'My body, my choice': Exiled Iranian women pose nude for video in protest against sexual oppression in their native country

Defiant call for equality as world marks International Women's Day today



A group of Iranian women have stripped off for a new video in a protest against sexual oppression in their native country.

The ladies, who are living in exile in Europe, pose naked in front of the camera as they each deliver a defiant message.



Their slogans include 'I believe in the equality of women and men' and 'my thoughts, my body, my choice'.

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Defiant: One of the exiled Iranian ladies poses naked for a video calling for more sexual freedoms for women in her native country

Show of strength: The video has been produced to support a nude calendar, which has been released to mark International Women's Day

They have produced the video in the hope of boosting sales of the Nude Photo Revolutionary Calendar, which has been released today to coincide with International Women's Day.

The calendar has been dedicated to an Egyptian activist who posted a full-length photo of herself on her blog last year in a stand against sexual discrimination in Islam.

The move by 20-year-old university student, Aliaa Magda Elmahdy, sparked outrage in the Middle East and she was bombarded by thousands of insults, with some denouncing her as a 'prostitute'.

Call for freedom: Each of the women is accompanied in the film by a defiant slogan expressing their support for more women's rights

Perennial backing: The video hopes to boost sales of the Nude Photo Revolutionaries Calendar (left and right) which was launched today in homage to an Egyptian activist who was vilified in the Middle East for publishing a naked photo of herself

But Maryam Namazie, who produced the calendar, said nudity was an important weapon in the fight against oppression. 'Islamism and the religious right are obsessed with women's bodies,' she told The International Business Times. 'They demand that we be veiled, bound, and gagged. In the face of this assault, nudity breaks taboos and is an important form of resistance.'

Ostracised: The Iranian women are showing their support for Aliaa Magda Elmahdy (left), who sparked outrage in the Midle East after posting this nude picture of herself on her blog, and Golshifteh Farahani (right), an actress who has been banished from Iran because she posed for this picture in a French news magazine



The film and the calendar also show support for Golshifteh Farahani, an actress who has been banished from her home country of Iran because she posed nude in a French news magazine.

The 28-year-old, who has starred alongside Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe, says she was contacted by the Iranian government, which told her not to return home.

The offending photo - a black-and-white 'art shot' featuring the 28-year-old Farahani posing against a black backdrop with her hands strategically placed over her breasts - was first published in Madame Le Figaro.