I dimly recall Ella once did a post about whether SLN was ahead of the pulse, on the pulse or ever so slightly behind the pulse. I can’t find it, but I’m sure she blogged to that effect.

Earlier in the week we did our ‘Topless Tuesday’ posting featuring a Turkish model who used it as an opportunity to educate and enlighten us into the tension that might exist for and against Muslim headwear, and also to go topless as message of her support for Iranian women who don’t have the choice to go without a headscarf and have resorted to Facebook with their ‘Stealthy Freedoms of Iranian Women‘ campaign, in which they post photos of themselves without headwear.

Yesterday, almost right on the pulse in terms of SL reaction to the real, screwed up world, another avatar sent Ella a photo and a notecard which Ella has passed onto me.

It appears that the Turkish Deputy Prime Minister, Bulent Arinc, declared that Turkish women should not laugh in public. Further reports on this comment, which also included remarks on sexuality, sexual behaviour, and even the use of mobile phones, can be found here, here and here.

And I guess it’s the use of mobile phones (cellphones) that has accelerated a sudden and maybe unexpected backlash against Mr. Arinc wh0 -surprise, surprise- appears to have an election in the autumn.

Because Turkish women have immediately responded, using their mobile phones and the social media apps on them, to post photos of themselves…..smiling and laughing!

And this has already gone all the way to SL, with one reader sending a smiling photo of herself and asking us to publish and promote it in order to highlight yet another attack on the freedoms of women in the Middle East.

A Turkish SL avatar asks us to add her defiance of the ‘smile ban’ (her words).

RL Turkish women take to Twitter and Facebook to also defy the Deputy PM’s advice.

You can read about these acts of defiance here and here and here

Our old friends Femen have also got in on the act with their Turkish Twitter page…

If there’s any other Turkish avatars out there who would like to add their smiling photographs, send a photograph to me, Eva Pookes, and I’ll post them here on SLN.

Pookes.