail UK | The Guardian UK | Mirror UK | WebProNews | NOW Lebanon | IB Times | NaharNet | Toronto Sun | France 24 | Daily Caller | People.com | Beirut Night Life | EuroSport.Fr
Those Who Have Supported Jackie
State Of Mind 13 | Mohamad Abdouni | L’Orient Le Jour | Abir Ghattas | Gino’s Blog | Beirut NTSC | Beirut.com | Blog Baladi | Patrick Galey | Arabs MMA | Nagy Khoury | Libanaiseries | Gray Wolves Rugby FC | Tangui Faucon (Light FM) | Nasri Atallah (Our Man In Beirut) | Karl Sharro (Karl ReMarks) | Nadim Houry | Kim Ghattas (BBC) | Al Akhbar | RJ Team
And Just Because
You can also find me on Twitter @JoeyAyoub
Hummus For Thought 
The #stripforjackie campaign started with Cyrill Reaidy and went viral. Check his profiles.
Thank you Karen
personally I find it very very annoying. there’s plenty of other issues that should be taken care of, but they do not give an opportunity to get naked publicly… nor to be “creative” like gals/guys on the photo… netizens? or lazy asses who do not do anything for real?
That’s fair enough. What other issues are you taking care of? Please send it to me and I’ll feature it here.
maybe follow up what is happening with the initiative started after Ali Abdallah died? there was a FB fan page, workshops, video on youtube, graffiti… so creative , really, I bet every single person involved in that enjoyed a lot releasing this artist/activist spirit they have… I would gladly know the numbers of the homeless they feed, meals they gave, clothes they distributed though… are they still active now…
I did follow up. Unfortunately the movement sort of died online. Activists set up a few networks but they ended up being overwhelmed by the amount of refugees in Beirut and abandoned their projects. The most active ones at the moment are all those surrounding the “I Am Not A Tourist” campaign you can see on the homepage.
isn’t it one of the problems of lebanese activism? Once al-akhbar used a photo of me in article about lebanese NGOs – I wouldn’t know about that, but friends were writing “hey, you’re in a lebanese newspaper” (it was around 04.06.2011, if there are archives available, you may check it). And as I was told, in the article it was said that there are huge numbers of registered NGOs, however, most of them are not active (intresting form of activism…) There is a lot of energy at the beginning, but later people abandone the projects, and move to another, and another, and another… with more energy lost on swithing from one to the next than on actual help.
I agree. Sadly that’s the case And I think there are a lot of reasons for that.
Many activists, young people mostly, feel completely alienated and powerless when it comes to making actual change in this country. And yet for some reason, not everyone has given up. Many people still try. But it takes a lot of energy to try and change things in a very hostile environment. This results, in my opinion, to what we see today: many symbolic campaigns, not a lot of concrete ones.
What’s the solution? This is where it gets complicated. And I’m not one who has a clear cut answer.
me, personally, am involved in helping refugees – however to cover this you’d have to read Polish 🙂
Good! The graphic designer student could have worn a Lebanese flag instead of the U.S. one, though!
I didn’t notice. There’s some Arabic written on it but I agree
The cause you’re fighting for is honorable. We should all shout for justice. But dedicating this to Jackie Chamoun? A silly child who decided to reduce herself to an object for a calendar for drooling men? A clueless girl who working against everything meaningful and respectful women are fighting for? A person who took her responsibility to be a role model for other young Lebanese girls much too lightly? I don’t get that. I cannot support that. Change the name of your group and count me in.
It’s not my group (if that’s what you meant). And for the rest of what you’re accusing Jackie of being, I’m only assuming that you know her? Because I don’t, and that’s besides the point in my opinion.
I don’t know what kind of role model she is or you think she is. Out of curiosity, are you basing yourself on the photoshoot itself? Or is there something more than that?
Does Lebanese State financially support Jackie or other athletes that represent Lebanon ?
