Media Literacy Project was disturbed by Diesel’s ad featuring a white woman in a niqab with much of her body exposed and tattooed, reading, “I am not what I appear to be.” Yes, the ad affirmed that women in niqabs are diverse and interesting, but it also was an affront to Muslim women’s modesty and cast their bodies as exotic. It enticed people to look at Muslim women and wonder what’s beneath the clothes, which is the antithesis of what this everyday piece of clothing is intended to do. It took the power away from Muslim women and put the emphasis on their appearance.
We offer this counter-ad as a beacon of positivity about Muslim women’s modesty and power in an otherwise dreary, mass-media climate of objectification and sexualization of women. MLP collaborated with Afia Fitriati to create the text, “I don’t need to be naked to be free.” Afia lives in Indonesia and writes for Muslimah Media Watch, an organization that critiques images of Muslim women in media. Rather than making the woman in the advertisement an object to be looked at, we give her the power to assert that taking one’s clothes off does not equal freedom. The counter-ad is a deconstruction of the original Diesel ad and intended to start conversations about modesty, Islam, women, and the media. What do you have to say on the topic?
October 01, 2013