Pornography is a delicate topic for many societies, and definitely so for conservative societies where even movie actors could be seen as being “loose” in character.
When it comes to a society like the Middle East, which remains pretty religious and conservative, it is bound to give rise to extreme emotions.
However, these emotions got really extreme early this week when a pornstar born in Lebanon started getting death threats.
Last year, 21-year-old bespectacled Lebanese-American Mia Khalifa was declared no. 1 pornstar by PornHub, and since then she caught the attention of some people on Twitter, who accused her of defaming the Middle Eastern culture through her deeds.
This announcement by PornHub caught the attention of many Beirut-based newspapers, many of which published articles critical of Mia. Soon she became hot topic in the local media, so much so that her parents, living in Lebanon, clarified that they had nothing to do with the career choice of their daughter.
In fact, her family issued a formal statement saying, “We hope that she comes back to her senses as her image does not honor her family or her homeland — Lebanon.”
After the local media discussed her, it was turn of the social media. What started as preachy tweets to her soon turned into violent threats, with one Twitter user posting the following morphed picture of her:
@miakhalifa coming soon بإذن الله pic.twitter.com/vw90vGDG8r
— Hussein Annan (@UsainAnnan) January 5, 2015
(Discretion advised: this report contains embedded tweets of Mia. Please visit her Twitter profile only when there is privacy, as her profile page contains some NSFW images)
Some warned that her “sins” will make her burn in the hellfire, something Mia confirmed in her own style:
“@Muhammaad11: @miakhalifa You do realize that you’ll be the first person in Hellfire right?” I’ve been meaning to get a little tan recently
— Mia Khalifa (@miakhalifa) January 3, 2015
While men were threatening to behead her, some women asked her to commit suicide before she is stoned to death. But she had a smart response ready for them:
“@Ayeerab: @Mohima_H @dina51814 pornstars should fucking commit suicide. hope this bitch gets stoned alive” your bf is a Mia Khalifa fan
— Mia Khalifa (@miakhalifa) January 5, 2015
There were many other hate tweets and threats of violence that were thrown at her. Most of the times Mia Khalifa just laughed them off, though some well-wishers suggested her to take police protection after satirists at French magazine Charlie Hebdo were massacred.
However, not everyone was threatening her and wishing her death. There were some voices of support too from the Middle East:
@miakhalifa If the Arabs are united on the issue of Palestine as they are united on insulting you we would have liberated Palestine
— Mohammed Negm (@Mohammed_Negm95) January 5, 2015
Most of these angry and hateful reactions were born out of the fact that she, having been born in the Middle East, was expected to live her life as per the local customs and traditions.
While her being a pornstar itself angered many, many were enraged as she appears wearing hijab – a Muslim headscarf – in one of her videos.
She has defended her action as her personal choice and artistic freedom, but she too is shocked at these extreme reactions.
“What I once boasted to people as being the most Westernized-nation in the Middle East, I now see as devastatingly archaic and oppressed,” she told Washington Post.
It could be recalled that there were a lot of disapproving voices in India too when Sunny Leone became a “mainstream” star. In fact, Sunny Leone is now pretty much a part of mainstream entertainment industry and her transition has been rather smooth – a pleasantly surprising development.
Maybe Lebanon’s movie producers need to step in!
Meanwhile, Mia Khalifa has some suggestion for those who are outraged at her:
Doesn’t the Middle East have more important things to worry about besides me? How about finding a president? Or containing ISIS?
— Mia Khalifa (@miakhalifa) January 3, 2015