From what I understand, not really. Many athletes couldn’t join for that reason And they limit funding to the bare necessities.
so what right do the politians have to comment on the way she earns money? I’d love her to win and show them middle finger
Yes that’s partly why the scandal started; that they’d dare even criticize something like this when they abandon our athletes in every way possible.
we don’t even have electricity, how can we support athletes, sadly enough?! it is sad, but it is true! we have not even gotten over the wars in our country and region, the last of our worries and worries of countries in this situation is making money for “extra-curricular” activities for a lack of better term.
Our government has money. The reason we don’t have electricity has nothing whatsoever to do with the lack of money. It has to do with corruption.
And financing our own athletes costs nothing in comparison with the budget that we have and that’s being stolen on a daily basis.
how could I forget the corruption… i take it back. 7a22ak 3leiyi. i forgot we are not a normal country and most people steal.
My mistake. I should direct my message at those who created the group then. As for your questions of whether or not I know her, I did not realize that you need to know people personally to know what kind of image they portray or what kind of role models they are.
That’s just me anyway.
I see what you mean but that’s very debatable. Anyway, agreeing to disagree is fine 🙂
“[…] the bodies of women are public property […]”. I think if someone, in this case the Lebanese government, does not want someone showing their private parts to the public, that means that they, the Lebanese government, does not think of the bodies of women are public property, but private property.
AGREED.
Reblogged this on MICHELLE J. MOARBES GRASBERGER.
Reblogged this on 14thgradenothing.
Reblogged this on Ned Hamson Second Line View of the News.
cette brave dame au seins nus,et si elle s’est fait prendre en photo contre sa volonté,ce n’est pas mon problème,elle peut très bien avoir été une victime,mais il y a une chose qu’il faut dire,c’est que cette photo n’a absolument rien a voir avec les jeux olympiques,car c’est une excellente athlète. veuillez réfléchir un peu et museler les paparazzy !!
Anka if there are other things that should be taken care of start doing it but throwing judgment that it’s annoying and sitting behind ur screen criticizing wont help. 🙂
Whoever started it is brilliant. The cause is both interesting and fun. Another reason to show that the lebanese society is opinionated, smart and fun. Respect to the models and artists behind it.
Keep it up guys.
your initiative is appreciated and i congratulate you on this brilliant idea. I took a few pictures like these with the intention to post them on social websites to encourage the cause, but i’m not sure if this would keep me on the safe side. I’m a college student, and wanted your opinion on whether posting such pictures would also affect my life negatively, such as expulsion fromuni.
These #StripForJackie photos are not fair. The males are stripped more than the females. Females here should do like the males and cover their genital area with a circle and their breasts with another circle. Or are they afraid of offending our traditional conservative society??
#StripForJackie?! Women should be doing it not males.
Both women and men are stripping.
The women are half stripped but the men are fully stripped. And most of the strippers are men too. Then also seven of the women are covering their faces in shame and one woman is fully clothed. And all the women are wearing their pants because their genitals are sacred areas. That’s typical Lebanese. They say they will do something then they cheat you and try to convince you they are doing it. Also, typical female behavior. They want equality and in the end their work is done by males.
This girl at least fully stripped and had are more meaningful message:
photo/1.
i am not with or against what Jackie did
….. but i think is not a good idea to merge this two topics….. …i am against the sex sells theory and with the women’s rights
AGREED. Why doesn’t word press have a like button?!
Seriously–this made BBC today. Only if it is sensational……http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26150735
Last time Lebanon made it to the BBC and the NY Times is when the last bomb exploded. Kinda better no?
Hello – testing
First, Hummus For Thought , is a great title. I like it.
This artistic response is interesting but unfortunately it doesn’t help Jackie’s case in my opinion. Somehow. I don’t see them correlated.
Just my 3 cents.
Enjoy your Hummus Joey, great job with your site.
Reblogged this on Sphere Point.
This is really great, I like how you show people in their nakedness and make people see past it. Very cool. I do agree that the women are more covered than the men, but as an American, I’m just as shocked to see the men that naked, if that means anything. I’m confused about this cause/movement though, I’ve tried to gather as much as I could from the comments, but is there someone who could explain it more to me, an outsider?