• Enas Taleb is suing The Economist for using her picture.
• The epidemic of obesity among women in the Arab world.
• The British magazine chose an image of Taleb performing at Iraq’s annual Babylon Festival.

London: Newlines Magazine says that Iraqi actress and TV host Enas Taleb is suing The Economist for using her picture in an article about the rise of obesity among Arab women.

The Economist wrote an article in July called “Why women are fatter than men in the Arab world.” It was called “Why women are fatter than men in the Arab world,” and it blamed socioeconomics and the fact that the cheapest foods in the Arab region are often the least healthy.

The British magazine chose a picture of Taleb performing at Iraq’s annual Babylon Festival to go with the article. The actress was shown as an example of this kind of obesity, and the last sentence of the article said, “Iraqis often say that Enas Taleb, an actress with plenty of curves, is the ideal of beauty.”

Taleb told Newlines Magazine in an interview that she was getting ready to sue the English magazine.

“I have decided to take legal action against The Economist for their cover story. I am demanding compensation for the emotional, mental and social damage this incident has caused me. My legal team and I are arranging the next steps,” Rasha Al-Aqeedi of Newslines Magazine talked to Taleb about this.

She added, “Audiences have loved me for many years. It was disappointing to see an international outlet label me as if all my accomplishments mean nothing. I am healthy and happy with the way I look, and to me that is all that matters.

Arab News asked questions, but The Economist did not answer. Arab and non-Arab readers were outraged by the article, and some said that the publication had two sets of rules.

Al-Aqeedi wrote, “In reaction to the piece in The Economist, some readers voiced their incredulity at what they described as a double standard in the conversation about women’s bodies in the West versus in ‘other” cultures.”

She also added, “Plus-size artists such as Lizzo and models like Ashley Graham are celebrated for their role in making the body-positive movement mainstream. It is difficult to find an example of an internationally respected publication that has held up a photo of a ‘fat’ Western woman as a means of shaming her,”

People all over the Arab world said that the article didn’t look deeply enough into the causes of the obesity problem, which affects women more than men.

Even though most people seem to agree on the issue, the truth is more complicated.

People think that the Arab region’s epidemic is caused in part by The Economist’s out-of-date view of Arab women as “mere sedentary housewives,” the rise of globalisation, which brought major lifestyle changes and rapid urbanisation, and people’s general tendency to stay up late at night.

Even though the magazine gave the Iraqi star a backhanded compliment, Taleb says that The Economist’s article was an insult not only to her but to all Arab women.

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