" Women in the Middle East," a pornographic film created by PornFidelity, is aimed at "empowering" Middle Eastern women. The film seeks to break tradition and cultural Middle Eastern values by enabling women to "break free" of their shackles, according to Mic website.
Western films almost always portray Middle Eastern women as oppressed due to the strict cultural and Muslim values in the area. "Women In The Middle East" is no exception. The women in the film are all dressed in full-body burqas and niqabs; gowns that are often worn by deeply religious Muslim women.
The film focuses on modeling a variety of common stereotypes and misrepresentations of the Middle Eastern world. For instance, there's the subdued and objectified house wife, luscious belly dancer, and the common prostitute. However, the film's producers said they hoped to be different from other Muslim-themed pornos with the opening scene, in which a woman in a veil and a thong is dragging a man behind her by the collar he's wearing. Another scene in the film portrays the lead female star, Kelly Madison, as the domineering partner in a variety of BDSM roles.
The film urges Muslim women to take of their veils, which it says are a sign of male oppression and dominance, and opens with the caption "for a Middle Eastern woman, veiling is not only a way to suppress her from having sexual freedom. It is a symbol for all of the human rights violations against these women, such as rape, and domestic violence. Take the veils off!"
While Kelly Madison and her husband and co-star Ryan Madison don't seem to have any Middle Eastern ties or links, they did hire the half-Tunisian porn star Arabelle Raphael and the Pakistani star Nadia Ali, along with several other "ethnic" performers, according to Mic.
Maybe the team really did intend to "empower" Middle Eastern women and not just crassly fetishize them – but this patronizing attempt falls short - so far short that it's difficult to even contemplate that they were serious about this "activism."
At least Mia Khalifa is actually Middle Eastern.