On Sex Panic in Lebanon

I normally agree with Comrade Maya but in this article I disagree with her in the first section (but I agree in the two other sections).  I do disagree with her take on the Jackie Chamoun affair.  Let me begin:  Maya says: "Her qualification for the premier international sporting event is itself a success".   Her qualification is a mere success of capital; she comes from money and lives in Europe and her family can afford to teach her skiing unlike most Lebanese families.  Maya says: "Almost immediately, people reacted, both positively and negatively, to Karami’s announcement."  In fact, Maya: the reactions to the one perfunctory statement by Minister Karami was uniformly negative and people attacked him from different sides, and he had to retract and you should have mentioned that he later made a statement that she is welcome in Lebanon, or words to that effect.  Then Maya said: "But what was the image of Lebanon that Karami wanted to protect, and why was the site of a female athletic body—and athletes, given that their bodies are their work, are rightly proud and confident in them— so threatening to that image?"  The stupid sentence by Karami was not that significant and could not be said to be sexist--in itself: he most certainly would have made a similar statement if a Lebanese athlete appeared in a semi-nude calender.  Then Maya said: "In fact, the amount of nudity displayed by Chamoun in the photo shoot was no more than any male swimmer in an athletic competition".  Well, even if you and are agree to this unique analogy, but governments and athletic authorities well outside of Lebanon disagree. This is hardly a Lebanese standard about nudity.  Then Maya said: "Chamoun’s displaying of her body, the very thing that enables her to compete at such high levels, sealed her fall from national grace."  What fall of national grace, Maya?  No one knew who she was until the pictures were posted.   What was astounding about the case, for me, at least: is that Ms. Chamoun rose to national prominence and acclaim merely on the basis of her semi-nude pictures.  Lebanon falls on the other end of the spectrum here, where revealing parts of the female body (in any context) is seen as heroic, just as some would regard the covering of the female body as heroic.  Chamoun became a heroine and there are thousands of fans who flocked to her FB page, and she has more supporters and fans than Mr. Karami.  I basically agree with you, had things did not turn the way they did about the case.